2021 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

diminua

@diminua - please tell us more about your ration diet.  

From my reading of wartime literature, there was a big emphasis on growing your own tomatoes and onions because so much produce was imported before the war, resulting in shortages.  (60% of all fresh food was imported, similar to today.).  Onions, potatoes and tomatoes were seen as things that almost everyone could grow quite easily - unlike a usable carrot (mine always ended up twisted) - so people were encouraged to grow them.  

- Pip

Potatoes are a doddle to grow, in my experience.  I've found tomatoes a lot of effort for not very much reward though. Without a greenhouse to protect them and lengthen the season you need a lot of sunshine. Otherwise they tend to start slowly and slow down again before much of the fruit has ripened (my grandmother used to put the unripe fruit in a drawer with an old banana to help them along).  Onions are fine unless they rot, but they like to be warm when they're first germinating.

Re the diet - this is a screenshot of the excel spreadsheet, with amounts grubbed from various places on the internet including this site. I've substituted tuna for bacon as I eat very little meat as a rule, and 'fake' meat (such as veggie burgers) is also being counted under 'meat' if I have them. As you can probably see I eat a lot more confectionery but less sugar and (which surprised me) fewer eggs (three of my four eggs should be powered eggs, but I'm not going that far. I haven't stuck to 'English hard cheese' either. As long as it's cheese of some sort I'm counting it in that box.) 

I have no idea what pasta was so am treating it like bread (off ration during the war, as was coffee in the UK - apparently because people didn't drink it much anyway) and for things like fruit juice or marmite I've guessed a bit. 

Any arithmetic errors are my own. 

CAFCGirl

Wow, that's some tracking for sure!

How do you find it @diminua ?

CAFCGirl

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@CAFCGirl- I did hear something about that bit of waste-land along the side-road - you know, just as you leave Much Mending on the Borrow on the way to Little Mending, there's that turning off? Someone was saying next year they'd be encouraging us all to grow our own there, not quite official allotments, I believe, but a bit of space for containers, so we could grow our veg, fruit and salads there together   Easier with company!

Oh I know it well. I believe there is a little beck or stream nearby for watering - very handy.
We could call it 'grub bombing'  akin to seed bombing? Or poor taste in the current climate.... 

@Cherryfudge
My parents had one at the other end of the site, used to take me 5 minutes at pace to reach it. 8 with a 'barrow 

Shady - perfect for salad leaves I believe. 

diminua

CAFCGirl said:

Wow, that's some tracking for sure!

How do you find it @diminua ?

I'm the queen of the spreadsheets, honestly. Spreadsheets for everything. The tracking is really easy though because I'm still working from home rather than buying random lunches and coffees like I did in the office, so I just fill it in after I've been shopping. I did find myself running out of milk and margarine a lot at first - there's a definite 'only butter one slice of bread per sandwich' adjustment. And I run out of marmite every single month but it's strangely satisfying to do the first shop of the month and get the canned goods in!  

TwibbleDee

I think our household would have a heart attack at the idea of eating according to that!  Hubby was making sure that the kid who was cooking buttered both sides of both slices of bread for grilled cheese last night.  At least it was margarine, which has a higher allowance…

I’ve got to figure out how to add in more veggies - I’m realizing that a big part of the problem is that all the veggies I like are the ones the rest of the house loathes, so I never end up cooking sweet potatoes, zucchini, or mushrooms, and those were all my staple veg! 

joedenise

@TwibbleDee things like zucchini (courgettes to us!) and mushrooms can easily be hidden in things like mince when you make spag bol; shepherds pie etc, just chop finely or whizz in a food processor.  At least that way you'll be getting the veggies you like and everyone else gets them without realising.  Carrots also come into this category!

maryb

I looked at this a couple of months ago because I'd been reading about the Planetary Health Diet suggested by the Eat/Lancet commission.  It had the joint aims of sustainability in a wide range of settings and cultures whilst maximising nutrition.  I realised when I turned their daily recommendations into weekly amounts that they looked very familiar.  Sure enough, as far as animal protein is concerned they are almost identical to WW2 rations.  They allow  more chicken and less red meat but the total quantities are about the same. 

I tried it for a week or two just for interest to see if it would be manageable.  It is surprisingly more generous than I had imagined with the exception of eggs.  I don't understand why we should limit egg consumption to one a week.  That might have been the ration in wartime, but in practice anyone who could gave up their egg ration in exchange for chicken feed and kept back garden hens

TwibbleDee

joedenise said:

@TwibbleDee things like zucchini (courgettes to us!) and mushrooms can easily be hidden in things like mince when you make spag bol; shepherds pie etc, just chop finely or whizz in a food processor.  At least that way you'll be getting the veggies you like and everyone else gets them without realising.  Carrots also come into this category!

I think my husband would divorce me if I tried hiding mushrooms in spaghetti sauce… Plus I don’t do most of the cooking anymore (we’re working on life skills with teenagers).

Laura_Elsewhere

I'd be violently sick for about three days if anyone hid mushrooms in anything I ate! 

We've probably just managed to eat the next fortnight's rations... roast beef, yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, carrots, cauliflower cheese for My Intended, and half a savoy cabbage for me, followed by a whole pineapple between us (er, minus the outside bits and spiky bits!), and a bowl of strawberries and nectarine for me, and a rice krispie cake each, and I managed to find room for a Sainsbury's-Magnum ice-cream...!

I'm not sure we'll actually need to eat for a week or so, really...

joedenise

Laura I wouldn't suggest hiding veg if someone was allergic to them obviously!  I'm assuming that's why you would be violently sick.