2025 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

Cherryfudge

I'm loving the tapestry too, especially the way you've mixed the colours.

Nothing bought here: shame we don't gain points for resisting stuff but some tee shirts I liked didn't really suit me.

A couple of bits of mending have prolonged the life of a bra and a jumper.

I had never added up the years of rationing: fourteen! That's an eye-opener. It must have felt as though it would never end.

Baileys_Babe

@alicef the tapestry is beautiful.

PipneyJane

@maryb -  I am in awe of your Food Ration Challenge.  Ditto @Nelliegrace, who I know does it.

If you want to work on price for the Meat Ration, then I reckon per person £5 a week or £20 a month would cover it.  That’s what we budget monthly for meat, i.e. £40 for the two of us.  Given that the last (huge) leg of lamb I purchased from the butcher cost £35, I reckon it keeps us inline with the Meat Ration.  We had the leg cut in half, so it became two separate roast dinners.  The leftovers were turned into 4 separate stews/curries/stir-fries of 4 portions each.   (Note:  we don’t shop every week - for example, I probably only visit the butcher every 2 to 3 months -  so if I did a Food Ration Challenge, we’d have to be allowed to accumulate our ration coupons and spend them “in bulk”.)

I have a spend to declare.  The people behind the Ukraine Forever Tartan, Great Scott, are doing another fundraising weave for Ukraine, so I’ve pre-ordered a Ruana.  The dimensions are 142cm by 180cm and I’m treating it as 2 metres of woollen cloth, therefore  6 coupons spent.  (I already have both sizes of scarf, purchased when the Tartan was first woven in 2022.  I wear it throughout winter.)

This brings my total spend to 14 coupons.

- Pip

PS:  I’ve just realised that I really need to find a Suffragette badge.  I wear my politics.

Nelliegrace

Jewellery with Green, White and Violet was the subtle way to show support in the campaign to Give Women Votes, @PipneyJane . I look out for vintage brooches. The Imperial War Museum has these badges.



I think with the recent increase in meat prices, one shilling and twopence average weekly meat ration by price is about £2.70 per person. (Bank of England, UK inflation, Goods and Services, 1941 to 2025.) It would buy two small lamb chops or a pound, 450g, of basic mince, which is about right with the cheaper store prices. Offal was not rationed but was scarce. Game was not rationed, rabbit and pigeon were available and cheap. We wouldn’t manage so well without the freezer to dig into for small portions. 

Keeping a few chickens or ducks made a huge difference. Campbell and Runner ducks are prolific egg layers. The Times 1941 has small ads for point-of-lay hens at 6 shillings each. 
This was a useful reprint of the 1941 book. 

Sarahspangles

Nelliegrace said:

Jewellery with Green, White and Violet was the subtle way to show support in the campaign to Give Women Votes, @PipneyJane . I look out for vintage brooches. The Imperial War Museum has these.

I think with the recent increase in meat prices, one shilling and twopence average weekly meat ration by price is about £2.70 per person. (Bank of England, UK inflation, Goods and Services, 1941 to 2025.) It would buy two small lamb chops or a pound, 450g, of basic mince, which is about right with the cheaper store prices. Offal was not rationed but was scarce. Game was not rationed, rabbit and pigeon were available and cheap. We wouldn’t manage so well without the freezer to dig into for small portions. 

Keeping a few chickens or ducks made a huge difference. Campbell and Runner ducks are prolific egg layers. The Times 1941 has small ads for point-of-lay hens at 6 shillings each. 

My daughter’s dad bought her some suffragette jewellery for her 18th, I think it’s an amethyst, aquamarine and diamond necklace or brooch. She appreciated the sentiment though I’m not sure she wears it. Presumably working class suffragettes wore ribbons or badges.

I’m trying to imagine feeding my other half on a pound of mince a week. I have to remind him when he’s cooking that a 500g pack should make at least four servings and it’s not necessary to have two meat based main meals a day. Rabbit is quite expensive now, I would cook it more often if not. Unless it’s just that I’m used to supermarket prices for other meats, and rabbit is at farm-shop prices. My grandparents had it a lot, granddad’s allotments backed onto farmland and supplies either came from another plot holder or a transaction in one of the pubs. I’m now eyeing a fat, stupid pigeon currently infesting the front lawn.

Self-sufficiency seemed to make a comeback in the 1970s, when we were clearing my parents’ house John Seymour’s book and ‘Backyard Poultry’ were very well thumbed. I imagine their parents thought they were a bit odd voluntarily growing their own for the enjoyment, when it was no longer necessary for survival.

weenancyinAmerica

@Sarahspangles - the late 1960's and early 1970s were the "hippie" era here in America. Lots of young people trying to go back to the land, live in their vans, or "rough it" in New York or San Francisco. I have John Seymour's book too and a lot of others from that time period. Had my garden in the backyard and later in the large window sill of my house in Utah, but never got to the small-holding stage. I still get some of the magazines (Backwoods Farm and Mary Jane's Farm, that sort of thing). I have a lot of the books that came out then also on living on nothing or nearly nothing.

That's why I started collecting books on the Home Front in the US, Canada, and Great Britain, though I do have a few from other countries. I was looking for the money-saving hints in them. Still am. I discovered also that none of the home front books for the US have been included in any war-based bibliography so I am working on one. 

alicef

oh, thank you all for comments on the tapestry. @thriftwizard you are spot on - Ehrman (1989 release).  I must have pinched the canvas from my mum, as I certainly didn't have the wool for it.  High time it was finished. 

@weenancyinAmerica - I grew up in midwest US during the 60s - the hippy culture just didn't register. In fact, I do remember seeing the slide rule scenes from Apollo 13 and thinking that they all looked like my dad.  However the US homestead aspect must have stuck, (Five Acres & Independence etc), as all these years later we're on a smallholding.

MrsCD

@PipneyJane, next time we're at Beamish, I'll look out for a suffragette brooch for you. They have women dressed up in costume and they sell various items with slogans printed on. I have a Votes for Women tote bag and I know they have enamel mugs too, so they may have brooches.

weenancyinAmerica

@alicef- I have that book still - Five Acres and Independence. I have a number of smallholding books from the 60s and 70s. Been trying to get them organized. My friend in Colorado has a copy also - I sent it to her. She actually has a small holding.

maryb

First week of attempting to manage on the tea ration which I thought would be a real struggle.  But there was 1 3/4 oz left out of the 4 oz I measured out a week ago.  I was astonished.  I was using loose leaf tea which means you can use less for making half a pot and I was probably skimping a bit as the tea tasted a bit weaker than I like sometimes.  So week 2 and I won't skimp and see how I get on.  I've already worked out that the fat and sugar rations would be plenty in total though I'd hate to have to use margarine as part of the ration.  Cheese ration I'm not sure about - DH likes to nibble!  which of course would have been off limits, but it makes it harder to see how much I've used by seeing how much is left.  Milk would definitely be a problem