WWII Rations

black-saturn

I'm doing my best to eat only recipes from the Victory Cookbook or Mrs Beeton's recipe book for about the next 3 weeks. Personally I don't know how they managed on those rations but the people always seemed to be strong.

sairy2005

I wasnt born until just after the war when my Dad came home but I do remember rationing. My mother and I used to go to the local shop and give them a book and get our rations and a boy on a bike would deliver it that after noon. Of course by this time lots of things weren't on ration any more. I do remember that sugar was though so no sweets until I was about 5.

We lived with my Grandmother as Dads army pay was so bad that we couldnt afford a house of our own. We finally got a council house and the luxury of a flushing loo and a bathroom. I remember I was frightened of the loo and my Mum had to let me get down stairs and then flush it

We kept chickens and pigs for food even after the war and my Dad grew things in the garden (he hated gardening as well).

I still dont waste any thing. I used to keep goats, sheep, chickens, ducks and rabbits until quite recently so all the peelings and odds and ends went to feed them. The local greengrocer also used to give me boxes of veggies that he couldnt sell.

I think the idea of not wasting food is good but I certainly dont think that the war time diet was healthy. My husband who was a small boy during the war says he was always hungry. One of his sisters had ricketts and the other had TB and they lived in the country.

Every one in my class at school was short and undernourished. Fat kids were unheard of. I had to have extra orange juice and sun ray treatment as I was so puny. One of the girls in our school had Polio and we all suffered from constant coughs and colds. They certainly were not good days

Dobie

I've been fascinated reading this thread. I agree with what most people seem to be saying which is that we can learn a lot from the way people lived during the war but are fortunate to be able to have a more varied & healthy diet if we choose to. One of the things I love about the OS board is that we're keeping these good traditions alive for another generation.
I was born in 1953 & remember rosehip syrup, Virol & the little bottles of milk they gave us at school. It didn't seem to do me much good with the height thing though, I'm still only 5'3".:D I always had a hankering to be tall & willowy but hey - we always want what we can't have done't we?
Thriftlady - as your daughter can't eat eggs have you tried vegan recipies for cakes? I'm vegan & regularly make egg free cakes that my non-vegan friends love & are amazed they don't contain eggs. If you'd like some ideas for where to look please let me know.

black-saturn

Does anyone know where you can buy powdered egg? It makes a lovely creamy bread and butter pudding. I used to buy it in Tesco but they don't seem to have it anymore.

[Deleted User]

<Sorry, JackieO - while I do agree that families have a far greater choice - I can't agree that it necessarily equates to families living healthier lifestyles >

But there is still the choice in what you have to eat today, as when I was small it was eat it or go hungry.
The food wasn't all that healthy, it was mainly to fill you up. But there was very little wasted then as opposed to now when I see food being discarded all the time.:mad:
There is a market close to where I live and every week there are boxes of veggies binned as it has perhaps 'gone over 'a bit or is slightly damaged in someway. far too much food is dumped today because it doesn't fit the standard of some official minion .The fruit is the wrong shape or the cucumber is too bendy.What a disgrace when there are people dying of hunger to waste food like this .:eek:
We rarely saw a mouse in our house, as my Mum made sure what she bought was soon scoffed by her brood.I sometimes see my grandchildren throw food in the bin because they don't 'fancy it' and I get so cross:mad: .We were never allowed to 'fancy things or not.
I agree with a previous poster though that the allergies were far rarer in those days than today ,but I have a feeling that is because far too many additives are put into food today
maybe we should resurect some of the maxims of those days today and perhaps we would all be a little healtier.Go to bed just a little hungry every night for a month and see how the pounds would melt away.;)

sophiesmum_2

Queenie wrote:

I have the book "We'll Eat Again" (plus the other 2 in the series) which is full of recipes made with rations.

There is a book called "The Ration Book Diet" but I haven't got that one (yet! )

Repetative? I know they were very *inventive*!

Everyone grew veggies in the garden, local parks were turned into allotments so every scrap of ground was used for growing vegetables.

hi Queenie I have both of these books. the ration book diet was much more expensive and i didn't think it was worth it to be honest.The majority of the book is just a run through of how things progressed during the war with food supplies etc, but the recipes are a modern twist and I found it very disappointing. We'll eat again and the other books in that series are much better and much more authentic.
Borrow it from the library before you spend your money on it.
HTH
sophiesmum

COOLTRIKERCHICK

hi.. just a thought.. what about a catering... supplies..or maybe ask your local baker... maybe he will sell you some.... as i am sure they use it.....

susank

I also remember Rosehip syrup, Virol, Syrup a figs every friday and horror of horrors brown sugar sandwiches - not much wonder I have so many fillings!!! The choice of fruit was not anything like it is now either and we rarely ate any rubbish.

Edited to add

Dobie I made it to 5' 4"" with my school milk!!

Agapanthus

Anyway, we were looking at a reproduction of an air raid shelter, & mum told us about having slept in one when she was a small child. Nearby was a young mum with a little girl of about 3, who piped up "Mummy, did you sleep in one of those, too?" The young mum was most offended at the thought that her daughter thought she was old enough to remember the war!

I can remember going to a museum with my son, then aged about five. when we'd been round the exhibits, he asked me "Mum, what was it like when you were a little girl and lived in a cave?" I'm still chuckling about that - and he hasn't lived it down, though he's now 27!

I was born just after the war. My mum tells me that the food was pretty dreary - weeks when you couldn't get onions were a particular problem. There were no allowances for allergies - if you didn't want your ration you could trade it for something else if you could find someone who wanted to swap, but sometimes the shops simply didn't have stocks. Don't forget, too, that many things we take for granted today simply weren't available. Oranges and bananas were a luxury even before the war, as they aren't grown in the UK. You had meat, onions, cabbage, sprouts and a few other veg, apples, plums, blackberries - but only when they were in season. There were no freezers, so if you wanted to preserve fruit you needed sugar to make jam or bottle fruit - and that wasn't available either.

The good old days weren't that good.

thriftlady_2

JackieO wrote:

I agree with a previous poster though that the allergies were far rarer in those days than today ,but I have a feeling that is because far too many additives are put into food today

I used to think that, until my dd turned out to have food allergies :rolleyes: We don't eat food with additives.