The Wartime Kitchen And Garden Program

Butterfly_Brain

Enjoyed tonight's ration book britain but think that they could have done a few more recipes

luxor4t

I agree, I was quite disappointed. Oh well, back to 'Nella Last's War' for good recipes & a thorough description of the realities.

x-cupcake-x

Wrong recipe posted

[Deleted User]

Thank you for the recipe - I'll give it a go

ellemm

Just found this thread-thanks to OP for the heads up, am recording the programmes today to watch at a later date.

Have enjoyed all the comments too and must have a read at Thriftlady's wartime experiment.

I was born in 1947 but remember being sent to the corner shop with the ration books for my sweeties. I grew up in rural west of Scotland and I think we probably faired better than those people in the towns as we could certainly grow veggies and keep chickens as well as bag the odd rabbit. We also lived by the sea so that was another good source of free food.

Dried egg I remember from much later - my mil gave me a regular supply and I used it for baking.

x-cupcake-x

budgeteer wrote: »

Thanks , I like this one. I presume your title 'suet pastry with potato' is an error and that you're using the suet instead of a potato as there is no potato in your recipe.
I might give this a try to top my Woolton pie when I try it next.

Sorry I've pasted the wrong recipe there :rolleyes: I'll try and find the correct one & edit my post.

I'm at work and didn't double check what I'd posted

Primrose

I was a child during the war when my mother used a haybox on a few occasions when bombing and sirens means meant that food couldn't be left in the oven to cook when you had to flee to the shelter. I remember subsequently as a Girl Guide, that one of the tests I had to do for my Cookery badge, was to build a hay box and cook something in it.. I think I made lentil soup, made with red lentils, grated carrots & onions which were very small and cooked relatively quickly. In latter years as an adult I remember talking about this to colleagues in the office and they all looked at me with open mouths as if I'd spent my childhood living in a cave! I've often wondered why some enterprising person, now that we're all trying to be green and save energy, hasn't developed a modern commercial version of a haybox. I guess the main problem is that they're very buky and in today's modern kitchens there just isn't room for them. But for regular caserole lovers who want to save fuel & money, it might be a project well worth trying. Maybe something based around a deep polystyene box with a lid would be a good base to work on.

luxor4t

Primrose wrote: »

... I've often wondered why some enterprising person, now that we're all trying to be green and save energy, hasn't developed a modern commercial version of a haybox. ... snipped

My dad has the theory that a slowcooker is a modern haybox as it uses less power overall than the wartime 'cook for an hour then haybox' method.

sammy_kaye18

I loved this programme but have had a few comments when Ive been sat watchign it from in laws, mother and my partner. Really am starting to feel like Im an old soul reincarnated in a young body. (Im 25). The only thing I remember about the war is my great grand father (granpops to me) had a bomb shelter in his garden and grew all his own fruit and veg. He walked everywhere too and I would never say he was overweight at all in the slightest. He was captured as a soldier and put in a POW in Italy though but somehow escaped and got back to the UK and his family after years of thinking he'd died! but he lived to the ripe old age of 84.

My nan grows most of her own vegetables still, so do both my dad and his sister - my aunties allotment has kept her in fresh fruit and veg all year to the point she has had to take over my nans spare freezer as she had no space left! Im learning slowly but I have a shade patch so cant really grow anything in it.

I loved the programme though - the pigs head did turn my stomach a bit but I watched it and Im finding it fascinating - Id love to go back to those sort of days where allotments were allocated etc and I often wonder how people now a days would manage on rations.

DebtFree2012

**bump**

This was on at lunch time today but was on lunch from work so couldn't watch it all as had to get back and it looked fantastic. I knew I could rely on OS forums to have thread about it. Going to subscribe to it for reading tonight but wanted to bump it in case anyone else saw it.

Roll on tonight!