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Wartime recipes, substitutions and other related austerity hints

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  • Eenymeeny
    Eenymeeny Posts: 2,015
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    The first 'toothpaste' that I remember using was a round 'tablet' in a tin which we all dipped a dampened tooth brush onto. (Just thought recently how unhygienic that was!) Gibbs Dentifrice: http://www.historyworld.co.uk/advert.php?id=177&offset=125&sort=0&l1=Medicines+%26+Health&l2= Until then we used salt, bicarb or either mixed with lemon juice!
    (Interesting site have marked it to browse later!)
    My mother used to tell the story of enjoying a rare piece of fruit cake given to her by a customer who she used to visit regularly. When she remarked on the almonds in it she was told that the lady used her sweet ration of sugared almonds and 'just sucked the sugar off!'... Some times it's better not to know... ;)
    The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.
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  • Primrose
    Primrose Posts: 10,620
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    Eenymeeny wrote: »
    The first 'toothpaste' that I remember using was a round 'tablet' in a tin which we all dipped a dampened tooth brush onto. (Just thought recently how unhygienic that was!) Gibbs Dentifrice: http://www.historyworld.co.uk/advert.php?id=177&offset=125&sort=0&l1=Medicines+%26+Health&l2= Until then we used salt, bicarb or either mixed with lemon juice!
    (Interesting site have marked it to browse later!)
    . ;)

    Oh I remember those tins. We used one called
    Eurycral or some such name. Everybody dipped their own toothbrush into the powder and if you left the lid off overnight the bathroom was so damp that the powder would turn into a kind of damp cement!
  • monnagran
    monnagran Posts: 5,284
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    Goodness me, I had forgotten Gibbs toothcleaner. It was pink, slightly foamy and tasted soapy. Ugh.
    I was quite fortunate in that we used Eucryl tooth powder, mostly because my aunt was secretary to the managing director, so we got it free.
    I used to visit my aunt at work and we always tried to be there mid morning or afternoon when the tea trolley came round with tea, a small bowl of saccharines and a plate of half slices of bread that had been shown the margarine knife.
    I was told that pre-war (that was a well used adjective) they used to have biscuits, but I'm not sure that I knew what biscuits were and thought that half a slice of bread was untold sophistication.

    However, this thread is for helpful advice, not my stories. Sorry.
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  • euronorris
    euronorris Posts: 12,247
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    monnagran wrote: »
    However, this thread is for helpful advice, not my stories. Sorry.



    I like your stories :)
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  • VfM4meplse
    VfM4meplse Posts: 34,269
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    Medical advances keeping people alive for longer, particularly successful cancer treatments, infection control measures and chronic disease management. It says nothing about quality of life, functional ability etc.

    Early signs are that we've peaked now and it's going to go down as extreme cases of children dying before their parents increases.

    The tenuous link to this thread is that back in the war days common sense and community spirit prevailed. It's a commodity that's in short supply in some quarters these days.
    Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!

    "No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio

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  • Brambling
    Brambling Posts: 5,051
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    edited 4 October 2019 at 2:47PM
    VfM4meplse wrote: »
    That may well be, but what is indisputable is that the world's population only started to get unhealthily overweight from the 1980s!

    People were healthier as they ate less fat and sugar especially during rationing, people walked more and your 'average housewifes' work was quite labour intensive with no modern appliances. My older siblings talk about Monday being wash day and that was all mum did using a copper and a dolly.

    I'm a 60s baby so rationing had finished but money was really tight so it wasn't so much about using alteratives but ensuring nothing was wasted in our house and boy could my mum stretchhhh food as well as filling us up with dumplings or crumbles (yes i know not necessary healthy but cheap and filling). Sunday roast left overs were made into stews or soup using the bones for stock and often the scrappings of meat from the bone would be the only meat in the pot. Vegetables were mostly home grown as were alot of fruit and there was only seasonal food in the shops so no expensive and tastless strawberries in December.

    No double glazing so in winter my dad would fix wooden batons in the window with plastic sheeting in the bedrooms and it wasn't upknown for dressing gowns and coats to be added to the blankets to keep warm.
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  • VfM4meplse
    VfM4meplse Posts: 34,269
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    Primrose wrote: »
    Oh I remember those tins. We used one called
    Eurycral or some such name.
    Incredibly, it's still available. Even thinking about it sets my teeth on edge :o


    Eucryl-Toothpowder-Freshmint-Flavour-50G-29272.jpg
    Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!

    "No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio

    Hope is not a strategy :D...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...I love chaz-ing!
  • I think the difference between modern dishes and most wartime dishes is that now the protein bit meat, poultry, fish is the main part of the meal most times with a rich sauce or thickened gravy and veg perhaps again processed in some way and buttered or often cheese sauced and in wartime the dishes were mainly firstly based on what veg was available and the meat was the flavouring so often the sauce had the meat in it and was poured over the veg and that was the main meal. Portions were certainly much smaller than we're used to today and often in wartime there would be a small bowl of soup/a Yorkshire pudding or dumpling with gravy were served as a starter and then less meat in the main dish was made up for by there usually being some sort of steamed pudding and custard for dessert and we of today would look at that and shout 'how many calories???' but most houses were unheated and only had a fire in one room of the house, many hadn't even basic hot water systems and often the loo was in the back yard. Windows were single glazed, cavity wall insulation was unheard of there were few if any household appliances or tools that were electric and even washing was hand done and the mangle (which took some turning) used to get the water out , few people had cars and petrol was rationed and the people who needed it for the jobs they did got first preference. Clothing wasn't as warm, no thermals and microfleeces and what with walking not driving, hard physical exercise even in just keeping the house clean meant we used the calories and stayed fit. We would be in shock if we were suddenly plunged back to those times but we'd adapt, it would take time but people would, moaning and protesting mightily eventually make life good again even if they don't think it would today.
  • twopenny
    twopenny Posts: 5,423
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    I grew up with grandparents who'd been through 2 wars so still make some things.
    Rice pudding - 2 tbs rice, 2tbs castor sugar, 1pt whole milk, knob of butter on top. Cook in bottom of gas cooker while cooking meal or on very low heat. You can use short cut macarroni instead of rice.

    Totally delicious! And so quick.
    Bread & Butter pudding - butter bread, fill dish, scatter with raisins and sulatanas, beat 1 egg in whole milk and pour over. Again easy.
    If you look on line the recipies for the same things are complicated and tons of ingredients.
    Also using a gas oven you can put the meat in the top, veg in the middle and pudding at the bottom. All cooks with no attention. Used to do this on Sundays so I could join everyone at the pub ;-) - or go for a swim while it cooked.
    The book with whole meals in an oven was a 1920's one and it has Morroccan and other dishes you wouldn't expect.
    Left over dumplings or rice would sometimes be served as desert with golden syrup over. Surprisingly satisfying.
    We could eat these because we were walking everywhere. Not great distances but to shops, to school and evenings and weekends for the kids.
    But meals were 3 a day with no more than 2 buscuits at a time and sweets at weekends. Cooked breakfast (eggs, porridge etc) main meal at lunch (you had an hour off like the continent) and bread and jam, maybe a cake in the evening.
    These days its not just the high fat, it's the multiple carbs in a meal ie rice and chips, pasta and garlic bread and constant eating. In the past it was a portion of each, protein, carb, veg.

    Also people grew fruit in the garden and swapped with neighbours. The taste is quite different when it's fresh and totally delicious. Sweet enough that you don't need sugary sweets after. That disappears quickly in chilling and storing.
    About to stew some of the windfalls my neighbours put out. Pie, cake, crumble. Ever looked at a jar of apple in the supermarket? 30% apple!

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  • I was a 40's baby, born at the end of the war. So I didn't live through the worst of the austere years when all sorts of foods were not available. But I was actually about 7 when rationing finished completely so odd memories stick with me, including the time when I was sitting on my DB's pram for the walk home from the Co-op and I ate the weekly cheese ration un-noticed before we got home! I seem to remember my mum wasn't too pleased!!

    My grandma lived next door and I still remember and of course still use lots of the things she taught me to do. eg knitting, crochet, sewing, cooking and baking. The one thing I couldn't grasp was tatting but I still have her silks, shuttle thing etc in a drawer just in case I ever come across anyone who can teach me!

    I still have lots of her recipes, including a few from the war years but doubt I shall ever be tempted to make any of them! Marmalade made with carrots instead of oranges anyone? Or fruit cake sweetened with carrots and vinegar and bicarb mixed together till it froths to use as a raising agent!
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