|
The Front Line was place where men of courage fought for their and our lives. But times on the home front were equally as hard. It came with all the emotion that a solider could experience; including the daily routines of rationing and cooking that we shall now look at.
The average rations were as below. But due to the varying supplys of foods theese could go up or down. Here is the rations for an adult per week. Bacon and Ham | 4 oz (100 g) | Meat | to the value of is. 2d (6p today). Sausages were not rationed but difficult to obtain; offal was origionally unrationed but sometimes formed part of the meat ration. | Butter | 2oz (50 g) | Cheese | 2 oz (50 g) sometimes it rose to 4 oz (100 g) and even up to 8 oz (225 g) | Margarine | 4 oz (100 g) | Cooking Fat | 4 oz (100 g) often dropping to 2 oz (50 g) | Milk | 3 pints (1800 ml) sometimes dropping to 2 pints (1200 ml). Household (skimmed, dried) milk was available (about 1 packet every 4 weeks) | Sugar | 8 oz (225 g) | Preserves | 1 ib (450 g) every 2 months | Tea | 2 oz (50 g) | Eggs | 1 shell egg a week if available bu at times dropping to 1 every two weeks. Dried eggs - 1 packet each four weeks. | Sweets | 12 oz (350 g) each 4 weeks |
In addition there, there was a monthly points system. As an example of how these could be spent, the 16 points allowed you to buy one can of fish or meat or a 2 ib (900 g) of dried fruit or 8 ib (3.6 kg) of split peas.
Babies and younger childre, expectant and nursing mothers, had consentrated orange juice and cod liver oil from Welfare Clinics together with priority milk. This milk was also given to invalids.
"when you come home tired and cold after a long day's work, there's nothing so cheering for you as soup. Thick soup is nourishing, a meal in itself. Soup is very easy to digest, an important point when you are tired. And, if you keep a soup-pot handy on the stove, soup is as easy to make as A B C. Look after your soup-pot and then make one for the evening.
 - I used to think one didn't oughter, Make soup from Vegetable water.
METHOD: Fry 2 oz rolled oats or oat meal in 1 oz margarine. Blend with a little of two pints of water, then add the rest of the water and bring to boil. Add 3 potatoes, 4 carrots, 1/2 small swede, 1 leek if you have it, sliced or cut into cubes. Cook for 1 hour. Just before serving add pepper and salt and some chopped parsley. The quantities given are sufficient for 4 helpings.
Not all basic foods were placed on the ration at one time; foods were introduced gradually:
Jan 1940 - The only foods placed on ration were: bacon, ham, sugar and butter.
Mar 1940 - Meat becomes rationed.
Jul 1940 - tea margarine, cooking fat and cheese made part of the ration.
Mar 1941 - jam, marmalade, treacle and syrup all put on Ration.
Jun 1941 - distribution of eggs contrlled.
Nov 1941 - distribution of milk controlled.
Jul 1942 - sweets put on ration
"Thats right Mrs. Smith. Wer're getting a Seventh of our meat now in corned beef- twopence in the is. 2d. as you might say. Lord woolton's watching his stocks-he likes to besure he's got a bit in hand. I don't mind telling you I was rather afraid the whole ration would be cut down. It's lucky for everyone there is this corned beef to help ot with. Cold or hot, you can dish it up in a dozen different ways - and very tasty, too. No, Mrs Smith, I don't want any points coupons, it's all part of the meat ration."
Cooking time: 50 minuites. Mix together 1 breakfastcup of chopped corned beef with the same quantity of diced raw potatoes and season with pepper. Put into a frying pan 1/2 teacup of vegetable water and a teaspoon or two of cooking fat or dripping. When the pan is hot put in the corned beef and potatoes, spreading them evenly. Dot with another teaspoon or two of fat over the top. Place a plate over the pan and cook quite slowly for about 45 minuites. A thick delicious crust will form on the bottom. Fold across and serve on a hot dish with cooked green vegetables. Picked beetroot or cabbage is execlent with this dish.
Potatoes new, Potatoes old
Potato (in a salad) cold
Potatoes boaked or mashed or fried
Potatoes whole, potato pied
Enjoy them them all, including chips
remembering spuds don't come in ships!
METHOD: Scrub and cut into 1/2 in thick slices, 2 lb potatoes. Parboil 10 minuites in salted water. Put half into a greased baking tin with a little sliced onion. Add 1 lb piece of stewing steak, cut thick, on top of this put a 'blanket' of sausage meat, shaped to fit the steak. Cover with the rest of the potato slices. Thicken 1/2 pint of the potato liquid with a teaspoon each of gravy powder and flour; pour it on. Bake in a moderate oven 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When half-cooked, brush the top potatoes with dripping and sprinkle with salt.
 This years Ration Book is a much simpler affair than last year's three books, and you should get familiar with it from the start. So here we take you on a conducted tour, with stops at the principal objects of intrest! Cut this out and read it with the Ration Book in front of you. Then you will see how simple it has been made.
THE CHILD'S BOOK
R.B.2. will be used in exactly the same way except that the tea coupons will be marked when oranges are bought, and will not be cut out.
YOUR OLD RATION BOOKS
Should be kept until the end of August. The may still be needed - for instance for July preserves, or your first tin of dried eggs. If they contain special authourisations keep them until these are used up. Do not transfer them to your new book. | THE FRONT COVER, Check the entries with your identity card. if there is any difference report it to the food office.
PAGE 2. You should by now have filled in the details at X. Se that they agree with those on the front cover. Fill in Y if under 18. Leave Z alone.
PAGE 5 is the first of the coupon pages. See how they are now all divided (POints as well) into tfour weekly periods numbered one to 13. This will help you to "keep your place" and make shopping easier. You have re-registered by now of course, so the counterfoils have been cut out by the shops. You need not fill in the spaces marked B unless you deposit whole pages with your retailer.
PAGE 9 now combines in one the coupons for the butter, margarine and cooking fats.
PAGE 11will be used for the ordinary and special ration of cheese.
PAGE 13 will record your purchace of eggs. Remember that you won't get them every week. Poultry keepers will get no shell eggs.
PAGE 15 combines sugar and preserves. The squares marked Q, R, S will not be used at present.
PAGE 17. Tea coupons will be cut out by the retailer, four at a time.
PAGES 25 TO 34 are Points Coupon pages. They are just the same as those in the old pink book but the four-week periods are referred to by number instead of date.
PAGE 25 MUST CONTAIN THE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF YOUR RETAILERS. It is illegal to use the ration Book if these are not filled in. The column on the left is for noting the deposit of whole pages.
PAGE 39 Fill in if you deposit any rows of POints Coupons, also fill in the bottom line if you deposit your tea coupon page. Note the specially because it is new.
BACK COVER (page 40) has two panels. Panel 1 (at the top) will be used for soap, which may still be bought at any time during the four-weekly Period. Panel 2 will not be used yet. |
Throughout Britain farmers had worked ceaselessly to cultivate crops, rear livestock and produce the best yeilds of milk to feed Britain. Their contribution to the war effort was of great importance for it was essential that we relied as much as possible on our own rescources of food.
Although the the years ahead of 1945 would still be busy ones for the farming communities, they like the rest of Britain, celebrated VE and VJ Days in 1945 with their families and friends.
Grate one large raw potato and 2 medium carrots, mix in 1 breakfast cup breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoons sugar, 1/2 teaspoon flavoring, such as vanilla or lemon. Thoroughly stir in 1 teaspoon baking powder. Put 2 or 3 tablespoons jam in a heated basin, run it round to cover the inside. Cool. Put in the pudding mixture, tie on a cover of margarine paper, steam 2 hours.
Blend 1 tablespoon cornflour, arrowroot or custard powder (whichever is available) with 1/4 pint milk. Pour into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until thickened. Allow to become absolutely cold.
Crea 1 oz butter or margarine with 1 oz sugar (icing sugar is best if available). Very gradually beat teaspoons at a time of the thickened cornflour and milk mixture into the creamed fat and sugar. The more it is beaten the lighter it beacomes. For a thin cream use just 1 teaspoon corn flour, or arrowroot or custard powder.
Blend 1 teaspoon cornflour with 4 tablespoos lemon squash and 3 tablespoons water. Pour into a saucepan, add 1 oz margarine, 1 oz sugar and a pinch of citric or tartaric acid. Stir over a low heat until the mixture thickens and because clear. This should take about 10 minuites. Remove the curd from the heat. Stir the mixture as it cools to prevent a skin forming.
Cooking Time:1/2 hour. Make shortcrust pastry using 12 oz self-raising flour, pinch salt, 3 oz cooking fat and water to mix. Roll out and and cut into 4 squares. Peel 4 ripe firm pears , take out as much core as possible with a sharp knife and fill the space with some kind of jam, apricot is particually good. PLace the pears on the pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with water and seal theese firmly around the pears. bake in the centre of a moderatly hot oven.
All these extracts have been taken from Marguerite Pattern's book "Victory Cookbook" by kind permission of Hamlyn Publishing
|
