Cooking in Wartime
I would of loved to have read the pages within this book but as it's in the museum at Newton Stewart, Scotland, I could only view it.
Sir David Steele, politician, recalls, 'I remember having to eat the rabbits kept in an outhouse during wartime rationing: this, however was better than having to wear the smelly mittens made from their inadequately cured skins'.
Sir Menzies Campbell MP, remembers his mother whilst growing up in Glasgow making huge pots of soup using great ingenuity with a few ingredients during the austerity of the second world war.
Rationing continued till 1954, from the early 1940's you had to register at a shop and the shop was provided enough for those registered. You used coupons to collect your allowance...
A typical weekly ration per person, when at its lowest level, was butter 4oz; bacon and ham 4oz; loose tea 4oz; sugar 8oz; meat one shilling-worth; cheese 1oz; preserves 8oz a month.
By 1942, most foods were rationed except vegetables, bread, and fish. Lemons and bananas disappeared but oranges were occasionally available. Cigarettes and tobacco were not rationed. Whether rationed or not, many consumer goods, such as razor blades became difficult to obtain.
The spivs profited.
The government strongly encouraged ‘Growing your own fruit and vegetables’ with well-publicised ‘Dig for Victory’ campaigns and imaginative ideas about using potatoes. Women from the Women’s Land Army helped on farms. Recruitment was originally voluntarily but later conscription was introduced producing an army of over 80,000 women.
In 1940, wasting food became a criminal offence. Source Wikipedia