From the National Archives
In honor of Veteran’s Day this week, I have several acquaintances who are cooking only from the WW II Ration Plan.
Now, let me say that they live in Australia and England, and as I look at their food allotments, it has to be a real challenge to make meals.
WW2 Rations : Each person: Per Week United Kingdom
Butter: 1/4 Cup
Bacon or ham: about 4 pieces
Margarine: 1/4 Cup
Cooking fat/lard: 1/2 Cup
Sugar: 1 Cup
Meat: 3/4 pound <—THIS IS PER PERSON PER WEEK
Cheese: 1/4 cup
Eggs: one per week; supplement with dried eggs
Tea: A couple ounces of leaves per week.
Jam: two ounces a week…think in terms of a DAB on your toast
Sweets & Chocolate: 3 ounces a week. (HINT: A Hershey bar is 1.5 oz)
UNITED STATES
So let’s see what we could buy in the U.S for canned goods:
From Ames History Organization
We have 48 points per month.I’d be tempted to blow it on 2 cans of pineapple, but that’s it for the month. I couldn’t buy any other canned food, but other family members could use their points.
As you can see, it would be better to have 3 cans of corn than 2 cans of grapefruit juice to live on for the month.
Some years ago, when I interviewed my grandmother about rationing, she was quick to point out that folks who lived on a farm …even a poor one…were used to doing without.
(Keep in mind they were just getting over the starvation of the Dust Bowl.)
“ANd we grew our own vegetables, skinny hogs and cattle. It was fuel and sugar that had us worried.”
With the problem of obesity so rampant, perhaps we should go back to this stricter food choice. We’d have:
- No Starbucks
No Fast Burgers or Pizza
More Meatless Meals
No food wasted. Instead we’d throw it in a pot and cook it as stew each week
I was admiring and thinking about copying the WarTime Woman for just a week and eating according to
From the Wartime Woman: Beetroot Sandwiches
her rationing plans, but she lost me at BEETROOT sandwiches.
Hip hop on over and checkout her experiment.
You’ll look at food differently.
In the meantime, Let us count our blessings. Thanks to both the veterans and civilians who help ensure that we eat in a time of peace.
Lutheran Ladies Circle 