BLITZ KIDS: RATIONING FOOD, CLOTHES AND SO MUCH MORE

“Butter is to be rationed next month. It would be scarcely possible to devise a more harmful piece of propaganda – even if Dr Goebbels, Germany’s Minister of Propaganda, were asked to help.”

George and his friends are learning to cope with rationing, which makes everyday life much harder. The war has caused food shortages because so many ships that used to bring supplies are now needed for the war effort.

Now, everyone has a ration book, which has coupons for things like food, clothes, and even soap. The idea is that everyone gets a fair share, no matter who they are but when the coupons run out, that’s it!

George explains how much they’ve had to adjust. For example, they get very little food – five rashers of bacon, a tiny bit of margarine, and one egg each. Vegetables are free if you grow them yourself, so George and his friend Maggie are planting carrots on their Anderson shelter. But Maggie isn’t happy. She’s tired of eating so many carrots… carrot stew, carrot mash, and even carrot jam! Both of them dream about having real butter, white bread, and proper meals like chicken or lamb, but those are hard to come by.

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It’s not just food that’s rationed. Petrol for cars is limited, and there’s a shortage of coal for heating. People got creative by opening gas ovens to warm their feet!

And then there are clothes rationing. Everyone gets only so many clothing coupons, so George’s mum is turning his dad’s old trousers into something new for him to wear. While utility clothes (plain, basic clothing) are the cheapest, fancy clothes like fur coats and jewellery aren’t rationed – so if you have money, you can buy them!

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George writes in his journal…

“Life is tough with all the restrictions, but George and his friends keep their spirits up, even though they’re tired of the same old foods and worn-out clothes. They dream of the day when they can have a proper meal again and wear clothes without worrying about rationing.“

Next time… the Blitz Kids are out scavenging for materials to help with the war effort, but they’re also trying to hold on to their cart!

Some further facts…

Wheat and flour – as Britain didn’t grow much ‘hard’ wheat that’s was used to make bread, we had to continue to import it through the war. Before the war, 20% of British wheat came from Canada, but by 1944 that had risen to 83%. To stretch flour further, in 1942 the Ministry of Food introduced a standardised bread recipe – the brown ‘National Wheatloaf’… it wasn’t popular.
Eggs – in the 1930s, we imported 150,000 tons of fresh eggs every year. The wartime solution was dehydration – removing the shell and most of the water, which reduced the weight by 90%. However, dried eggs weren’t popular. A poster campaign was introduced – with one poster showing a chicken explaining that ‘Dried Eggs are my Eggs, my whole Eggs and nothing but my Eggs.’
Beef – before the war, we imported beef chilled – expensive but tasty. In war, beef was processed before being imported to save space. De-boned, compressed and frozen – or minced and tinned, it was easier to carry, but didn’t taste so good. During the war, Britain got most of its beef in tins from Argentina.
Dairy produce – before war, 50% of our butter came from Western Europe. We had to ask New Zealand to pick up the slack by expanding its production of cheese and butter. The British government also got the New Zealanders to shift from butter to cheese.
Carrots – one crop that did well was the carrot… but it did too well and by 1942, we had surplus of 100,000 tonnes! Walt Disney was called upon to create a cartoon character – Dr Carrot, to popularise them . Sometimes bizarre recipes using carrots were published – how about… curried carrots, carrot buns, mock apricot tarts made with carrots, carrot jam and carrot fudge. It was also claimed that carotene in carrots was the secret ingredient that enabled RAF pilots to improve their performance in spotting and shooting down German bombers!