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G4EBT > CODGER 18.01.08 20:28l 167 Lines 6215 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 5E7661G4EBT
Read: GUEST
Subj: Wartime rationing memories
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<OK0PKL<OK0PCC<OM0PBC<OK0PPL<DB0RES<IK2XDE<ON4HU<ON0BEL<
GB7FCR
Sent: 080118/1853Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:58689 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:5E7661G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : CODGER@WW
The sight of supermarket shelves these days, groaning with food of every
type including salmon, chicken and ham - unobtainable luxuries during the
war years, and indeed post-war years into the mid 1950s, takes me back to
the ration-book days of my childhood.
But I don't ever remember feeling malnourished or hungry as a child.
Having been born in June 1939, the lack of many of the pre-war things
which adults lamented about such as bananas and pineapples meant nothing
to me and my cohort - you don't miss what you've never had.
When the war started it was inevitable that availability of food and
consumer goods of all kinds would become scarce, and shortages would
arise.
To ensure a fair distribution of these basic essentials the Government
introduced food rationing, (alongside which a flourishing black market
developed for those who could affords to pay).
By November 1939 ration books had been issued to everyone.
The ration book coupons themselves had no "monetary value" - they were
simply a means of ensuring that everybody received a fair share of the
available food.
Those with allotments ("Dig for Britain") fared better.
Meat, butter and sugar were rationed from early 1940 and other foodstuffs
including tea were added later. As the war dragged on, clothing was also
rationed.
Ration entitlement varied at different times during the war. Bread,
potatoes, vegetables, fruit and fish, were never actually rationed.
But choice, quality and availability, of the last three were
often limited. Having the coupons was no guarantee of getting
the rations.
Oddly enough, coffee was never rationed either.
Food rationing came into force on 8 Jan 1940 (four months after the
war started). The rations, per person, per week at that stage were:
Butter or lard: 4 ounces
Sugar: 12 ounces
Raw bacon or Ham: 4 ounces
Eggs two
Cooked bacon or Ham: 3.5 ounces
Sometimes people would exchange foodstuffs.
For example, if they didn't want their sugar, they'd swap with someone for
eggs. My wife's parents used to have a few chickens, so spare eggs became
"currency" to exchange for other things.
Meat rationing started 11 March 1940.
From my recollections, though people grumbled, in general the public
supported rationing in principle as it ensured fair shares for all,
and although a black market did develop, it never seemed to seriously
undermine the system.
It's generally accepted that food rationing improved the nation's health
through the imposition of a balanced diet with essential vitamins. Infant
mortality rates declined, and the average age at which people died from
natural causes increased.
School meals were mandatory and everything had to be eaten. Any left over
scraps went as pigswill to the "Pig Clubs" that were popular back then.
We all had a third pint bottle of full-cream school milk a day.
As an aside, in 1971, Margaret Thatcher - then Education Secretary, argued
that ending free milk for all but nursery and under 7s would free more
money to spend on other areas of education, like new buildings.
Free milk for primary school children then cost œ14m a year - twice as
much as was being spent on school books. It earned her the title "Maggie
Thatcher - Milk Snatcher".
Meat, butter and sugar were rationed from March 1940, other foodstuffs,
including tea, were added later, and entitlement varied at different times
during the war.
Bread, potatoes, coffee, vegetables, fruit and fish, were never actually
rationed, although choice and availability, of the last three were often
limited.
In July 1940, a complete ban was introduced on the making or selling
of iced cakes, and in Sept 1940 the manufacture of 'candied peel' and
'crystallised cherries' ceased, putting paid to the traditional wedding
cake.
On 1st Dec 1941, the Ministry of Food introduced the points rationing
scheme for canned meat, fish and vegetables at first. Later they added
items such as rice, canned fruit, condensed milk, breakfast cereals,
biscuits and cornflakes.
Who'd have thought that Spam or corned beef fritters
would be elevated to the status of a gourmet meal"!
Everyone received 16 points a month, later raised to 20, to spend as they
wished at any shop that had the items they wanted. A 12oz.(340 gm) packet
of soap powder was half a month's ration - you could get one egg every two
months, and powdered egg could be bought on points.
Fruit like bananas vanished altogether.
With the end of the war I was still only six years old, so all of the
above really passed me by. But even after the war things didn't improve
much. In 1948, three years after the war, many items still remained
rationed, such as:
Bacon and Ham: 2 ounces per person a fortnight
Cheese: 0.5 ounce a week
Butter/margarine: 7 ounces a week
Cooking fats: 2 ounces a week
Meat: one shillings-worth a week
Sugar: 8 ounces a week
Tea: 2 ounces a week
Chocolates and sweets: 4oz.a week
Milk: 3 pints a week
Preserves: 4 ounces a week
(One ounce = 28 grams).
Bread, soap, bananas, and potatoes were also rationed during this period.
In 1951 people could still buy only 10d.(4p) worth of meat each week.
Bread - never rationed during the war, was rationed from 1946 to 1948 and
potatoes for a year from 1947, causing an outcry from housewives, which by
then, I was old enough to witness.
The points system ended in 1950.
Rationing spanned 14 years until 1954 - the year I left school, when meat
was finally de-rationed. Thus, it covered the whole of my childhood.
It also applied to clothing and other goods.
In 1942 a man with only the basic clothing ration could buy:
A pair of socks every four months,
A pair of shoes every eight months,
A shirt every twenty months,
A vest and one pair of pants every two years,
A waistcoat every five years, and;
An overcoat every seven years.
There were also coupons for small items such as handkerchiefs.
Kids today?...
Best wishes
David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
Message timed: 18:42 on 2008-Jan-18
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