Dear all, I’m trying to post a little video update every day on YouTube to get back into the habit of creating content again. I’m looking forward to the New Year when I will have a bit more time to blog and recreate more recipes but for now, joining in the Christmas spirit with Vlogmas.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend and that your Christmas preparations are underway.
Am so looking forward to some downtime with my family.
C xxx
If you haven’t heard me whittering on about it already (see previous blog post), you’ll know now! I’m quitting my job to write my first book and self-publish it end of March 2026. Join the waitlist here: https://the1940sexperiment.com/ration-book-recipes-new-book/
I’ll once again be living and breathing rationing come January 1st, partly out of necessity (to spend as little as possible during the first 3 months of 2026) but also because I miss living through history, and it seems a fitting thing to do while writing the book.
I’ve put some thoughts in a short YouTube video above to kick off Vlogmas. I am TRYING to find time to do a little update every day, mostly as shorts, and looking to create some quick ration book recipes that I am finding in old books and newspaper clippings too.
Must fly, work starts in precisely 4 minutes, have a wonderful day and thank you again from the bottom of my heart!
C xxxxx
I’ve taken a huge leap of faith. It could all go horribly wrong, but it could all go wonderfully right. All I know is that I have to take a chance on me….and believe.
I’ve handed in my notice at work, and from January 1st, 2026, I am without a job, without an income, but taking a chance on my dream to write and photograph a series of WW2 Recipe Books.
Honestly, I’m scared, but I know I have to take that chance or I will always live with regret.
This past year, I have become physically and mentally exhausted. With extra responsibilities at work and home, and my increasing age, I simply have had no energy and no time after my workday to pursue my passions. It has felt like writing a book and publishing it has become a pipedream…
And then this happened; In just 8 weeks, 500 of you have joined my waitlist for the book. That could be 1,000 by the time the book launches. While I realise that only a percentage will go on to purchase, that amazing support from you tipped the scale enough for me to believe that I could “actually do this.”
Click here for wait list >>> https://the1940sexperiment.com/ration-book-recipes-new-book/
I want to blog more, be more present in our groups, pages and communities, create more recipes, film more YouTube videos, get my passion back for the rationing lifestyle and living history.
This past year I have saved so very hard into a rainy day fund, enough to give me a few months support without a day job and enough to print 500 books. I know this sounds precarious, almost cliff edge, but I start my 60th year in January and I absolutely can’t let this pass without reaching for my dreams.
I’ve tried so hard to build those dreams outside of work but in a regular day, my only free time is one singular hour (and I don’t watch TV) and when that hour starts (8pm), I’m so, so sleepy and inevitably falling asleep by 9pm. I’ve even tried waking up at 4:30 am to move my book forward, but after a few days I’m done. It isn’t sustainable.
It’s been a really tough, emotional and tiring few weeks. First of all working for the past 5.5 years with such an amazing team at work and a promotion to “Marketing Manager” and participating in the “Rising Stars” program, for once in my life gave me some self-worth (I have huge imposter syndrome) and has been amazing. Having to give that all up as well as the first time in my life receiving a salary I was truly happy with, has been incredibly hard.
Am I going through a late mid-life crisis? I did ask myself that over and over but NO. Every cell in my body is screaming at me to be brave, to give my dreams a chance, to work hard for what I truly want.
So, January 1st I start the new year with 3 months safety net in the bank and a dream. A BIG dream. But NOT an impossible dream. I just have to give it my all to make it happen.
Thank you for being part of it.
C xxxx
PS: Video this weekend!
This Remembrance Sunday, we pause to honour all those who served, on the front lines and the home front alike. Their courage, endurance, and quiet strength remind us what true resilience looks like. We will remember them. Lest We Forget.
C xxx
Now we have Halloween over and done with we are already thinking about Christmas in our house! A few years ago I started making Mock Turkey (Murkey) every year and we love it! (it’s cheap and really tasty!) It will definitely be on our table once again! What 1940s WW2 ration book recipe do you think you will serve at Christmas?
Gingerbread Men —> https://the1940sexperiment.com/2021/12/24/gingerbread-people-recipe-no-197/
I’m sitting here writing this having made a decision that could be life changing, I just have no way of knowing whether it will be in a good way or a bad way yet.
I’m not going to share this yet as I need to explain first to my nearest and dearest but once that is out in the open, I’ll explain fully on here. Regardless, I will need to rely on a rationing and a frugal make do and mend lifestyle, more than ever.
I wanted to apologise for being a little absent too but I’ve had such a lovely week. I took unpaid leave from work (I’d used up all my annual leave) to spend time with my son who I hadn’t seen in several months. All of my 3 grown up children finally together, the complete Hobbit clan, like the old days.
Those days when they were little, only seems like yesterday. There are old posts on here when they were still at school and now they are 36, 32 and 27. I’m finding it hard to understand how brief life is.
And now my son has left to travel on the train to go back up North, I’m crying because I love my children and those few days were precious and we were back to being our little clan, surviving against hardship (those latter years living in Canada and early years living back in the UK were so very difficult), putting the world to rights, just picking up where we left off.
And tomorrow I finally start planning my return to rationing again. As always, I never think of rationing as deprivation. I see it as living simply, frugally, healthily and wisely given what we have available to us. It teaches us how to make do on little and being satisfied with less so truly enjoying those days when we splurge a little and have those treats. How much more appreciated those treats become…
Exciting times and plans and as we move forward into 2026, my 60th year will be filled with achieving personal goals. My first proper book is one of them! Full colour, hardbacked, filled with recreated and rephotographed WW2 ration book recipes, readers recipes and much, much more. It is already evolving and can’t wait to share with you the progress as we move into 2026!
This is a self-published project and will be printed in batches. Nearly 500 of you have signed up to my waiting-list over the last 6 weeks and when the time comes to go to print, all signed up on the list will be given the option to purchase the book and receive the first printing run! I’ll also keep you personally updated through the waiting-list too! Thank you, this is going to be a dream come true for me.
Join the waiting list here —> https://the1940sexperiment.com/ration-book-recipes-new-book/
Look forward to speaking soon,
Much love, C xxxx
I’m missing rationing. When I say that, what I mean is the simplicity of it, the frugalness, the lack of choice, the basic process of just “making do” with what I’ve got. Our world of excess consumption doesn’t sit well with me…
I look at the amount of plastics I put out for recycling every week, it is obscene. I look at the amount of ultra-processed foods that have crept into my life…. again, OBSCENE. Every month that is passing I simply want to cast off many aspects of our modern way of consuming, and not just food.
I don’t know about you but as I approach my 60th birthday in January, everything in side me is screaming to “get off the roundabout” and get back to basics, a simple, slow and happy life where one has time to forage, ponder, bake, read and write. I remember 25 years ago very much being part of the “back to the land” and “self-sufficiency” movement and miss many aspects of that life even though quite honestly we never managed even half way to self-sufficiency. What it did give me though was an appreciation of nature, of simplicity, of what is important in life and how resilient and capable we are as humans devoid of convenience….
While I can’t just jack it all in to live a slow life (rent is also OBSCENE here in Swindon – I don’t own my own house) at least I can at least try to make a move in the right direction so over the coming weeks I’ll be moving back to living on rationing Monday to Friday with weekends to enjoy those healthy favourites of mine like Avocados and Bananas. A compromise I know but life is all about balance. I love many aspects of modern living (I love tech and YouTube!) but I know what actually is important and what we try to need to preserve too.
Monday to Friday it will be back to rationing, sourcing most of my vegetables locally. In fact I have already started with my first visit to “Purton House Organics”, just a few miles from my house and have worked out a budget to making locally grown (mostly), organic vegetables, a main part of my diet.
Here is a photo of my first “medium box” from them. I still love Riverford of course but I am trying hard to incorporate as much locally grown food as possible.
This week I’ll start to plan my “Ration Book Recipes” again, and of course continue with my cookery book project which is one of my lifetime goals to achieve in 2026 in my 60th year on this planet.
Much love, C xxxxx
I’m trying so hard to get back into posting once a week on my blog and posting once a week on YouTube (Sundays at 7pm). Even if it’s just a quick hello, it’s better than just burying my head in the sand and feeling a failure for not doing anything for months. Stupid I know, I mean it’s stupid to not post something as I truly love blogging and creating simple little videos.
I’m sorry…
As I’m writing this I’m exhausted. A busy day at work and straight into cleaning up my house for a visitor this weekend. It’s now 8pm and I’m going to grab a cuppa tea and jump into bed and try and get an early night as tomorrow I’ll be up at 6am,as my kitchen needs cleaning and I’m too exhausted to do it now and at 7:30 am I am driving to the recycling depot as my car is full of “stuff” I no longer need or is broken that has been cluttering up the house. It feels good to be letting go of stuff…
My mind is also full with plans for recreating WW2 recipes and adopting some more of the simple, frugal habits during the days of rationing to persevere with my plans of serious saving in 2026 so I can max out my “rainy day fund” to feel safe and secure. We never know what tomorrow brings.
I’d like to say thanks this week for some of the lovely messages I’ve received on my blog, on Facebook and on YouTube and Instagram. Some of them really touched me and got to me a bit. It’s all good though . I am very lucky. Thank you.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend, C xxxx
PS: I have to share this video. THIS IS OUR GARDEN! We are always blessed to have visits from badgers every night but the other day the whole clan (10) visited our garden at the same time.
I am having a bit of a wobble in my life at the moment. I’m generally feeling exhausted and emotional among other things so of course, as always, I turn to our stoic and resilient families that lived for several years under incredible hardship during WW2. How did they get through? What would they have done?
That mighty poster springs to mind… “Keep Calm and Carry On”.
From Wikipedia:
Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities.[1][2] Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and the Blitz did in fact take place, the poster was only rarely publicly displayed and was little known until a copy was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick.[3] It has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been used as the decorative theme for a range of products.[4]
Evocative of the Victorian belief in British stoicism – the “stiff upper lip“, self-discipline, fortitude, and remaining calm in adversity – the poster has become recognised around the world.[5] It was thought that only two original copies survived until a collection of approximately 15 was brought in to the Antiques Roadshow in 2012 by the daughter of an ex-Royal Observer Corps member.[6] A few further examples have come to light since.[7]
But of course there were many powerful phrases bandied around to raise morale and a common sense of bravery and steadfastness. I mean, what else can you do to cope? One can only imagine what people had to endure, physically and emotionally and with no end date, the uncertainty must have only added to their anxiety.
In short: fear, grief, and hardship coexisted with resilience, unity, and hope. This emotional duality is why the “home front spirit” is remembered as both incredibly tough and deeply inspiring.
Much love, C xxxx
These phrases were designed to maintain morale during the Blitz and other hardships:
The government ran campaigns to encourage vigilance against spies and gossip.
As food and resources grew scarce, people were urged to conserve and contribute.
While not official slogans, these phrases were common on the homefront:
A quick blog update during my lunch break at work! I recorded a catch-up and uploaded it to my YouTube channel. I also cooked “Bubble and Squeak” as honestly, this is something I regularly cook as it is so quick and delicious and prefect for using up leftovers! The recipe on my blog is here >>> https://the1940sexperiment.com/2012/07/31/bubble-and-squeak-no-78/
Sending you my best thoughts and wishes.
C xxxx