Month: September 2009

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Week 8 weigh in

Start weight: 315 lbs (22 st 7 lb)

Last weeks weight: 291 lbs (20st 11 lb)

This weeks weight: 289 lbs (20st 09 lb)

Week 8 weight loss: 2lbs

TOTAL weight loss to date: 26lb (1 st 12 lb)

eatlessbreadI am OVER THE MOON with another weight-loss this week despite shoveling it away during meal times!

I may cut back a little on bread next week simply because I am not sure whether the average 1940’s person would have eaten as much bread as I am doing! Eating more potatoes was encouraged instead…

Talking of bread I forgot to bring my lunch to work today so I am off to Tim’s to buy myself a carton of milk and a large freshly baked wholewheat bread roll with butter…

Dang it…Ok so I’ll start the bread thing tomorrow!

Cxx

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A typical two day meal plan…

mealplan

Got a message a few days ago on Facebook

Hi Carolyn,
My name is C***** from Australia  and I have been following you on your website “1940’s Experiment”. I was just wondering what is your typical meal plan for the two days. I was thinking about doing what your doing too. It just sounds so much for better for you.
Thank you.
regards,
C*****

I am unorganized- I am sure the 1940’s housewife HAD to be very organized and would plan her meals out way in advance.. unfortunately, I don’t, so I do not have a typical two day meal plan as such but here is what I have eaten the past couple of days…

It may seem rather a lot, but I AM losing weight. I did read that for a 300 lb person to move around moderately throughout the day uses up 3000 calories so I guess I can eat more than say a 200 lb person and still lose weight.

The main thing I want to stress is that now I don’t pick at food in-between meals and I stick STRICTLY to my food ration- when I’ve used it up I do without..

So here is what I have eaten in the last two days and this is pretty typical..

BREAKFAST

2 slices of wholemeal (wholewheat) toast with margarine and marmalade or marmite

or large bowl of porridge oats (oatmeal) made with water, splash of milk and a little sugar or honey mixed in.

LUNCH

Oslo Meal- [Click here] + a piece of fruit

or I bring in to work with me a huge plate of steamed veggies such as broccoli, parsnips, potatoes, cabbage with a blob of butter on and seasoned. (sometimes with some meaty gravy [click here] over the top ) In addition to that I have a piece of fruit like an apple or a pear.

DINNER

By the time I get home and start cooking it’s between 6 and 7pm and by this time I am starving! I always eat a BIG meal.

Yesterday– Two large baked potatoes topped with a little bit of strong cheddar, generous serving of meaty gravy, a chunk of freshly baked wholemeal bread, a few spoonfuls of steamed carrots, big mound of steamed cabbage. For dessert I didn’t have anything cooked so had a pear.

Today– A big mound of mashed potato (a blob of marg and some thyme, salt & pepper for seasoning), served with large portions of cabbage and cauliflower and the remainder of the meaty gravy I made yesterday. For dessert I had two freshly baked Rock Buns [click here] and two steaming hot cups of tea!

SUPPER

I like to round off the day with a glass or two of milk- usually one small glass of cold milk and a cup of milky coffee. The amount I have depends on how much I have left to use!

Obviously my diet depends on what I have available or what recipes I have been re-creating. I quite often make veggies stews with beans and pulses in for extra protein..

Hope this helps!

C xx

PS: I am convinced that the diet industry has got it ALL wrong (actually that is an unfair generalization as things have really changed over the past 10 years)…BUT what I mean to say is

WE SHOULD ALL BE EATING MORE TO LOSE WEIGHT….seriously!

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Week 7 Weigh In- 2lb off!

Start weight: 315 lbs (22 st 7 lb)

Last weeks weight: 293 lbs (20st 13 lb)

This weeks weight: 291 lbs (20st 11 lb)

Week 7 weight loss: 2lbs

TOTAL weight loss to date: 24lb (1 st 10 lb)

I seriously can’t believe that I’ve lost weight this week but am obviously pleasantly surprised..

Have enjoyed Fish & Chips and Rock Buns!

BUT I have changed my way of eating and I think that is a very important step in the right direction for me..

When I look back to when I was SLIM, I ate 3 to 4 good sized meals a day, strictly ate nothing inbetween meals except the occasional piece of fruit, ate little junk food and was quite active!

This is soooooo encouraging… I am on my way to wearing smaller knickers!

C xx

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The 1940’s diet- a healthier diet for you and the environment

As I sit here, waiting for the children to finish their showers so I can hog the bathroom and get ready too, I just wanted to share a few thoughts on WHY I truly believe that we as a society should take note of the way people fed themselves in 1940’s Britain during World War II..

Contemplating my unhealthy diet before and my simple diet now they are vastly contrasting..

In 2009 I relied on many processed foods in my daily diet, many foods contained colours and preservatives and lots of salt, I ate a lot of hidden fats, many drinks contained sweeteners, I cooked less from scratch, was more likely to grab a convenience snack and much of my FRESH (ermmm) items had been shipped in from around the world..

In 1940 I am relying on nearly all fresh foods most of which have been grown locally (and therefore supporting the local economy), cooking from scratch, using little processed foods, my fats are weighed and not hidden, using anything that has been imported very sparingly and nearly all my foods contain no colours, preservatives or sweetners..

I have to say I feel more alert, happier and healthier already- heard the phrase?- ‘you are what you eat!’

OK better go- time to go to work!

C xx

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Rock Buns

rockbuns

I had a real sweet tooth yesterday but now I live in a world without JUNK FOOD (the closest I get to junk food is wholewheat bread with jam!) my craving had to be cooked from scratch.. It was so worth the effort though…..only 30 minutes after weighing out the ingredients I was enjoying a couple of rock buns, with a blob of mock cream and strawberry jam and a couple of hot cups of British tea!

Rock Buns

  • 8 oz wholemeal/wholewheat flour
  • 4 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice/all spice
  • 2 oz margarine
  • 2 oz sugar
  • 2 oz sultanas or dried mixed fruit
  • 1 egg or 1 reconstituted dried egg
  • milk
  • 2 teaspoons sugar for topping

Method

Sift the flour, baking powder and spice

Rub in the margarine

Add the sugar, dried fruit and the egg

Gradually add enough milk to make a sticky mixture

Put spoonful onto parchment paper on baking tray ( makes 12-14)

Sprinkle with the sugar

Cook in a hot oven for 12-15 minutes

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Extra tea ration fell from the sky..

cuppatea

With TEA being strictly rationed, all my birthdays came at once on Saturday when I was given a present of not only a pack of 80 tea bags (the difference in the 1940s would be that it would have been loose tea) BUT the tea had come all the way from ENGLAND! (I am British and moved here to Nova Scotia in Canada in 2004)..

The bearers of such a fabulous gift were my EX Husband’s parents- it was truly wonderful to see them again as it had been a very long 5 years since we last sat face to face.

So yesterday, I have shared some of my British tea ration with my kids and we have enjoyed several cups of hot English tea served from a nice white teapot and accompanied by freshly baked rock buns.

YUM!

PS Pinch me please

C xx

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Mock cream recipe 1

mockcream1

I have noticed a number of mock cream recipes in my 1940’s recipe books so have decided to try them out and see if there really is something that can replicate fresh cream using ingredients available to the 1940’s housewife…

it cured my sweet tooth though!

This one looked pretty good and tasted OK but nothing like cream- guess the granulated sugar grittiness gave it away! Anyhow- I did enjoy a blob of it on some spiced rock buns I made earlier (recipe coming tomorrow for those) topped with a little strawberry jam- how decadent!

It did cure my sweet tooth though…

Mock cream recipe 1

  • 2 oz margarine
  • 2 oz fine granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dried milk powder
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Cream the sugar and margarine together until light and fluffy

Add in the dried milk powder and milk and beat well until light and fluffy again

Chill and serve

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Spam Spam Spam Spam- everybody loves Spam..

spamcan

The last time I ate Spam (and it has only been once until today) it was not a memorable experience. Infact I seen to remember I wretched as it slithered out of the can..

All that changes when you are HUNGRY and when your food choices are limited so for the sake of authenticity I decided to open the can of SPAM in the cupboard (which I bought 6 weeks ago) and cook with it as any good housewife would have done in the 1940’s.

Would SPAM still be ikky? Could I physically eat the stuff given my inaugural exeperience? And what about the ethics?

Would SPAM still be ikky…?

Putting all this stuff aside the can of Spam was tentatively opened and true to previous form slithered out of the can and I cut two slices from the block of processed luncheon meat with its jiggly, jelly coating. Into a pan I placed a little butter and heated until hot, sprinkled the spam slices with a little thyme and pepper and placed into the pan and slowly browned the slices, turning once, over medium heat.

Once cooked they actually looked OK!

An even bigger surprise when I tasted the offensive article…it actually tasted pretty good! It was quite salty but  quite yummy and an ideal accompaniment for a plate of rather bland cauliflower and potatoes.

Now I can see how the 1940’s housewife sang it’s praises…

SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM everybody loves SPAM!

spam1940

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The eating out challenge..

I knew it was going to be difficult .. living for a year on wartime rations.

Because I am committed to trying to do this as close to 100% authentically as possible, when I go out to friends houses, parties, the pub, or any social function, inevitably there are real challenges when faced with modern menu’s and cuisine. I no longer can choose just anything from the menu and it takes quite a bit of willpower NOT to do so..

This past week has once again been socially busy (lucky me!)… lunching at the Grand Banker, dinner at the Yacht Club, lunchtime buffet with family visitors at home and meetings and all of them involve FOOD. I have a mental list of what I KNOW is 100% OK to have and I have several ‘occasionally available’ items but finding these things on a modern day menu without some modern bastardization can be real difficult! I love just plain baked potato and I know I am safe with that but even that can be hard to find on a menu without some ‘improvements’ done to it!

BUT there has been one saving grace- good old fish and chips. This was available in the 1940’s so twice this week I have enjoyed this- once with chips and the other time with salad. Unfortunately the meeting I attended was accompanied by dip and modern crackers so I had to sit there being anti-social while everyone else feasted but the buffet at home contained many items I could enjoy (as I had been the one to put it together) however greed overcame me and I managed to eat all my bacon and cheese ration in just one day..

This week I am left with 1/2 lb mince beef, a tin of spam, and an egg..

That’s not so bad..

PS It’s Sunday- can’t wait to get cooking and share some more recipes!

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The lumpy BOOB!

I was feeling my boobs the other night (you should try it- feels nice….I mean feel your own not mine!) and immediately underneath I felt a strange lump that had never been there before. I poked around a bit and was disturbed to find that the lump was quite large and bumpy. Fleetingly thoughts of the tragic kind entered my head but only for a few seconds as a few further harder prods confirmed to me that infact I was discovering my own ribcage!

It was like finding a fossil that had been hidden for millions of years (Ok so I am exaggerating) but nevertheless it felt pretty good to find out that I did indeed possess one.

Looks like I’ll be discovering all sorts of new lumps and bumps as the months pass by!

C xx