I have been busy in the kitchen and have a lot of recreated WWII recipes from the homefront to share with you over the next week or two- afterall I do have to photograph and post another 70 authentic recipes to keep to my end of the bargain before my years experiment ends…!
This particular recipe was shared with me many years ago when I lived in rural Norfolk in the UK… it is really very tasty indeed
Carrot and Potato Mash
- 2 medium/large potatoes per person
- 1 medium/large carrot per person
- 1/2 oz butter per person
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
Fill a large saucepan with salted water and heat
Chop potatoes into small pieces ( 1/2 inch chunks) and place in saucepan of hot water
Grate carrots and add to saucepan too
Bring to boil and then simmer for about 15 mins or so until potatoes are tender
Drain thoroughly
Add butter to saucepan and mash thoroughly
Add salt and pepper and stir thoroughly until satisfactory taste has been achieved.
Serve with a little knob of butter on top
PS: Click here and check out someone who has started a 1940s ration diet on UK TV – note the link to my wartime recipe page- yay!
Hi Carolyn
I just love your blog and think you’re doing great! Since I have a very small income I like the idea of incorporating the concept of rationing to better organize my grocery shopping. I have a small vege garden to grow greens, tomatoes & pumpkin, and barter goods & services among family & friends.
I recently read a book called “Nella Last’s War”, a selection of diary entries by an Englishwoman during WW2. She writes intelligently openly about her experiencing rationing , among many other things.
It is really inspirational.
Keep up the good work.
Regards, Angela
Ohh I just love it when a notification pops up when I am updating something to say a comment has been left!! hehe
Hi Angela- thanks for leaving a message! Oh you are so correct in thinking that incorporating rationing into your daily life can save on groceries- it helps me out no end and like you I am on a small income. If only the children would eat 1940’s then I would really spend a lot less money!
Your idea of a veggie garden and bartering is excellent- I love bartering too!
I’ll keep an eye out for that book- it sounds like an excellent read. Thank you for telling me about it!
PS: I worked out that if my children ate pretty much 100% 1940’s we would save at least 50% on our grocery bill- it would probably be a lot healthier for them too. My youngest daughter shared a dinner with me tonight of wartime cheese pudding (I’ll post that recipe tomorrow)… she said that it was really good and I should make that more often!
Hi,
I have been meaning to leave a post for ages, so today is the day! I love your blog and you have given me some inspiration to lose some weight myself. You have done so well (and we all know reducing is not an easy thing!)
Do you have this book “Wartime Recipes from the Maritimes 1939-1945:” by Devonna Edwards? I picked it up when I was in Halifax a few years ago (at Pier 21 of all places – where I went through when we immigrated to Canada) I love this book and it has some good and also some very unusual recipes. I don’t know if it will fit into your ration regime because I don’t know if Canadian and British rations were the same, but you may want to check it out.
I just received a gift certificate for my local bookstore and will be having them order in the Marguerite Patten wartime cookbooks that you mention earlier in your blog. I’m very interested in wartime/1940/1950 cookery.
Thanks for the link to my blog!
Uta
Hey thanks and likewise- your blog is fabby (seriously who needs TV when you have blogs- it’s what I look forward to doing every evening!!!!)
I have never heard of that book but I must find it!!! It is proving quite hard to find much information on the internet about recipes used in NS during the war- even much about rationing. I did approach the local museum- will persist but wow- sounds a book I NEED!!! hehee
Love MP’s books…. currently browsing Feed the Nation
C xx
Hi Carolyn,
I have the book Wartime Recipes from the Maritimes by Devonna Edwards. It’s a neat little book with a Canadian perspective, and I enjoyed reading it. I bought mine from Amazon.ca, and paid 12.95 for it. I just checked the Amazon’s website and it is on sale for 11.66. Hope this helps.
I also just bought “Sucking eggs, What Your Wartime Granny Could Teach You About Diet, Thrift and Going Green…” by Patricia Nicol. the back of the book states “Sucking eggs is a colourful, comparitive history, full of insights into the wartime and austerity years and the lessons we can learn from them today. it takes a creative look at two very different generations, and makes it clear that, when it comes to living greener, thriftier lives, our grannies can show us the way.” I have just started reading this one, but so far I am enjoying it very much.
I love these kind of books, it amazes me how much our wartime grandmothers were into the green movement, long before our generation made it trendy. Too bad that somewhere along the way, all that knowledge was set aside for progress.
Thanks for the info Sharon!!! That is one book I will treat myself too next time the opportunity to purchase one arises! Fabby!!!
Also the Patricia Nicol one (thanks for telling me about that one too!!!)….I have always said we have SO MUCH TO LEARN from the war years but we have lost so much since this period of time. We have made such great advances in science, medicine, engineering etc but somehow lost the basic skills our grandmothers and even mothers taught us, thrift, making do until you can afford something, making things last longer, turning the heating down, using everything up, doing without if you have to, looking after things, making things ourselves at home….for some reason now our society now feels deprived if we do not have everything available to us…
Have felt for a long time that the frugal or thrift movement needs to establish itself again as a ‘normal’ way to live (not abnormal as many people now consider it to be)….this needs to be taught at school too! By establishing consideration for ourselves and future generations we build a naturally greener way forward to rectify the continuing blatant rape of our planet in the past few decades……our modern world has been free falling, into an unsustainable, global community with it’s need for ‘EVERYTHING NOW’. Like a spoiled child we stomp our feet and sulk..
Sorry for going on- you touched a nerve on a subject I am completely passionate about. Not just the green side of things but actually the desperation among the people in our community who struggle on little to get by yet feel obliged to provide their families with stuff they cannot afford..it leads to debt and unhappiness and terrible stress.
Anyway thanks so much for those book suggestions… next time I get some birthday money through I’ll be looking out for those!!!
C xxxx
My grandmother used to make this for me when I was a tiny girl. She said it was the only way she could get me to eat vegetables then. 🙂 I still love carrot and potato mash. Love this recipe, and love your blog!
it can be done with swede as well x i love the 40’s the clothes,hairstyles, the old black/white war films and i love reading romance books during the war Joan Jonker books are brill x
Just discovered your blog and it’s great! Thanks so much for sharing.
A Belgian friend visited and made a similar dish but dropped a chicken oxo cube in the water, included some broccoli and a dash of nutmeg in the mash. It was very tasty!
I also second the suggestion to check out Nella Last’s diaries. She was an extraordinary woman: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/britain_wwtwo/nella_last_01.shtml
Cheers.
Pingback: Day 2 – 1940s Experiment 2013 | The 1940's Experiment
My mom made this for us growing up in the seventies and I still make it. We always add sweet onion to it. It adds a nice flavor. My mom got the recipe when she was a teenager living in Holland in the forties after World War II. I always serve it with pork chops and green beans.
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsJust found your blog what great recipes. Could you add me to your site please thanks.
Scottish Tattie Scones or Farls
Traditionally made with spuds, butter & oatmeal, but no flour & no raising agent (aka Irish Boxty) This recipe uses self raising flour & buttermilk for a lighter finish.
The Recipe
Makes 8 small farls or scones
Ingredients
500g cooked floury potatoes
50g dripping (or butter)
1 tbl buttermilk (or plain yougurt)
50g self raising flour (SRF)
Salt and black pepper
Extra dripping, for cooking
Method
Mix the spuds & butter together, work in the buttermilk then work in the SRF to make a dough, season to taste. Divide the mixture into halves, roll out to circles then mark each into quarters but do not cut through. Heat a frying pan, grease lightly and griddle each round separately, when colouring turn & cook other side. Serve hot or cold.
Scottish Tattie Pancakes
Ingredients
1 egg
50g self raising flour (SRF)
500g raw grated potatoes
1 small onion finely grated
Salt and black pepper
Dripping, for cooking
Method
Beat the egg, stir in the flour & beat. Stir in the potatoes, onion & season. Fry in dripping till golden turn, cook till golden & just keep going until it’s all used up. Serve hot. These freeze well either as batter or pancakes.
Note : if you grate the potatoes into cold or chilled water they are less likely to discolour, squeeze as dry as you can in a clean dry tea towel before adding to the batter.
Pingback: Decades of Recipes from 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, +beyond | Vintage Recipes - Pennsylvania Digital News
Pingback: Decades of Recipes from 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, +beyond | Vintage Recipes – Foodie Meter
Pingback: Decades of Recipes from 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, +beyond | Vintage Recipes – Easy Instant Pot Recipes
Pingback: Decades of Recipes from 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, +beyond | Vintage Recipes - Food Artisanal