Well it’s Tuesday and I’m off work this week!! I was up at 5:30 am though to put out my wheelie bin for refuse collection (they arrive super early sometime after 6) as I forgot to put my bin out last night.
Then I decided to head off to Tesco at 6:30 am but never made it as my car didn’t work. The whole car has been immobilized due to an airbag fault so I’m going to have a tinker and a poke before calling out a technician! So I’ve done my shopping online. Usually we online shop at Asda (and in person at Aldi and the veg market stall in town) but decided on Tesco for a change! I still occasionally have an organic vegetable box from Riverford, I’ve been a customer for several years and it’s a real treat when I receive one!
Yesterday I sorted out all my understairs cupboard (my war store) and we gave away 40 expired cans on Olio. My eldest daughter dealt with that and literally within minutes these had been snapped up and somebody turned up at our door. A lot of food charities use Olio for free food. So everything has now been sorted and I’ll just finish tidying and labelling the boxes in there.
We have enough emergency food for the 3 of us for at least a couple of months should the worst happen whether it’s job loss, sickness, inflation or God forbid, conflict and the economical changes that would bring. I’ll share our emergency war store in this weekends YouTube video.
Yesterday I made a huge pot of stew that I not only consume frequently when I am on rations but also when I’m not! It was delicious and ate it for lunch and dinner with some bread and later with a large baked potato. Due to the amount of cabbage, broccoli and legumes, the weather has been stormy in the house for the last 12 hours. Jess and Em have been troopers putting up with the worsening conditions. If only we had gas masks….
I’ve pulled out a couple of WW2 recipe books that I LOVE in preparation for returning to rationing this Sunday June 2nd. I’m going to plan out my menu’s ahead of time and create a new main meal every day from these books for week 1.
The books I will be using are:
- Vegetables for Victory by Ambrose Health
- Health for All: Wartime Recipes by Margaret Y. Brady
Much love, C xxxx
It is all amazing healthy (no e numbers or artifical colourings) food! Even my doctor said it was one of the best diets to be on. Good luck, ypu can do.it!! Xx
Thanks Justine! xxxx I’ve done rationing long-term (6-12 months) quite a few times now and each and every time I got so much healthier and lost lots of weight. This time will involve some modification so I can keep this up for years rather than months xxx C
The books sound interesting. I will look out for them
I was lucky enough to get these books gifted to me, I love them xxxx
We re-start on Sunday as well!….getting quite excited to do it properly again (well with a 21st century twist).
Excited to be back into it again with some tweaks here and there like you will be! My basic rations are going to be exactly the same but I’m not going to limit fruit and vegetable types so if I fancy an avocado or a banana I’ll have one! (10 months without these was very difficult and want to stick to this for years this time). Also, once a week on a Saturday night, will have a non-40’s meal/treats as that is our movie night so I’d like to cook a fancy modern vegan meal! xxxx
Good for you (and your daughter), for making sure all those cans went to people who would most likely make immediate use out of them. It’s a good feeling to clear space in the cupboards and get organised isn’t it. Looking forward to this new start of your rationing journey, I’m half tempted myself to give it another go.
That was me, commenting under my old blog address by accident, sorry!
Thank you, yes the cans would be still good to use so it seemed a shame to throw them out!! I would have kept them but my family are weird that sort of stuff and quite honestly it was a good time to have a proper clearout! xxxx
Oh you’ve inspired me to give it a go as well 🙂 I’m just trying to figure out my points – or a workable version of it – for the non-rationed extras. Excited to see how your new plan will work. Enjoy your week off xx
I’m working on some more printables that might be useful that I should have ready in the next week or so. Hope to hear about how you get on giving rationing a go! xxx C
Dearest Carolyn, I’m wishing you a relaxing and yet productive precious few days off, for as you say free time is now such a precious commodity. Thank you once again for a lovely read, I hope your ‘to-do’ list is more realistic and manageable than mine ever are, take care, Happy Holidays, Frances xxx
Hi Frances, honestly for the first time my to-do list is quite small! I am really needing a rest and no pressure so my week off is a bit of walking, some blogging and filming, planning for rationing and clearing out some of my cupboards and rooms that have got very untidy! C xxxxx Thank you
I have just saved and read the visible part of Margaret Y. Brady’s introduction to “Health for All: Wartime recipes”. If only she had been listened to beyond the war! What she was saying 80 years ago, is what Dr Chris van Tulleken is pleading for us to do now. How as first world countries did we get it so wrong, when successive governments could have heavily taxed the unhealthy UPF foods to subsidise the healthy alternatives. Thank you so very much Carolyn for scanning Margaret Brady’s introduction. Frances x
Where did we go wrong? Well, back after the war and when the world was still in black & white, convenience in the kitchen was seen as progress and a road to the future. A classic case of one step forward and two steps back.
It’s no coincidence that science fiction films of the day offering a glimpse of the future, would show people abandoning food altogether in favour of a time saving myriad of tablet and pill replacements.
I certainly don’t recall ever seeing Buck Rogers sitting down with Ming the Merciless over a bowl of his Mum’s Scotch Broth!
It feels like that Sean, we somehow got the basics wrong and we are realising that now xx
So true! This resonated with me big time and I’ll share some more pages from this book soon. Love Dr Chris van Tullekens book too! C xxxx
I did laugh when I read about the need for gas masks – but seriously there are easy solutions to “aid the digestion” such as a pinch of fenugreek, ginger, fennel, etc. Try a tisane of ginger, peppermint, etc. Then there is always Jasmine tea.
In Indian cuisine and cooking, a long standing ingredient that helps some people with diet related flatulence is an inexpensive ground spice called hing, or sometimes better known as asofoetida. All the major supermarkets sell it, and is found in the herb & spice aisle.
Thank you both! I will try some of these! I never used to have problems, I’ve always eaten mounds of veggies but since my gallbladder removal back in 2019, things seem to have changed! Parp!
That stew of yours looks a bit like one of my Minestrone soups. And yes, the beans do sometimes encourage the odd trouser trumpet or ten!
If only we could bottle it and save a bob or two on the gas bill…
hahaha! Now that’s a great idea!!! 🙂