So it all starts on Monday 3rd of June. Back to rationing with a TWIST! I’ve lived on 100% authentic WW2 rations long term several times in my past and last year I managed 10 months (and lost 70 lbs). Each and every time I lost weight and became healthier, EVERY SINGLE TIME! (but as soon as I went back to normal life I started gaining the weight back). So basically this has taught me that I have to be prepared to live on rations for even longer!
BUT that is easier said than done! Trust me, unless you’ve done it yourself, living in a modern world and living on rations for months on end isn’t easy. It gets to a stage where you really miss all the veggies and fruits you used to absolutely love and this can gnaw away at you, making the experience less enjoyable than it could be (Rationing enjoyable? Trust me, if it’s making you feel healthier, lose weight and save money, you begin to feel happier so rationing becomes strangely enjoyable).
Here is what happened to my health last year after living on WW2 rations for 6 months…
So going forward I’m going to live my life on rations (with a TWIST) until I get to my goal of weighing under 200 lbs and possibly this will be my way of life for the rest of my life to maintain it.
What is the TWIST?
- While most of the fruit and vegetables I’ll be eating will be what was available in the 1940s as I’m recreating authentic WW2 recipes from cookery books from the time, if I’m craving that avocado, that banana or that orange or out of season asparagus, I’m damn well going to have it NO GUILT! This is about health and sustainability. Good health and joy are vital to sustainability long-term!
- Saturday night, modern recipe night! I LOVE modern recipes, we are talking smoothie bowls, nice cream, homemade vegan pizza, hummus, vegan greek yogurt, spaghetti bolognese! Saturday night, is movie night with my eldest daughter. I won’t be pigging out on ultra processed modern snack foods but WILL enjoy that one meal a week where we enjoy modern cuisine!
- Vegan alternatives to meat. Most weeks I’ll be using vegan mince/tvp/sausages/tofu/ham slices as my meat ration so I am able to recreate WW2 recipes. I’ll have to use these sparingly and make smaller versions of the recipes in books. While most of these are essentially ultra processed foods, I’m having minimum quantities when you balance it with the bulk of most of the food I will be eating. That is how I’m going to start anyway, who knows, I might slowly cut out all UPF’s and use wholefoods alternatives eventually but not just yet! I’ll ease myself into that….
Weekly ration for 1 adult
- Bacon & Ham 4 oz
- Meat to the value of 1 shilling and sixpence (around about 1 lb minced beef or a couple of chops)
- Butter 2 oz
- Cheese 2 oz (8 oz and then increased to 12 oz in Dec 1941 for vegetarians if they relinquished their meat ration. Additionally agricultural workers and other similar workers were given this extra allowance too on top of their normal ration)
- Margarine 4 oz
- Cooking fat 4 oz
- Milk 3 pints
- Sugar 8 oz
- Preserves 1 lb every 2 months
- Tea 2 oz
- Eggs 1 fresh egg per week
- Sweets/Candy 12 oz every 4 weeks
In addition to this a points system was put in place which limited your purchase of tinned or imported goods. 16 points were available in your ration book for every 4 weeks and that 16 points would enable you to purchase for instance, 1 can of tinned fish or 2lbs of dried fruit or 8 lbs of split peas.
What am I going to eat during my first week?
I’ll share my planned menu below again. I will try and stick to this. The most challenging thing is time especially after a long day at work but needs must so I’m willing to put in the effort but also use leftovers regularly too!
I’m looking forward to sharing everything with you here and on my YouTube channel during my journey once again. It’s like RINSE AND REPEAT here but I KNOW I’m on the right track, I know this resonates with me and my body and I’ll keep at it.
Hope you’ll join me, C xxxx
PS: Join our Facebook group here! Rationers from all over the world!
Well done you Carolyn,
Life and food is all about balance, and trying to completely ignore the food stuffs available in 2024 is desperately hard, and then can lead to feelings of despondency when you ‘fail’ to regimentally stick to a 1940s diet. That striving for absolute perfection in anything is usually my downfall. So good luck, I hope you have a good week and I shall enjoy joining you as best I can. My porridge is at the ready, and for me milk and tea are not being rationed, as I cannot function without them! Frances x
Awww thank you so much Frances! What you have said is 100%! Striving for perfection, while admirable, just isn’t sustainable long term as incredibly hard. here’s to porridge on Monday!!! Good luck! C xxxx
I think many of us belong to the perfectionist club. Thank you also for your menu planning for next week. I am not cook, I’m a sewer and knitter, So i am very grateful for your menu suggestion for next week. I am especially looking forward to Wednesday morning’s, peaches and porridge; it worth having tinned peaches as dessert for Tuesday evening, just to be able to indulge in such decadence on Wednesday morning! And here’s to Monday morning, and our continued battle of the bulge! Frances xxx
I am with you ,Monday morning I will lift my spoon of porridge to you and say ” cheers “. I have seven and a half stone to loose and it is so hard as I am a comfort eater and salad just doesn’t do it when I am really low but the rest of the time I love it. You are an inspiration and I am sure that following your journey is going to help me so thank you so much, Chrissie. x
Excited for you, Carolyn! I love the twist. I did rations with a twist as well the last time I did it because fruits and veg are so healthy and variety was my key to success.
Well, I shall be cheering you on from the sidelines. As a type II diabetic, I have to leave the carbs (grains and starchy vegetables) and fruit alone for the most part. So my eating is mostly non-starchy vegetables and protein, and to lose weight, I have to throw in intermittent fasting.
That makes a lot of sense. You want a regimen that you can stick with indefinitely if possible. I know that after the war, even as rationing continued, things like bananas and oranges started to appear in the shops, so this isn’t even historically inaccurate from that perspective. But the principles behind rationing — that everyone have enough; that the diet should give you all of the vitamins and minerals you need for excellent health; and that waste should be kept to an absolute minimum — are not only perfectly sound but in this day and age, really very relevant.
What will you be using your 16 points per month on. I love the idea to include foreign fruit sometimes, that is what I really miss. Good luck, I will be joining you.
I like the changes you are implementing this time around. In the 1940’s people ate the fruits and veggies that were available. So, you choosing to eat what is available now is the same. I bet they also had days where they created ‘new’ meals out of what they had, for variety. That is kind of like your once a week ‘modern’ meal. I believe you will still be following the essence of the era and I can’t wait to read and hear all about it! I have been suffering from a lack of ideas of what to cook lately, or maybe a lack of motivation to do it. I might follow along with your menus to help me get cooking healthy meals again! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much Trina, yes I honestly think they managed to get hold of extras a bit more than we give people credit for back then haha! Xxxx
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Your experiments with WWII rations are wonderfully interesting and inspiring.
Have you heard of Claire Loewenfeld? She was a nutritionist and herbalist who worked in England during the war at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children . In 1938 Claire studied at the Maximilian Bircher-Benner Klinik in Zurich and obtained a Special Diploma in Nutrition. During the war the supply of fresh fruit and veg was a problem and Claire promoted the importance of good nutrition and Vitamin C. She published a pamphlet advocating the collection of rose hips as they provided the highest home grown source of Vitamin C. The pamphlet was called
“Wild Rose Hips in War Time. Their Collection Preparation and Use.”
In response, the Government organised a nationwide initiative to collect rose hips and with the help of the Women’s Institute they were processed.
During the war Claire encouraged people to forage for wild growing foods. This became a series of booklets called “Britain’s Wild Larder” and encouraged the use of wild foods: nuts, berries, fruit, herbs and mushrooms. Some of these books are still available second hand. Claire Loewenfeld was a courageous woman and a vegetarian, and she wrote a number of books about nutrition, health, herbs and organics which were way ahead of her time.
You might like to supplement your tea ration and try rose hip tea which is delicious with a little honey. Perhaps you could go “foraging” at a market for mushrooms, nuts and herbs which wouldn’t be rationed.
Wishing you ” V ” for victory with your WWII Ration diet!