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
Great minds must think alike. I was planning a return to rations as well1 Heavily modified because strict WW2 rations feels as austere as it was in the 40s! (to me)
But yes, the lack of choice and restriction is something I crave. Which sounds ridiculous to most people, but it’s the truth.
Today I’m getitng everything in order to figure out what I want my limits to be. I cant cut off all processed foods, but I can certainly cut back, and load up on the vegetables!
Much love <3
Quote: “But yes, the lack of choice and restriction is something I crave. Which sounds ridiculous to most people, but it’s the truth.” – We are twins!!! I know people must think that weird and I don’t understand it either but lets just accept that is us! Here’s to the comfort of less! C xxxx
Hi carolyn, I’ve been thinking the same lately, our recycling bin is ridiculous!! I wish we had a loose produce food shop near me so I could take my own containers etc, I do visit the local farm shop now for meat & veg & eggs. I’m getting a eco egg for washing clothes to save on plastic. I’m so happy you ate rationing again. Good luck. Xxc
It is shocking!! (the amount of recycling in our house!). I’ve started using those eco friendly laundry sheets now and not using fabric softener, I associate nice smelling clothes (added scent) to cleanliness and that isn’t necessarily so, its a difficult adjustment actually I’m finding! Good luck with your eco egg!
Count me in! I was truly happy pretending to live in the 1940s era when we did rations for a year and have felt like something is missing since we stopped.
Fab! I’m going to start preparing. I have my son visiting first week in November so intend to dive back in to rationing from then until Christmas and then in the new year xxxx
My friend and I (1940s re-enactors) spent two weeks on 1942 rations to raise funds for Bodmin Keep – and we both really miss the simplicity of the foods that we were eating (OK, perhaps not the Mock Duck). We did our Ration Challenge back in the summer and have decided to have another go during the winter months, as there were recipes that we wanted to try that were more suited to colder weather. Looking forward to it!
This sounds amazing Pamela! What a great idea! I love the winter recipes too, can’t beat a good hearty stew or pie!!! C xxx
I think I will join you, I have been concerned for a long time about the amount of plastic we use and have started replacing plastic packaging where I can. I love the simplicity of a ration diet. Looking forward to progress reports from you, good luck hugs.
Same here Judi, going to make an effort to replace to non plastic packaging where I can and more eco friendly cleaning products as I use things up… it’s just too much now, the world is going mad! C xxxx
Yay! I look forward to your posts.
Thanks Maggie xxxx C
Good Morning, Carolyn,
I understand entirely and agree with what you are saying. As soon as you let your guard down, we get sucked into a world of eating and consumerism, (including plastics,) that I really don’t feel I belong to. I was born in 1961, an only child of older parents who had both lived through the war. My childhood was one of ‘make do and mend’, and my husband, who came from a farming family, was born in 1954, had a ration book as a babe, and I think I am correct in saying that his Mum used tokens to buy, or put them towards, his pram. It always brings a smile to my face when people say they have ‘upcycled’ something, it reminds me of the American Great Depression saying of “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without,” I never knew the saying, but that was how I lived as, a very happy child. Take the greatest of care Carolyn, Frances
Hi Frances, absolutely, definitely feel that is happening and like you it doesn’t sit well with me, want to make changes to reduce, reuse and make do more and make more mindful choices in regards to plastic wrapping. Enough is enough is enough. Thank you for sharing your experiences, love listening to family stories xxx. c
Family stories ~ Sitting at the kitchen table and making home-made Christmas decorations using old magazines. My Mum, born in 1921, used to make these as a child, using the covers of old magazines, which were coloured, unlike the content pages, and so, of course, I made these too.
***Paper chains: Strips of paper cut from magazines to make paper chains with a dab of gum from a little bottle with a ‘hoof’ top, to make linked garlands.
***Angles: a circle of magazine paper folded into a cone with a small bauble for a head and white card wings using the backs of old birthday cards (the fronts were cut out and used as scraps; I still have one of my 1966 paper angles.
***Clowns: Toilet roll middles, crepe paper ‘skirts’, JollyCraft paper stickers used to create a face, magazine paper to make a cone hat, and in my case, Whitworths sultana box card used for their feet; I still have one of my 1965 clowns.
***Cotton Reel Christmas Trees: a nice wooden ‘Sylko’ cotton reel, painted red, and green crepe paper rolled tightly, one rolled end pushed into the top of the cotton reel and then partially cut down from the top end into about 5-lengthways sections, then gently pull the centre of the top up, and as it rises so the ‘branches’ of your tree unfurl! Pure magic as a small child. ***Plus tiny, little finger-sized glass tubes, of oh so precious glitter dust, none of these huge bottles that you see now.
Where has all that magic gone for our children, and with it, all the opportunities for wonderful memories that last a lifetime? So many of today’s children suffer from affluent neglect. As a child, I had very little in the way of material things, but much better food to eat and fewer UPFs. I learnt to cook, knit, and sew, and was taught the skills to enable me to survive in today’s world.
I work as a childminder, and I look at today’s oh-so-stressed young parents who have everything and yet nothing and massive debts to show for it, and think: how, as a society, did we get it so wrong? It’s so sad. I bake buns & biscuits with the children to take home and share. We’re making pumpkin soup and bread rolls this week for them to share with their families, and we make all our own festive decorations. And yet, when the early years curriculum talks about preparing today’s children with the skills and adaptability to thrive in an unknown world. Yet, where, oh where, are these basic skills? Nowhere to be seen… I’ll get off my soap box now!
So my 1940s task for today is to cook some of Carolyn’s Rock Buns, posted on 21st September 2009; they will be simply perfect with a cup of tea this afternoon. While Hubby Ken, ‘Dig’s in Hope’ of finding carrots, parsnips, and some leafy veg (maybe chard if I’m lucky) to go with today’s dinner, the potatoes have all been lifted and are in storage in the garage. Frances xxx
How lovely to see you again, Carolyn.
We have continued with our WW2 ration quantities even though we gave up the allotment, the bees, and all but a few hens in the garden.
After reading Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken, we have been even more determined to shop, cook and eat using the recipes of Britain in the 1940s. It keeps our food budget easily at £5 a day for the two of us, including our meat ration of £5 a week.
Best of health to you,
Nelliegrace
Those vegetables look very fresh and absolutely delicious, the way food should be.
With you all the way , I find it stressful shopping in the supermarket and get frustrated trying to buy as much as I can without packaging,it is not a pleasant experience, people look miserable and that includes the staff. I plan to go back to Riverford soon ,we haven’t ordered from them for a while as we have had a lot of expense on the house. Real food seems to becoming a luxury and also many people think it is too expensive or that they don’t have the knowledge, money or the time but that’s not always the case , once you get into the swing of things I think it can be rewarding and yummy, today I made a large loaf, six pizza rolls and two large bread rolls ,
all for £3 ,and eight rock cakes , the kitchen was warm and the house smells wonderful, homemade bread and soup is a favourite here. I make a huge batch of pastry and freeze it in lumps and make pies out of leftovers and simple pasties. I hope you get on well returning to rationing it has served you well in the past and your recipes are creative and yummy, Chrissie
Well I am 84 so it all seems so normal even though I was very young then.I do remember a lot.Our NZ experience was very similar I think.Best wishes and keep up the good work.I must try some of those recipes when I get motivated.Regards Geoff
Hi Carolyn, I think your idea of strict rations weekdays and treats at the weekend is a good idea. Too much restriction leads to excess in the end. .I also think that you can apply the ration amounts but use what new vegetables, pulses, beans etc. are now available. How many Mums would have loved sweet corn, or stuffed capsicum, or chickpeas, lots of tummy fillers there. I was born in 1946, so remember some of the rationing, but my Dad was a countryman, fishing and hunting, we never went without. Some very odd mixtures at times, but very tasty. We had an allotment at the bottom of our garden, plus our own chickens. I still remember going to the allotment on a very cold day to pick frozen brussel sprouts for Sunday dinner. Oh the hot aches in the fingers that came after!! Good luck with the rations, look forward to seeing what you make, and have fun with it!
I totally relate to this feeling – the world is Too Much at the moment. Ration cooking is a good way to step back from consumerism – and an act of resistance against it too. Looking forward to seeing what you make.
I think it’s the time of year with all the excesses that are appearing in the shops. So much of the food side of it is highly processed and just not necessary. Going back to a simpler time is very appealing, both from a health and a financial point of view.
I’m really looking forward to your book! I am hoping to get the family following a ration book diet in January. So much plastic waste on food these days.
Our local fruit and veg shop that has been a staple for a lot of us in the town, has sadly had to close due to FOUR super stores in the town. Its ridiculous. You can walk between Morrisons, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl.