Well I did it! I’ve been struggling with portion sizes but mostly evening junk food, so I am THRILLED that I managed to “Go Back to Rationing” yesterday and successfully completed my 1st day.

Breakfast

I almost forgot how little tea was available in the typical weekly British WW2 ration! Three flat teaspoons of loose leaf makes a whole pot of tea which is about 3 mugs and THAT IS IT!!! My weekly ration is around 20 teaspoons of tea. Not a lot and for some reason, anytime I’m back on rationing, I want to drink LOADS of tea. It is like I am possessed with the spirit of Mrs Doyle from Father Ted.

Luckily, I do have the perks of working from the office Mon-Fri mornings (and I work from home the afternoons). During those mornings I drink another 3 mugs of tea or coffee making the most of the canteen (our works kitchen).

With my pot of tea on the go I am also back to enjoying porridge for breakfast! I’m rationing it out at 50g/1.7 oz dried weight of porridge oats plus a teaspoon of milled flaxseed for good luck! I mix it with water and a splash of milk (3 pints doesn’t go far!!). I actually also added in a teaspoon of sugar. Couldn’t resist. I wanted to feel naughty!

Lunch

For lunch basically threw all the salad stuff I could into a bowl with beans for protein. I had romaine lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, a little bit of tomato, parsley and beetroot plus salad cream. I also had a slice of bread with margarine. I felt pretty hungry and ate every single bit! The rest of the beans I am using tomorrow. (I used a tin of beans from my store, as months go on I’ll be having to cook all my beans from scratch I think!)

Dinner

Honestly, by dinner time I felt like I hadn’t eaten in 2 days! I must have been nibbling a LOT between meals without realising it before! I’m purposely trying NOT to eat inbetween meals. Luckily, yesterday I made a Parsnip Pie so all I had to do was heat it up in those lovely modern things we call microwaves! I guess if it had been 1940 I’d have had to put the plate over the top of a saucepan of boiling water or put the pie back in the oven.

To accompany the Parsnip Pie, I made creamed cabbage! I found the recipe in Ambrose Heaths “Vegetables for Victory” but rather than make a sauce I used up some of the thick “Peasant Soup” I made at the weekend to braise it in. I added extra salt and pepper and some parsley and it was filling and delicious!

Supper

Once again, my stomach started rumbling around 8pm so I succumbed to a slice of bread and raspberry jam, AND a date from my rationing cupboard. I also rehydrated the used tea leaves in the teapot and squeezed a rather weak looking mug of tea out of the pot to take to bed with me.

My calories for the day? Around 1940, yes 1940, that is true and it is also true that 1940 calories was what the Ministry of Food felt the average sized woman/housewife would need every day to sustain her weight.

Funny that, C xxxx

Rationing starts tomorrow! I got a head start by making some Peasant Soup from the WW2 cook book “Vegetables for Victory” by Ambrose Heath AND I made another Parsnip Pie as that is what I’ll be eating for my main meal tomorrow!

The Peasant Soup is very simple and economical as you’d expect! I halved the ingredients below and this made 3 portions of thick, tasty soup. I’ve enjoyed a portion today and I will use the rest up this week.

Peasant Soup Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• 2 leeks
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 potatoes
• 1 small turnip
• Parsley
• 1 clove
• Margarine
• Salt and pepper
• Water

Method

Slice up two carrots, two onions, two leeks, two tomatoes. two potatoes and a small turnip. Stew them in a little margarine. ad then add a few sprigs of parsley, a clove, salt, pepper and enough hot water which, after boiling for about an hour, will be reduced to the amount of soup you will need.

When the vegetables are cooked, rub the soup through a sieve, and serve it as it is, or bind it, if you would rather, with the equivalent of half an egg in dried egg powder moistened with a little of the soup or with stock.

Makes 6 generous portions (cost around 20p per serving)

C xxxx

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?

1. 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!
2. 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!
3. 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!

Quite honestly, I have found my new favourite savoury WW2 ration book pie (sorry Lord Woolton ). The taste is absolutely delicious, the simplicity and economy are extremely favourable and I can’t wait to make it again next Monday for my first full day of rationing! See my planned menu here.

I found this WW2 recipe in Ambrose Heath’s “Vegetables for Victory” printed in 1944. The book is a gold mine for vegetable and economy lovers. Most ingredients for the recipes were simple to find in wartime and therefore simple to find today. I’m loving this book!

So lets talk about this fabulous PARSNIP PIE! It was so simple to make, I was quite generous with the salt, pepper and margarine and also added in a couple of chopped rubbery spring onions (I’m not wasting ANYTHING!) Here is the authentic recipe below from “Vegetables for Victory”.

So here is EXACTLY what I used re-creating this authentic WW2 recipe.

Parsnip Pie

• 2 large parsnips peeled and chopped
• 1 medium potato chopped
• 1 large chopped tomato
• 4 vegan sausages cooked and chopped
• 2 spring onions chopped
• Breadcrumbs made from 2 slices of bread and small handful of panko breadcrumbs
• Generous dollop of margarine
• Chopped fresh parsley
• Lots of salt and pepper

Method

Exactly as Ambrose tells you above! Oh except that after browning my sausages, I added the breadcrumbs to the pan and cooked them for a minute so they absorbed some the fat left in the pan!

I mixed in the cold chopped tomato and spring onion, chopped cooked sausage, chopped parsley and lots of margarine, salt and pepper to the mashed parsnip and potatoes and mixed well before pressing down into a pie dish and then sprinkled with the breadcrumbs and finished with a generous sprinkle of salt on top.

This went into a 180 C oven for 20 minutes or so until the breadcrumbs were crispy.

Cost

You need to know this as it’s pretty economical! Helps with the cost of living!

Total cost of ingredients = £2.40 ish (60 p per portion)

Calories = 250-300 calories a slice (makes 4 generous portions). Calories depend on the amount of margarine and other sausage/veg.

Thank you

Thanks so much for your continued support of my blog. It’s been so lovely to have this week off and actually have some time to do what I LOVE doing with all my heart!

Much love, C xxxxx

I have my first week back to rationing fully planned! I’ve got a blank menu planner page for you to download too if it would be useful!

So as you will see from my plan below, anything I spend time cooking will have enough leftovers for the next day. It can be difficult after a full day at work to make yourself spend an hour baking a pie and cleaning up afterwards so I want to make sure I get at least another meal out of it when I do!

I have been mentioning that to make my rationing plan sustainable in the long term, I will modify basic rations on occasions! I simply cannot imagine a year or two without bananas or avocados again or some of the delicious vegetables and fruits we are so very lucky to have available to us these days. This long term plan is all about health so there will be times when I will enjoy these things and NOT feel guilty!

My plan at the moment is to enjoy a non-1940s off ration meal, once a week on a Saturday night. I will likely have the avocado or bananas then and also enjoy creating some of Broccoli Mums delicious looking vegan recipes! I enjoy a movie night with my eldest daughter on Saturday nights so it’s important to me to enjoy some modern recipe creativity too!

I’m so looking forward to making my old favourite Lord Woolton Pie again but adding in new recipes next week which include Carrot Flan, Parsnip Pie, Leek Tart and Potato and Pea Cakes. I’ll be sure to photograph these and share the recipes on my blog as well as work out the cost of each of these dishes.

I’m hoping that returning to rationing will help me get my household food budget under control again too so I’ll breakdown my full weeks expenditure!

Here is the printable meal plan sheet if you wanted to download and use it. C xxx

I’m a happily single, middle-aged woman who misses receiving letters the old-fashioned way.

During the past year I have received 24 letters from the USA following the back and forth letter writing and blossoming romance between Audrey and Charlie during WW2 and it’s brought a little light into my life.

The Flower Letters is such a unique concept, I needed to look forward to letters the slow way, to delay instant gratification, to remember how it was to correspond by letter.

I remember as an 18 year old girl, living in a crummy bedsit all alone, dating a 19 year old Aircraftsman (who became my husband for 25 years) and even then, in the 80’s, all our “courting” was done by letter! 2, 3, 4 page letters with doodles and little cut outs from magazines or newspapers. Receiving those letters meant everything and you had to wait…

The Audrey and Charlie letters reminded me of those times and it made me think how important those letters would have been during wartime, holding on to something precious, reread over and over.

I’ve now received all 24 of my letters over the course of a year, I highly recommend them.

C xxxx

I’ve signed up to The Flower Letters affiliate program to raise money for the blog so please feel free to use my link. I believe you will get a discount and I get a small percentage too.

If you haven’t flicked through this Ministry of Food report, it’s fascinating reading, especially if you are interested in the typical diet before, during and after WW2. The whole 121 page report is below for you to browse or save to your computer and is invaluable if you are a food historian or just simply curious!

C xxx

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

IF the Tories win the general election on Thursday 4th July, Great Britain would likely see “National Service” return to our land as early as September 2025. How do you feel about that? Good, bad, indifferent? Is this simply for the good of youth, to give young people responsibility and direction and bring back a sense of community and “National Spirit” or is this preparing our land for future conflict, ensuring our children have skills that can be “called-up” when the time comes because of our current lack of defence and inadequate vital civilian infrastructure that just couldn’t cope with another pandemic or war?

What was National service?

After the Second World War (1939-45), the young men of Britain were called upon to meet new challenges in a rapidly changing world. National Service, a standardised form of peacetime conscription, was introduced in 1947 for all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 21.

Between 1949 – when the National Service Act came into force – and 1963 – when the last National Serviceman was demobbed – more than 2 million men were conscripted to the British Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.

Let’s briefly recap on the history of National Service in Great Britain.

• National service was introduced in 1947 after World War Two by Clement Attlee’s Labour government.
• It meant men between the ages of 18 and 21 had to serve in the armed forces for 18 months.
• The mandatory national service scheme came to an end in 1960.

Let’s briefly recap on Rishi Sunak’s Conservative pledge.

• Twelve months of mandatory national service would be reintroduced by the Conservatives if they win the general election.
• Eighteen-year-olds would be able to apply for one of 30,000 full-time military placements or volunteering one weekend a month carrying out a community service.
• The armed forces placements would allow young people to learn about cyber security, logistics, procurement, or civil response operations.
• Non-military volunteering would involve 25 days with organisations such as the fire service, the police and the NHS.

What are your thoughts on a mandatory National Service?

While most of us will need to really think about this, I think most of us have a gut reaction.

Being ex-military myself, I learned a LOT during my short time in the No. 2620 (County of Norfolk) Squadron RAuxAF Regiment as a young 22 year old. But this isn’t for everybody! I’ve learned much more about young people, mental health, neurodiversity since then.

With the “new” National Service scheme we also have an alternative volunteer placement in some of our main services which would be the NHS, Fire and Police services. Goodness knows we need these critical services. I’m actually kind of liking this option but again feel the importance of matching individuals with suitable volunteer roles. This all has to be carefully thought out.

Do you know of anyone who took part in the original National Service? I’d love to hear what your thoughts are!

Return to rationing starts soon!

So my return to rationing starts very soon! Next Sunday (June 2nd) to be precise! I’ve cleaned out and organised my rationing cupboard and I’m currently sorting out my “war-store” under the stairs and I now have a plan for my sustainable rationing plan (long-term) which will allow me to relive historically not only the rationing of the time but continue to work on my obesity, save money, and enjoy the odd non 1940s treat. I will share this fully with you next weekend with a YouTube video and an in depth blog post!

C xxxx

Links to articles cited..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpddxy9r4mdo

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2002-09-5-1

Good afternoon! It’s been a good week in EVERYTHING and I can’t wait to create a video next week and share it!

Friday afternoon (after I finished my working week), I cleared out my understairs cupboard. I have quite the stockpile of storable food supplies and this is now officially my “WAR STORE”. Essentially it’s my back-up plan if anything in life goes horribly wrong and I need to “cut my cloth” to make ends meet! Don’t you just love those old phrases!

Also my “war store” has a few goodies (mostly canned fruit) that will be a nice treat when rationing gets a bit samey! In fact, this morning, after I’d been shopping at Aldi’s, I treated myself to a whole can of peaches in juice for breakfast! I haven’t had peaches in a can for years. Oh the lovely nostalgic childhood memories of peaches from a can with hot custard poured over the top! While I didn’t have custard for breakfast, the tinned peaches were such a nice reminisce.

I’m still finalising what rationing will look like for me for 2024. There are a few reasons to return to WW2 rationing (even though there will be a few modifications).

1. Finish what I started in regards to losing weight and getting healthier. My highest weight ever has been around 345 lbs. My lowest weight since reaching my highest weight has been around 219 lbs. Last year I lived on 100% authentic WW2 rations for 10 months and lost 70 lbs. Since then I gained almost 30 lbs. I’m currently 19 st 5 lb (271 lbs/ 123 kg) on the doctors scales and I’m weighing in on these once a month. I need to lose at least 100 lbs (much more according to the Devine formula below). My first goal however will be to get below 200 lbs (14st /90 kg) and stay below that number for the rest of my life.

2. Financial challenges and uncertainty. I’m sure I’m not the only one struggling right now especially where there is only one income coming into the house. The cost of living is absolutely CRAZY and house rental prices have sky rocketed. Unfortunately most peoples income hasn’t kept up with these prices. I’m looking to cut my grocery expenditure down by £100 per month by returning to rationing.

3. The possibility of WW3 and global instability. Global instability/ geopolitical uncertainty, can often lead to fluctuations in the economy. Protracted conflict can lead to food inflation so there is always the possibility that we may see prices rise further for certain commodities. While we all hope that WW3 will never happen, we never truly know what our future holds so in my mind, improving my skills in making meals out of limited supplies prepares for the unknown or for more difficult times ahead.

What are your thoughts?

I’m looking forward to enjoying some of these dishes again. I’ve kind of missed them!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

C xxxx