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
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.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times National Service was a shock to the system for many. But others relished the opportunities and experiences it gave them. Bonds formed quickly between men from disparate backgrounds, thrown together in a strange situation. These bonds were strengthened by the discipline imposed on them from basic training onwards. Some of the friendships formed during National Service would last a lifetime.
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!
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!!
3rd day of NOT eating junk food, detoxing and preparing for war! ( see over dramatic re-enactment of fainting with hunger above). I’ve felt a few hunger pangs today. I absolutely should get over it as I am lucky enough to have NEVER known what real hunger is….
I’m still working on my sustainable rationing system to help me continue losing weight this year and get healthier. Eating ultra-processed foods really grabs hold of me so quickly and makes me crave it more. That’s why, living simply on rations, has always worked so well for me in the past. Just got to find that sustainable middle-ground. I’m almost there with the planning.
And of course, right now there is the ongoing and ever looming topic of WW3. Could this really happen? How does that make you feel? I’ve always kept a small stockpile to get me through hard times for a few months but do we now need to start putting something extra by every month for the inevitable?
I cherry picked this snippet from an article, talking about the preparedness of countries in Europe. It seems Finland have been on a slow burn war footing for quite some time.
It’s been several months since I spent 10 months strictly living on WW2 rations and lost over 70 lbs during that time (since then I’ve put around 25 lbs back on). I’ve repeated this experiment a few times over the years with very similar results. Here are some thoughts on my YouTube channel.
IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS I’ll make sure to answer them in my next video, please leave them below.
With meat and cheese only available in small quantities due to rationing during WW2, it was no wonder that a popular English dish during the medieval times, made it back into wartime cookbooks in the 1940s. Pease Pudding was cheap, packed with protein, and 1 lb of split peas only used up 2 points of your points allowance during rationing.
Originally, Pease Pudding was often made at the beginning of the week and eaten over successive days, hence the old rhyme:
Pease pudding hot! Pease pudding cold! Pease pudding in the pot, Nine day’s old!
Pease Porridge or Pease Pottage (see below) as it was first commonly know as, was traditionally made with dried split yellow peas, cooked in a pot over the fire with salted water, spices and occasionally meat.
I looked at the nutritional value of the Pease Pudding I created and for all 200 g of dried yellow split peas, calories are in the region of 650 kcal, protein is around 50 grams, fibre 15 g, carbohydrates 120 g and the dish contains 85% of your daily recommended iron.
Pease Pottage, Porridge, Pudding
Pottage is a catch all term which meant anything cooked in a pot. In the medieval period cereals were added to the cooking stock from cooking meat.
Pease pottage was eaten at all levels of society in England. And then during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the invention of the pudding cloth revolutionised food for all and made a watery soups into a solid pudding.
Pease pudding gradually died out in the eighteenth century. Once meat became cheaper England’s once national dish became an occasional menu item.
Here is the basic foundation recipe and I used the alternative method and not the traditional method of cooking as I had no muslin cloth (or string!). You can also use dried green split peas if you haven’t got yellow ones! It’s a really economical recipe as here in the United kingdom, yellow split peas sell for around £2 per kg/2.2 lb. This means that the peas in this recipe cost me 40p!
Pease Pudding
Ingredients
200g yellow split peas, soaked for 3+ hours (preferably overnight) in plenty of water
Place the soaked peas into a muslin pudding cloth and tie with string.
Place this into a large pot of boiling water (with bouillon/stock added) and bring to a fast simmer.
Cover and lower the temperature to a gentle simmer.
Simmer for 90 minutes or until the peas are tender.
Remove peas in bag and drain and leave in bag until cool enough to handle.
Remove peas from bag/cloth into a bowl and mix up with salt and pepper.
Place back into muslin cloth, tie again and repeat the above for another 30-60 minutes.
Once cooked drain and place the mixture in a bowl and mash with extra salt and pepper and butter if available
Serve spread on bread or toast with extras on top
or alternative…
Drain and rinse the soaked split peas.
Add to a saucepan and add the water.
Bring to a fast simmer.
Skim off any white foamy scum when needed.
Stir in the bouillon powder or stock cube.
Cover and lower the temperature to a gentle simmer.
Simmer for 90-120 minutes or until the peas are tender.
Stir and mash until fairly smooth adding some butter if you like.
Season generously with salt and pepper.
Serve spread on bread or toast with extras on top
I was inspired by Jayelle to make this traditional dish after seeing their below post on The 1940s Experiment Facebook Group – I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recreated this before!
Friday, was the first day I had stepped out of the house for 12 days. Fast-forward, I’m coming on leaps and bounds the last few days, I’m so relieved. I was a bit worried there for a short while!
A couple of weeks ago (see video above), I went to meet a friend in town for some coffee and a catch-up. As I walked back home, my left leg was getting unusually sore, so much so I began to limp and a mile later, as I turned into my road, I felt a “pop” followed by a terrible pain. I could no longer weight bare on my left leg at all. I simply could not move…
Luckily, I pulled my phone out, asked my girls to bring my hiking pole, and with the assistance of my family I was able to very slowly get home (30 minutes for 50 metres). It was so bad I couldn’t get up the stairs to use the loo so we brought in my camping toilet, bunged in a black bag and some guinea pig wood shavings so I could pee!
It was obvious something was amiss so my eldest and I ordered a taxi and visited urgent care. It was all rather embarrassing being pushed around in a wheelchair but within a couple of hours I’d been checked, x-rayed, given crutches and was ready to go home (thank you NHS).
Likely exacerbated by my recent Parkrun, the x-ray revealed quite a lot of Osteoarthritis. I suspected as much as I’ve been living with a lot of knee pain for a few years now but have always been “too busy” to go and get it checked out. However, the sudden severe pain, according to the hospital, was probably caused by a Bakers Cyst or a Medial Collateral Ligament stretch/tear which didn’t show on the x-ray.
The advice was to keep my leg raised, ice it regularly, take painkillers and anti-inflammatories, make an appointment with the physio and once the swelling started going down, look on the NHS website for leg/knee exercises I could do in my bed.
The first 4 days were very painful but things began to really improve at day 7. I’m now able to sit at my desk without too much leg pain, walk with just one crutch outside. My knee still hurts so taking a bit of weight off it helps but also if I twist my left knee I get a lot of pain and it gives away so having the crutch is kind of a bit of security right now! I even drove my car yesterday for a very short drive.
All in all, things are now healing well, the swelling has gone down and I have an appointment with my physio soon and I’m doing all the exercises I should, twice a day. Tomorrow I return to physical work (although I only had 1 day off sick and have been working from my bed). I will drive to work instead of my normal walk and hopefully in the next week or two I can return to walking those daily two miles again!
My takeaway from all of this is
Reducing my weight to under 200 lbs is now more important than ever to help ease my knee pain
I can’t imagine a life without long walks out in nature so I have to take my healing slowly and sensibly and probably face the fact that perhaps I shouldn’t aim for another Parkrun until I reach my weight goal!
Thank you for all your support during the last couple of weeks, I really appreciate it and I’m not going to take mobility for granted going forward. I feel I am very lucky to have that and need to preserve it.
I found another version of WW2 mince slices, this time from “The Kitchen Front – 122 Wartime Recipes” 1942 booklet. Many of the recipes in this booklet were broadcast during the “Kitchen Front” radio programme during WW2 here in Great Britain.
This is such a quick, frugal and tasty recipe. I used Asda’s vegan mince, and browned it in a pan with some margarine before adding it to the mashed potato and breadcrumbs.
It made two meals for me but I think you could stretch it for 3 servings/meals if you served it up with lots of vegetables and extra carbohydrates.
Ingredients
3 oz mince (any cooked meat or browned vegan mince)
4 oz mashed potato
4 oz stale breadcrumbs
salt and pepper
any fat for frying
Method
Mix well together the mince, mashed potato, breadcrumbs and seasoning.
Turn out on a floured board and roll out into an oblong 1/4 inch thick
Cut into slices and fry in a small quantity of hot fat from your ration until browned
What about rationing in 2024? Will I still continue to live on WW2 rations forever more? I discuss a little more about rationing in 2023 and my plans for 2024 in my latest YouTube video above. ⬆️
In-case you hate YouTube, have a horribly slow internet connection or simply can’t bear to see my cringey content 🤣 I’ll answer some questions below…
Did you ever finish the year living on WW2 rations?
Kind-of! I started living on WW2 rations (by the book!) on January 8th, 2023. After 2 or 3 difficult weeks to start with, everything went incredibly well. Apart from the very occasional off-ration meal (and I mean very occasionally, once every month or two, for special occasions) I stuck to authentic as I could get it, WW2 rationing. From January to November (about 10 months), I lost around 71 lbs (reduced from 299 lbs down to 228 lbs). I didn’t stay there for long though.
During December, the temptation of Christmas food really derailed me (my choice, I somehow convinced myself that I could control my addiction to sweet foods or fatty/salty snacks). I spectacularly put on 15 lbs when I weighed in after the New Year!
I tried to return to rationing in January for a week or two to end the year on a high note. Unfortunately, my addiction to processed foods/snacks had grabbed me by the throat and I have been struggling so badly with getting back control.
Will you return to rationing?
Again I’m going to say kind-of! With the best will in the world, living strictly on WW2 rations for over 10 months is quite difficult. While I felt wonderfully nourished, healthy and satisfied I have missed so many foods and modern recipes too. My biggest misses during 2023 were avocados and bananas, ohh and fried tofu!!! Needless to say I’ve been enjoying these foods most days now for the past three weeks and still can’t get enough of them!
Yes or no? Will you return to rationing? Can we expect more content?
I AM going to use basic rationing during 2024 for base ingredients such as fats, sugars and cheese (vegan cheese) and of course vegan meats too (the less ultra-processed foods the better!)
I AM going to continue to create SOME authentic WW2 recipes and continue to add to the 200+ recipes I’ve recreated here. I LOVE trying out ration book recipes from old books!
I AM going to produce more content around rationing (it is a big interest of mine) and hopefully develop more content for KS2 kids in education (they often pop on to copy recipes and I get messages through that say yuk! and poo!) 🤣
I’m NOT going to limit fruits and vegetables etc. to only what was available during the war! I LOVE fresh fruit and veg so much. I NEED variety in my life!
I’m NOT going to only create wartime recipes and live 100% on rationing as I did in 2023. I love modern recipes and foods too so I need to balance things to bring me joy!
So in 2024 it will be part-time rationing in spirit! Basic rations, no restrictions on fruit and veg, some authentic recipes, some modern recipes and hopefully this year will see the return of my victory garden! ❤️
Will you continue to lose weight and get back on track?
Absolutely! I am committed to recording my weigh-in every Sunday morning whether it is a loss or a gain! This is a long journey to cope with my overeating and bingeing and to become healthy and live a long life!
I started this year at around 241 lbs. I weighed in last Sunday at around 244 lbs, despite some weight gain I am starting this year around 55 lbs lighter than at the beginning of 2023. This gives me a good head-start in achieving my goal of getting below 200 lbs and remaining there for the rest of my life!
Why don’t you post as much as you used to? What about all your plans for a recipe book?
I work full-time, I also have to freelance now and again in my spare time to keep a roof over my head! Rent is so expensive here but I am committed to living here, close to my parents so if they need help in their latter years, I’ll be around (another good reason to get myself in shape!)
Added to that I am a carer for my youngest adult in the house. I am respecting their privacy so won’t go into detail but the last few years, things have been TOUGH, mostly for them but very challenging for me too. There are lots of appointments, lots of support, it takes up a LOT of my time but I wouldn’t have it any other way. They’ll get better and be happier eventually. That’s all that matters to me.
I ALWAYS see the light….
Lots of love, C xxxxx
PS: Want to support the blog and YouTube channel with a virtual coffee? Please visit my Ko-fi page here >>> https://ko-fi.com/1940sexperiment
Did I tell you my rent is going up £200 per month? I am determined to cut down on my spending, every way I can this year, to continue to afford our housing. It blows my mind how expensive renting and buying is here in Swindon. I moved here to be closer to my Mum and Dad. I rented a 3 bed semi when I lived up North for £425 per month. I am renting the same size, end of terrace house here for £1050 now. That is well over 1/2 my take home pay. As the only wage earner you can imagine that is rather concerning! These wartime recipes sure are coming in handy!
This is an authentic wartime recipe for Vegetables en Casserole from a WW2 booklet produced by The Country Life Home Front. I used winter vegetables for this recipe plus lentils, and it made 5 large portions served with bread.
Based on Aldi prices, this costs around £2.50 to make 5 portions. Served with 1 slice of bread this is around 425 calories per portion and around 18g of protein. Next time I would add double the amount of lentils to add more protein and calories.
Ingredients for 1 person
1 medium potato
1 medium carrot
1 medium parsnip
100 g swede
1/2 celery stick
1/5th of an onion
1/10th of a cabbage
40 g red lentils
Any other veg that needs using up!
Plus herbs/spices/gravy browning/Marmite to taste
Method
Simple really! Chop up the veg as per my video above, adding the cabbage in towards the end. I used vegetable stock and mixed herbs, pepper and salt to my own preference/taste.
I cooked in a big pot rather than in the oven in a casserole as it uses less power!
