Week 1 weight: 276.4 lbs

Weight-loss week 1: 10.6 lbs

A BIG weight loss this first week, a lot will be water weight but also I have been eating a lot less than I normally would! Honestly, I’m glad a lot has dropped off even though some of it is because of my abdo pain episode. It has given me a shock, especially my high blood pressure reading and oxygen sats level.

I’ll be updating you on all things rationing throughout the week and this weekend as I have a lot to say!

I’m not getting out and about too much right now (I’m typing this from my bed as my abdomen feels most comfortable here) as honestly, every mild twinge I am worrying the big pain will come back again! Ultrasound on January the 30th.

In the interim, I’m sticking to rationing but eating small portions of food every 2-3 hours. I do seem to feel twinges about 15 minutes after eating but honestly, I don’t know if that is just me taking notice more around meal times! I’m keeping a food diary however!

I have also been out a couple of times for some gentle, short walks. This all adds to feeling happier and good health so I will continue this when I can!

What have I been eating this week?

Well, I started the week off with a couple of really large stews such as the kale and bean stew above. However, since Wednesday’s abdo pain episode and visit to urgent care, I’ve been careful to eat small portions and have foods that give me less wind. I’ve only used half my fat ration, a smidgen of my sugar ration, I ate my cheese, half my milk, most of my tea ration, and I used up all my meat ration (pea protein alternative). I didn’t bake or eat any puddings.

I’m hoping to bake a few things this week and eat small portions of them. I do feel hungry as I am not eating enough but I am building this up this week and will aim for 1500 cals daily this week on small portions. At the moment I am averaging 1200 (not from choice!).

Lots of love, C xxxxx

Dear all,

I recorded a chatty catch-up video for YouTube which premiere’s tonight at 7pm. Hope you’ll join me there for a chit-chat.

You may know already that I had an abdominal pain issue that had me in urgent care this past week so I’ve been taking things easy and strictly watching my diet (yes, even on rations!) so I am currently eating very small meals every 2-3 hrs and am keeping a food diary over the next couple of weeks to keep an eye on things.

I hope to be back to baking and cooking next week though, while this week I am muddling through eating bits of potato, porridge, toast/jam and apples! I’m slowly starting to add other bits of food in..

Hope you’ll join me, it will be good to see you.

C xxx

Dear all, I need your feedback, and I’ll likely ask you another 10 times too until I get this right! How do you feel about this book cover design? Is it boring, sterile, not nostalgic enough, is it modern with a little hint of vintage thrown in? (I’ve used Gill Sans font used in the 1940s and a modern, fun retro font too) Would it stand out on a bookshelf among other recipe books? (I don’t want it to look like many of the others.) Do you like or dislike it? Do you have an idea? I need to know how it makes you feel (please), and I will not be offended, so please be brutally honest! >>> Thank you xx

For new readers: I quit my job, and I’m taking a leap of faith to self-publish a recipe book in 3 months as a personal growth project (and because I’ve always wanted to so badly). But I also want to create everything around it to from the design to marketing, socials and ecommerce (as well as the baking, photography and writing) as for me this is also all about learning and acquiring new skills too.

Waitlist for my book is here: https://the1940sexperiment.com/ration-book-recipes-new-book/

I’ve enclosed some front covers of a selection of best-selling recipe books on Amazon below for reference. Thank you so much, C xxxx

Where do I begin? I’m currently on extreme rations while trying to understand what is going on with intense, upper-right abdomen cramps yesterday. I ended up in Urgent Care, had a long, long wait, but received lovely care, treatment, blood and wee tests, and a referral by the surgical team for an Ultrasound scan. Oh, and they gave me strong drugs (codeine phosphate) in case I had another attack.

All is absolutely fine, and the hospital feels it is likely to be a post-gallbladder removal syndrome where there can be spasms of the sphincter or a change in concentration of bile salts (among other things), even several years after having your gallbladder removed. This makes sense to me as it feels so similar to the pain and cramps I had in 2019 and little cramps and tension I’ve had since then over the years too.

To cut a long story short, I’m going to avoid massive stews with lots of beans and lentils, keep to smaller meals and make sure that they are fairly low in fat, keep a food diary for a week and see if I get any further pain and cramps after eating, and take notes!

Yesterday I barely ate at all, apart from several dextrose tablets borrowed from my daughter’s handbag while we spent several long hours waiting in urgent care. Today has been a little better, with 50g of oat bran for breakfast, then half a small baked potato for lunch, followed by half of a low-fat pasty I made yesterday using wartime economical pastry, filled with a meat substitute, leeks, and potatoes that I’d prepared the day before.

Here is the recipe I used for the “economical pastry”.

• 1 oz fat
• 4 oz flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (or none if using self-raising flour)
• milk to bind

Makes enough pastry for 4 pasties.

And here is my daughter giving me a pep talk when we got in late last night. Honestly, she really looked after me and is a treasure.

C xxxx

This is a super quick recipe for a bread roll when you haven’t got time to bake a loaf with yeast. This took me less than 30 minutes to create from mixing to the moment I took them out of the oven! These are slightly denser than your typical bread roll (and would have been even more so with National Flour) but absolutely delicious nevertheless! Perfect to dip in gravy!

Cobs

These are an excellent substitute for bread. They are made in minutes and must be eaten fresh! (Victory Cookbook – Marguerite Patten)

Ingredients

• 8 oz (225g) of self-raising flour or plain flour sifted with 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 oz (25g) margarine
• 1/4 pint (150 ml) of milk
• pinch of salt

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 230C (450F) Gas Mark 8 – I made my rolls a little larger and cooked them at 180C for longer
• Lightly grease a baking tray
• Sift the flour/baking powder/salt into a bowl
• Rub in the margarine
• Add enough milk to make a soft binding consistency (the mixture mustn’t be too stiff but more on the side of sticky)
• Divide the dough into 10 portions and roll into balls with floured hands
• Place on the baking tray and cook for 10 minutes or so (longer if you bake them at a lower temperature) until they feel firm and are golden brown in colour
• Eat the cobs when freshly baked.

Hope you enjoy these, C xxxx

Am back to rationing, and as crazy as it sounds, I feel like I am coming home!

Starting yesterday (January 12th) I am committed to following the allowances during rationing (in 1940) for as long as it takes to write and publish my >>>WW2 Ration Book Recipe Cook Book<<<

I will also commit to doing short touch ins on my blog and social channels during this journey but also do weekly long form video updates on my YouTube channel at >>>www.RationBookRecipes.tv<<< and a full weekly update on my blog too!

I haven’t planned recipes this week because

1. I am literally still using up stuff the best way I can before they go “off” so this week I am mostly eating stews!
2. Next week I start cooking, baking and photographing the recipes for the cook book so my focus for planning is with that (I’ll be sharing glimpses)

It was fun the other day to work out in today’s prices, here in the UK, what it would cost someone to purchase their full WW2 food ration. I’ve enclosed some screenshots from my notes below! NOTE: I am going to be using a pea protein meat substitute (its processed but far from ultra processed) some weeks so I can create MEAT RECIPES that look authentic for the recipe book. Most weeks I will be using extra dried beans/legumes.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about my weight and some of the food I’ve been eating!

But for now here is the “Kale and Haricot Bean Stew” I’ve made myself for lunch (and hopefully there will be enough for tomorrows lunch too!)

Much love, C xxx

My birthday was perfect, exactly how I like it. A gentle, low-key day, family, coffee, cake and a last splurge on pizza day before rationing starts today on January the 12th! I will share my rationing updates with you this week, likely a series of short daily written updates with a few photos thrown in for good measure!

Today I start back to work after a few weeks rest over the festive period. When I say work, I of course mean “working for myself”, planning and writing my very first WW2 cook book (and other exciting things in the mix) so every day I am now committed to 6-8 hours of book writing, content development as well as a focus on creating delicious WW2 recipes and photographing them all while living on WW2 rations while doing so. I want to feel the reality while I write….

Thank you once again for all the lovely comments and messages you have been so kind to leave me. It made my 60th birthday so very special, thank you.

C xxxx

PS: I had a mystery gift the day before my birthday on January the 7th, the gift came from a company called “The Ration Room” and I know you’ll love looking at this video!! I couldn’t work out who sent me the gift but in the end it transpired it was from my friend Kaytie and some of my ex-work colleagues (Oph, Kaysh and Ellie). I absolutely love it…. thank you

Thank you, whoever sent me an amazing The Ration Room Hamper to my address today, I am literally gobsmacked! Whoever you are, this was very thoughtful and exceptionally generous, a beautiful gift indeed for someone obsessed with WW2 rationing and the home front!

Honestly, thank you so much, this has made my day xxxx C

Here is an excerpt from the website (which I never knew existed until today!!!)

In the heart of Wrexham, Apra Roberts and Beth Cole, two enterprising women with a passion for history, joined forces to give you a taste of the past like never before. Together, they birthed “The Ration Room”, a haven for all who yearn for the echoes of yesteryears and the spirit of wartime Britain.

Step into The Ration Room, a portal to the epoch of the ’40s, where wartime camaraderie and British resilience prevailed. Apra and Beth, captivated by the allure of World War II, have meticulously curated a trove of authentic memorabilia that transcends time.

Our shelves yearn with treasures of an era long past. Behold the humble cardboard gas mask box, a relic of a time when every citizen was armed with fortitude and a trusty mask. Indulge your sweet tooth with our ration-style chocolate, crafted to perfection using recipes from an era when sugar was scarce but the spirit was sweet.

Good afternoon! I am so excited as I am counting down to not only Day 1 of officially starting to write my book but Day 1 of a return to rationing too! (Monday the 12th of January).

It is my birthday tomorrow (January 8th) so I am going out with my eldest daughter for a coffee treat at one of my favourite places before the snow arrives plus a quick shop in Waitrose next door for some olives and other nibblies and then a late birthday lunch at home with takeaway pizza on the menu!

As I type this my eldest daughter is making two individual coffee cakes for us tomorrow, how lovely is that!!!

I am so excited about returning to a simple and frugal diet and to creating and photographing a new WW2 recipe every day (for the book) and of course eating that recipe every day too!

Oh and my Mum turned up at my door yesterday with some flowers and a card (and some birthday money) and that made my day. I love my Mum and Dad so much. I wish they would live forever….

C xxxx

My eldest daughter and I on Christmas morning!

This is an easy and delicious recipe for “Country House Cake” from the “Good Eating – Suggestions for Wartime Dishes” book by the Daily Telegraph.

Selfishly, I was looking for a recipe to “christen” my new stand mixer I was gifted at Christmas by my brother. I’ve never, ever, had a stand mixer you see, so this moment was important to me!! Oh how easy it was rather than with a bowl and spoon! I think this will come into it’s own on a “baking day” when I’m making cake, bread and pastry! You’ll never see me give up my old-fashioned mixing bowl and wooden spoon though! (I’m far too nostalgic).

I really liked this recipe, I had dried fruit in my pantry from Christmas 2024 that was past it’s best before date so was looking for recipes to use this up. The same with some old flour that needed using up too!

Country House Cake

• 12 oz plain flour
• 6 oz raisins or dried mixed fruit
• 4 oz margarine
• 3 oz sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 pint of warmed milk (I used oat milk)

Method

Cream margarine and sugar together, then add the dried ingredients that have been well mixed. Stir in warmed milk and beat well. Bake in a moderate oven for about 2 hours. (I set the oven at 175c and covered the tin for the first 45 minutes).

I also brushed the top of the cake with milk when I removed the foil from the tin at 45 minutes and sprinkled on some caster sugar.

Serves 12.

PS: I’m bring out a full colour WW2 recipe book in the spring. Please join my waitlist and I’ll let you know when it is ready to pre-order! Thanks for supporting me!