I’d like to thank everyone for your comments yesterday when I was feeling “down in the dumps” with a rotten cold. I REALLY did appreciate them and honestly perked me up a LOT. You really are so lovely xxxx

Leslee Barnes left a supportive and interesting comment on my post yesterday too, and I wanted to share this with you as well as the video she recommended, which I’ve embedded above.

Leslee shared some videos that she thought might interest me for my ongoing research, and I know you’ll enjoy these too. I’m a huge believer in the way we eat and the type of food we eat (instead of predominantly a whole foods diet) being at the root of the struggles we have with obesity. I know myself that my lack of control with ultra-processed foods and a sedentary lifestyle has been fundamental to my obesity, and despite knowing that, I still struggle with my “addiction”.

A reset and a return to rationing.

During the next three months of writing my “Ration Book Recipes WW2 Cook Book” (please join my waitlist here and I will let you know when you can pre-order nearer the time) – I am also putting back time into my day to return to rationing and walking. Both will be critical and a form of self-care to get me back on track and move me away from those “ultra-processed demons” that plague my life.

Rationing started on January the 8th, 1940 and as that is my birthday (the 8th) so I am looking forward to returning to this lifestyle of less is more, simple is suitable and fresh air is freeing on January the 9th.

My new daily routine will be…

• 4 core hours a day on baking and photographing and writing about recipes for the book.
• 2 hours on self care which will include walking outside, time for creativity such as art and reading, planning and preparing meals and savouring their taste.
• 2 hours on blogging, YouTube, community, emails, planning and marketing.

Those 4 core hours of productivity will be early morning, the part of the day where I feel alert and alive!

As the first month of writing the book progresses, I may adjust my hours. While I have tested the water with creating a digital recipe book in the past, creating a 150-200 page book for print is quite a different challenge. Luckily I have enough design and layout skills to hopefully see me through but we’ll see!

Thank you once again for supporting me, I really appreciate it so much!

C xxxx

After a couple of wonderful days over Christmas, I’m not feeling well at all to be honest. I have been physically and emotionally exhausted towards the last few months of 2025 and I picked up a rotten cold over Christmas and the last 3 days I’m struggling with sore throat, congestion, coughing, cotton wool head and wretched exhaustion!!! Sage tea and throat sweets are helping today and lots of rest!

That didn’t stop me from driving to the recycling centre this morning with a car full and watching a documentary on an elderly woman who loved painting houses in Fulham (that seemed to open the flood gates and had me sobbing for ages).

And then the coughing started again so I’m in bed drinking lots of tea and writing notes to myself to stop myself feeling terrified about the next 3 months ahead…

I hope none of you have a rotten cold or flu! C xxx

I’ve quit my job at 60, and for the next 3 months (at the very least), there will be no money coming in to pay the bills or the rent while I follow my dream of writing and self-publishing my first cookbook (join waitlist here).

This has concentrated my mind to say the least, and while I write my book and work out how to bring some pennies in, I also have to pull my metaphorical belt in so tightly, it will be pretty hard to breathe for several months to come.

I’ve already started how I mean to go on. A perfect example of this was yesterday in my local “Aldi’s” where “Swedes” were selling for just 5p each! (normally 65p). If I’d had room in my freezer, I would have bought 20 of them, but as I didn’t, I just bought two. I steamed one of them to make 5 portions of mash and chopped up one of them, and put it in the freezer, ready to add to stews and pies!

During the Second World War, the humble swede quietly earned its place on the British table. With imports cut off and rationing shaping every meal, this sturdy root vegetable became a dependable friend on the home front, easy to grow, easy to store, and endlessly adaptable. The Ministry of Food encouraged families to make the most of swedes, and they soon found their way into everyday cooking, mashed with a little seasoning, bulked out in stews and soups, baked into pies, or grated into surprisingly inventive dishes.

While it may not have been everyone’s favourite, the swede filled bellies, stretched rations, and helped households get by with what they had. Today, it stands as a reminder of wartime thrift, resilience, and the make-do spirit that defined British kitchens in the 1940s.

I honestly don’t know why “swedes” are given such bad press. Almost as versatile as the potato and as easy to store, I just think they have simply fallen out of fashion.

But that’s what this blog is all about, remembering those faithful foods that got our families through challenging times and kept them fed and well.

Those two swedes I prepared yesterday have provided me with 10 portions for just 10p. Very economical and in my opinion, simply delicious!

Much love, C xxxx

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your continued support and encouragement throughout 2025 and I sincerely hope you get to spend Christmas with people who really mean something to you and there will be smiles and happiness during the festive season.

And if you are all alone through choice, I hope you find peacefulness, and for those who are spending it alone not from choice and feel lonely, please know that if you need to hear the words “Merry Christmas” or “Seasons Greetings” on Christmas Day drop me a message to 1940sExperiment@gmail.com

So this is me now signing off for a busy few family days, Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to all and may 2026 bring you happiness, comfort and good health.

Much love, C xxxxx

Dear all, I’m trying to post a little video update every day on YouTube to get back into the habit of creating content again. I’m looking forward to the New Year when I will have a bit more time to blog and recreate more recipes but for now, joining in the Christmas spirit with Vlogmas.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend and that your Christmas preparations are underway.

Am so looking forward to some downtime with my family.

C xxx

If you haven’t heard me whittering on about it already (see previous blog post), you’ll know now! I’m quitting my job to write my first book and self-publish it end of March 2026. Join the waitlist here: https://the1940sexperiment.com/ration-book-recipes-new-book/

I’ll once again be living and breathing rationing come January 1st, partly out of necessity (to spend as little as possible during the first 3 months of 2026) but also because I miss living through history, and it seems a fitting thing to do while writing the book.

I’ve put some thoughts in a short YouTube video above to kick off Vlogmas. I am TRYING to find time to do a little update every day, mostly as shorts, and looking to create some quick ration book recipes that I am finding in old books and newspaper clippings too.

Must fly, work starts in precisely 4 minutes, have a wonderful day and thank you again from the bottom of my heart!

C xxxxx

I’ve taken a huge leap of faith. It could all go horribly wrong, but it could all go wonderfully right. All I know is that I have to take a chance on me….and believe.

I’ve handed in my notice at work, and from January 1st, 2026, I am without a job, without an income, but taking a chance on my dream to write and photograph a series of WW2 Recipe Books.

Honestly, I’m scared, but I know I have to take that chance or I will always live with regret.

This past year, I have become physically and mentally exhausted. With extra responsibilities at work and home, and my increasing age, I simply have had no energy and no time after my workday to pursue my passions. It has felt like writing a book and publishing it has become a pipedream…

And then this happened; In just 8 weeks, 500 of you have joined my waitlist for the book. That could be 1,000 by the time the book launches. While I realise that only a percentage will go on to purchase, that amazing support from you tipped the scale enough for me to believe that I could “actually do this.”

Click here for wait list >>> https://the1940sexperiment.com/ration-book-recipes-new-book/

I want to blog more, be more present in our groups, pages and communities, create more recipes, film more YouTube videos, get my passion back for the rationing lifestyle and living history.

This past year I have saved so very hard into a rainy day fund, enough to give me a few months support without a day job and enough to print 500 books. I know this sounds precarious, almost cliff edge, but I start my 60th year in January and I absolutely can’t let this pass without reaching for my dreams.

I’ve tried so hard to build those dreams outside of work but in a regular day, my only free time is one singular hour (and I don’t watch TV) and when that hour starts (8pm), I’m so, so sleepy and inevitably falling asleep by 9pm. I’ve even tried waking up at 4:30 am to move my book forward, but after a few days I’m done. It isn’t sustainable.

It’s been a really tough, emotional and tiring few weeks. First of all working for the past 5.5 years with such an amazing team at work and a promotion to “Marketing Manager” and participating in the “Rising Stars” program, for once in my life gave me some self-worth (I have huge imposter syndrome) and has been amazing. Having to give that all up as well as the first time in my life receiving a salary I was truly happy with, has been incredibly hard.

Am I going through a late mid-life crisis? I did ask myself that over and over but NO. Every cell in my body is screaming at me to be brave, to give my dreams a chance, to work hard for what I truly want.

So, January 1st I start the new year with 3 months safety net in the bank and a dream. A BIG dream. But NOT an impossible dream. I just have to give it my all to make it happen.

Thank you for being part of it.

C xxxx

PS: Video this weekend!

This Remembrance Sunday, we pause to honour all those who served, on the front lines and the home front alike. Their courage, endurance, and quiet strength remind us what true resilience looks like. We will remember them. Lest We Forget.

C xxx

Now we have Halloween over and done with we are already thinking about Christmas in our house! A few years ago I started making Mock Turkey (Murkey) every year and we love it! (it’s cheap and really tasty!) It will definitely be on our table once again! What 1940s WW2 ration book recipe do you think you will serve at Christmas?

Some of my old recipes recreated on the blog and on YouTube.

Gingerbread Men —> https://the1940sexperiment.com/2021/12/24/gingerbread-people-recipe-no-197/

I’m sitting here writing this having made a decision that could be life changing, I just have no way of knowing whether it will be in a good way or a bad way yet.

I’m not going to share this yet as I need to explain first to my nearest and dearest but once that is out in the open, I’ll explain fully on here. Regardless, I will need to rely on a rationing and a frugal make do and mend lifestyle, more than ever.

I wanted to apologise for being a little absent too but I’ve had such a lovely week. I took unpaid leave from work (I’d used up all my annual leave) to spend time with my son who I hadn’t seen in several months. All of my 3 grown up children finally together, the complete Hobbit clan, like the old days.

Those days when they were little, only seems like yesterday. There are old posts on here when they were still at school and now they are 36, 32 and 27. I’m finding it hard to understand how brief life is.

And now my son has left to travel on the train to go back up North, I’m crying because I love my children and those few days were precious and we were back to being our little clan, surviving against hardship (those latter years living in Canada and early years living back in the UK were so very difficult), putting the world to rights, just picking up where we left off.

Rationing again

And tomorrow I finally start planning my return to rationing again. As always, I never think of rationing as deprivation. I see it as living simply, frugally, healthily and wisely given what we have available to us. It teaches us how to make do on little and being satisfied with less so truly enjoying those days when we splurge a little and have those treats. How much more appreciated those treats become…

Moving forward with my book and many more plans

Exciting times and plans and as we move forward into 2026, my 60th year will be filled with achieving personal goals. My first proper book is one of them! Full colour, hardbacked, filled with recreated and rephotographed WW2 ration book recipes, readers recipes and much, much more. It is already evolving and can’t wait to share with you the progress as we move into 2026!

This is a self-published project and will be printed in batches. Nearly 500 of you have signed up to my waiting-list over the last 6 weeks and when the time comes to go to print, all signed up on the list will be given the option to purchase the book and receive the first printing run! I’ll also keep you personally updated through the waiting-list too! Thank you, this is going to be a dream come true for me.

Join the waiting list here —> https://the1940sexperiment.com/ration-book-recipes-new-book/

Look forward to speaking soon,

Much love, C xxxx