1940s experiment

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The 1940’s Experiment- Four months on

August 2009 @ 315lbs – November 2009 @ 283lbs

Hello my name is Carolyn Ekins. I am a single mother of three and I have been morbidly obese for several years.

My all time heaviest was 343 lbs. Last Christmas I weighed 330 lbs.

In August 2009 I weighed in at 315 lbs and vowed to change my eating habits forever in a year long 1940s Social Experiment based on the rationed diets of everyday folk living on the home-front during World War II.  I truly believe by being as true as I can to living a year eating back to basics food, cooked from scratch and as little processed food as I can, I WILL become a healthier person. I aim to lose 100 lb in one year..

Four months into the 1940s Experiment I have lost almost 33 lbs and weighed in today at 282 lbs.

I don’t count calories, and if I am hungry I eat lots of food and my theory seems to be working- I do feel MUCH healthier from just a few months ago.

It hasn’t always been an easy journey and have slipped up a handful of times and sometimes eat way too much bread BUT I know I can make it.

100 Cooked and Photographed Wartime Recipes

100 Wartime Recipes will be recreated and photographed throughout the year of the 1940’s Experiment. I want this to be a record in photographs of a typical 1940’s rationing diet and to experience the tastes of the time using the ingredients available.

So far I have recreated nearly 30 recipes- 1 every 3 days!

Thank you for your support!

And thanks for all the support I have been getting from all the people who have read 23,000 pages of my blog since August 2009. Knowing people are reading and commenting keeps me going… it really does. I LOVE reading the comments and thoughts left on my blog!!

C xxxxxxx

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Glory Buns

This is a recipe for simple currant spiced buns that turned out so absolutely tasty and yummy and easy to make that I simply called them GLORIOUS..

They are not only economical but taste sooo good!

The more I think about it the more I think it’s a terrible, terrible thing. I think about war a lot and I think about how all over our world it has effected every day families regardless of colour or creed.

I made these WWII ‘Glory Buns’ today after I had observed the Remembrance Day silence and while I listened to the full Remembrance Day service from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, on my local radio station, CKBW. After the service I watched some of the veteran videos that appear on the http://www.southshorenow.ca website which I have on DVD… ( you can purchase these by clicking here and all proceeds go to the Legion Poppy Fund)

First of all I listened to Pierre Allaine

Pierre Allaine: Was a 14 year old when war broke out. He used to ferry people, lying flat on a barge during the night, across the river, by pushing the barge silently with a long pole to the free side of France. Pierre recited Flanders Field at the service in Bridgewater today.

Next I watched Frank Hammond who shared his thoughts… Quote: Conflicts today are not being resolved through power and the only real way is through negotiation…

And then Bert Eagle… Quote: Bert Eagle: There should NEVER be another war again, EVER, yet if I were a young man again and we went to war I would serve my country gladly…..

Above all I’ve been thinking of the BRAVE men and women who have taken part in a war and lived through it or given their lives and the BRAVE families at home battling to keep their children safe and fed and holding things together…

And the Glory Buns? It was such a glorious day that it needed to be celebrated with simple glorious food on my best glorious tray….. it reminded me just how lucky we really are.

Recipe for Glory Buns

  • 12 oz of wholewheat flour (or white)
  • 2 oz margarine
  • 2 oz sultanas/currants/raisins (optional)
  • 2 oz sugar
  • 8 fl oz warm water
  • 3 teaspoons of quick rise dried yeast
  • 1 teaspoon dried cinnamon powder
  • pinch salt

To glaze:

  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 3 tablespoons sugar

Method
Place all the dried ingredients in a bowl (apart from dried fruit) and stir
Rub in the margarine
Mix in the dried fruit
Add in the warm water
Knead well (use extra flour if mixture is too sticky)
Divide dough into 12 balls
Place on greased deep sided tray (I like to use the 8 x 8 inch foil trays and place 4 balls in each)
Cover with plastic film or plastic bag
Leave to rise somewhere warm for an hour or so
When risen place in oven at 180 C for 15 minutes or so until golden brown
When cooked remove from oven onto a wire rack to cool
When cool prepare glaze by heating the water and sugar together until dissolved
Using a pastry brush apply the glaze generously

 

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Rock Buns

I had a real sweet tooth yesterday but now I live in a world without JUNK FOOD (the closest I get to junk food is wholewheat bread with jam!) my craving had to be cooked from scratch.. It was so worth the effort though…..only 30 minutes after weighing out the ingredients I was enjoying a couple of rock buns, with a blob of mock cream and strawberry jam and a couple of hot cups of British tea!

Rock Buns

  • 8 oz wholemeal/wholewheat flour
  • 4 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice/all spice
  • 2 oz margarine
  • 2 oz sugar
  • 2 oz sultanas or dried mixed fruit
  • 1 egg or 1 reconstituted dried egg
  • milk
  • 2 teaspoons sugar for topping

Method

Sift the flour, baking powder and spice

Rub in the margarine

Add the sugar, dried fruit and the egg

Gradually add enough milk to make a sticky mixture

Put spoonful onto parchment paper on baking tray ( makes 12-14)

Sprinkle with the sugar

Cook in a hot oven for 12-15 minutes

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Mock cream recipe 1

I have noticed a number of mock cream recipes in my 1940’s recipe books so have decided to try them out and see if there really is something that can replicate fresh cream using ingredients available to the 1940’s housewife…

it cured my sweet tooth though!

This one looked pretty good and tasted OK but nothing like cream- guess the granulated sugar grittiness gave it away! Anyhow- I did enjoy a blob of it on some spiced rock buns I made earlier (recipe coming tomorrow for those) topped with a little strawberry jam- how decadent!

It did cure my sweet tooth though…

Mock cream recipe 1

  • 2 oz margarine
  • 2 oz fine granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon dried milk powder
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Cream the sugar and margarine together until light and fluffy

Add in the dried milk powder and milk and beat well until light and fluffy again

Chill and serve

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Why the weekend makes me happy..

This weekend is a long weekend as Monday is labour day here in Canada.

I now have 3 glorious days planned doing all sorts of things (except mowing the lawn which hasn’t been cut once this summer- I just can’t face spending two days doing this when I have other things to catch up on!) and my list goes like this

Clean kitchen, clean upstairs generally, do grocery list, clean window in sitting room (as can no longer see the view), once house is hygienic (in parts) again proceed to visit local store to buy groceries and finally avoid any thoughts of doing the lawn.. 

And once that is all over and done with WE COOK!

The most exciting thing I came across this week was ‘banana essence’… apparently during the war kids went bananas over mock banana sandwiches. This is one thing I will be trying out this weekend and I intend to test it out on my children (the one thing I will forget to tell them is that the banana sandwich will infact be made from mushy parsnips).. will they be able to tell the difference? My video camera is poised and ready for action…

one thing I will forget to tell them is that the banana sandwich will infact be made from mushy parsnips…

Talking about video cameras, my eldest daughter decided it would be fun to catch me on camera cooking my curried carrots last week and insisted on filming the moment when I took my first proper mouthful. I will upload the video later to share the daily strangeness in our household.

Other culinary delights (grin) will be a different recipe for eggless sponge (shared with me by Cynthia on facebook) and making a batch of carrot jam…I have my jars poised and I believe my kids thought it would be absolutely hilarious to film Mom again and fall about laughing watching it afterwards… I am glad they find me so amusing.

I don’t think they will be laughing so much when they taste my mock banana sandwiches..

Mom 1 kids 0

C xx

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Friday night is treat night…!

I ALWAYS look forward to Friday nights. Before I started eating 1940’s style it was because Friday is treat night in our household and for me that would invariably mean PIZZA and VINO and a movie on the box (TV)..

Now as I am eating a 1940’s ration diet 100% of the time means my treats have to come from my weekly ration. Would I have some of my sweety/candy ration- after all I still have half a bag of toffee’s in my cupboard that have been there for a week (I amaze myself!), or would I cook some cakes or make some mock cream to spread on a scone with a big blob of strawberry jam on top?

NO….I tell you what I was looking forward to more than anything (yes- even more than the bottle of English Style beer I had with it) and that was a simple EGG! Seriously and absolutely…I mean it! Eggs were rationed strictly to one fresh shell egg per week per person,  during the 1940’s (you could get more by keeping your own chickens or by buying dried egg powder). Above all else I have found only having one egg per week the most difficult..

You see it is a big decision to make. By eating my one egg, for the rest of the week, I cannot use egg in any of my recipes. So having a freshly boiled egg mashed on top of three slices of hot buttery toast tonight, really was an extravagant treat!

And it tasted all the better for it!

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1940s Veggies-Grown close to home

A delicious meal of ‘grown close to home’ produce- the 1940’s diet was more environmentally friendly

Choosing to live one year on 1940s wartime rationing to lose 100 lb isn’t JUST all about losing the flab and finally being able to once in a while wear a dress and heels (last time I wore a dress was about 16 years ago). For me it is also about training myself to eat in a more environmentally friendly way..

I am convinced we have SO MUCH TO LEARN from this period of time in the way people HAD to eat. People were eating to stay healthy, it became a mission to keep yourself and your family strong and healthy. The internal propaganda has to be the BEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN I have ever seen. It succeeded in encouraging people to waste little, eat healthily and supplement their rationing with fresh homegrown vegetables. People turned their lawns into vegetable gardens, areas in parks had designated area too- it became a huge joint effort.

We have SO MANY CHOICES these days that for some folk (like me) it is very difficult to make healthier food choices when I can pick anything I like off the heavily laden shelves…maybe this is one of the contributing factors of our increased obesity in many of our nations.

1940s wartime rationing ( culinary and generally) was therefore more environmentally friendly because

  1. Most foods were grown locally or within the country (less gas/petrol & air-miles)
  2. Imported goods dropped significantly and Britain began to grow more of it’s own
  3. There was less waste- people threw less away and just made do
  4. Clothes were recycled and shared
  5. People rationed water, used less power, rationed fuel

We are so lucky and have so much these days that many of the ‘mend and make do’ thoughts that people lived with day by day back in the 1940’s have all but disappeared. We feel deprived over so many things and we think this is normal…

I think we need to occasionally step back in time and remind ourselves just how little we actually need.

C xx