Rationing during the War

[John Talbott]

And why is it that when I think of "rationing during the war" I think only of England? Was that the only place it happened and if so why?←

Certainly not - meat, butter, oils, sugar, and various processed foods were rationed in the US. And it wasn't just for "show" - a significant amount of the food being produced was being shipped out to feed the troops rather than going into the domestic food supply. The shortages in the US weren't as dire simply because more people here had room and opportunity to grow supplemental food of some kind. There was also a fairly active black market in meat and sugar - sugar being one of the primary raw materials for, er, "artisanal distilling."

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It's wonderful (in a strange way) that so many of us are of an age when we do remember these days. While those of us lucky enough to be in the US and Canada (during WWII) had some restrictions, it was nothing like the French, Brits and Poles, for example, suffered through, on the other hand, I remember fondly breaking the little red ball into the bag of margarine and massaging it into a yellowish colour since I was the "man in the house" with my father gone "for the duration."

Right. Everybody had a "victory garden."

And suddenly my Mother converted from growing flowers to asparagus, tomatoes and squash. And there was no whining about helping garden.

From Paris, liberated 3 days and 63 years ago by its own hand (August is always special here, just sitting in a cafe, seeing those old jeeps creep in from LeClerc's entrance-way sends buckets of tears down my face).

John Talbott

[PoppySeedBagel]

My mother went to Austria in about 1952, and was stunned by cream and butter being freely available there when it was still rationed in UK

[Anna N]

.. . .

It's wonderful (in a strange way) that so many of us are of an age when we do remember these days.

.  . .  .

John Talbott

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I remember all too much of rationing! One particular thing that will always stick in my mind is that we kids were given our own "sweets" ration stamps and that I kept mine safely in my sock - that is until the week that sock ended up in the wash with my ration stamps still in it!

I recall being sent to buy bacon and losing the ration tickets on the way to the store - I swear I can still point to the sore spot on my backside for that one!

But I also remember during a particularly gloomy time that my wonderful Gran took a whole handful of sugar and tossed it on the coal fire so I could enjoy the brief flash of colours. A waste perhaps of a precious food commodity but a wondrous moment when "things" had less importance than bringing a little joy into a child's life.

I remember and till miss bread and dripping for tea or a huge slab of bread dipped into the meat drippings as a very special treat. I also, unfortunately, remember cod liver oil every morning and school lunches and being forced to walk to school even during holidays to get our milk allotment.

[SundaySous]

My uncle got a job driving a truck for a meat market during WWII. He was only 13. When the police finally stopped him it cost his boss a pork belly (bacon slab) to get him his drivers license. They wanted more but the story goes that his boss had to explain to them that there was no way he could explain the loss to who ever was in charge of rationing.