The Rules for the Year

 

This is the build up to my Year of Modern Rationing.  What does that mean exactly you are no doubt thinking ... well it's taken me some time to work out the basics of what I intend to do.  

In the past I have had a month of  wartime rations, using virtually all of the rationed foods that were available to the people of the Great Britain throughout the war years.  It's hard to set things in stone for one month let alone one year, as throughout the Second World War the food rations varied from year to year, month to month and in some cases week to week.

As an island nation the foodstuffs could get through the blockades to our shores was reliant on the ships of the Merchant Navy with their holds filled with supplies from overseas and the brave souls that manned them, and of course the Royal Navy ships and the Royal Air Force pilots that protected them and hopefully ensured safe passage.  

We relied on what could be grown by farmers, their families and the girls of the Land Army on farms all over the British Isles, as well as what could be grown closer to home in the back and occasionally front gardens or yards that once may have held flowers and lawns, but which were quickly dug up and then contained rows of potatoes, vegetables and in many cases a pen of chickens.  Food was also grown by families on allotments that were both pre-existing and the land that had been voluntarily offered up or commandeered in parks and countryside spaces. 

With all that in mind and after reading about fluctuations in supplies etc to pick a single year of the wartime is a bit hit and miss, and in doing a Challenge for a full year I therefore had to make myself a set of rules.  My first thought was to pick a single year of the war and just run with that, and indeed for most of the weights and measures I have done just that, but to make this sustainable, achievable and give it a vegan and modern slant and make it healthy and interesting for both me and my readers I decided after much deliberation on a set of rules that I will stay with, hopefully for the full year.

The first stage of rationing was to register with your local grocer and butcher.  Once chosen unless something drastic happened you stayed with them throughout the years of the war.  You bought your vegetables and limited fruit, when any was available, from the greengrocers and also when available your sweet treats from the newsagents or confectioners.  

You could shop at markets for what was available ... but the black market was frowned upon!!

The shop I have chosen for my main shopping after much deliberation is Booths.

Why not Aldi or Sainsbury's I hear you asking?  Well I decided that between Booths and the weekly street market I should be able to provide for myself for the full year.  It's not the cheapest of supermarkets, but it is within walking distance and does sell a good mix of the foods that I eat and the  widest range of the vegetables that I will need and that I can buy not wrapped in plastic.

So that's my shop chosen ... I wonder what they will say when I turn up with my Ration Book 😀

The next step is to work out the foods that I will be buying from it and how often, and most importantly the amounts that they would come in per week, per month and in a couple of cases bi-monthly.

Sue xx