Getting My Ration Foods Together

 

First, I got together my basic weekly rations, I am following the vegetarian rations with some tweaks as I am vegan.  See the FAQs for more information.

Weekly Rations

4oz Violife Mature Cheddar Cheese

6oz Dairy Free Spread in lieu of 2oz Butter and 4oz Marg

2oz Oil in lieu of lard

1 litre of Milk

8oz Sugar

2oz Coffee in lieu of tea

2 Meat Free Sausages in lieu of one egg

4 slices of Vegan Ham in lieu of the other egg given to vegetarians

2oz Sweets

The weekly rations are supplemented with fresh foods that were not on ration, and mostly available in the shops or grown at home throughout the war years.  For my fresh supplies I am making sure that I try my best to buy only in-season British grown foods as would have been available during the war years.

My Monthly Rations

1/2 lb Onions

An extra litre of milk in lieu of Dried Milk

4oz of Instant Coffee in lieu of Camp Coffee ... this made me ill the last time I tried it

Jam and all other preserves were rationed at 1lb per person for two months.

So, my one month's supply is 4oz of Jam and 4ozs of marmalade.

My First Months Points Shopping

For more information about the points system see The Points System page at the top of the blog.

How my store-cupboard looked before I added the rations to it.

After a bit of research, I decided to leave in my cupboard those foodstuffs that would have been in daily use in the 1940's as most people did not start the ration years with completely empty cupboards.

As you can see it's mostly flavourings and custard!!

Also, anything that has been home-produced was allowed to stay so the various pickles and beetroot.

I also added back in my vitamins and Omega 3.

I am not allowed to use the large supply of homemade jams and marmalades ... except when allowed on the rations, but I have no other space to put them in.

So, my store-cupboard is looking quite healthy now and the forbidden jams etc are neatly hidden behind the Weetabix.  😀

Now I am starting to put together my menu for the whole month.  I am using a few modern meals and a lot of the wartime recipes that I am finding in my books.  There's just one more thing I would like to say, I first said it when I tried to start this Rationing Challenge back in 2020 but it is worth repeating.

Finally ...I really want to re-iterate here loud and clear that I am in no way making fun of or belittling the hardships that people went through during the Second World War.  I am of a generation that has heard first hand experiences from both my parents and my grandmothers of what they went through during this time.  I have nothing but pure admiration for each and every person that came through this dreadful period of our country's history in whatever way it happened for them.

This Challenge is dedicated to them and all that they have taught us.

Sue xx

A Year of Modern Rationing - Week One - The Food

 

It seems to have taken me ages to get my head around the various component parts of my rations.  But here in photos they are.

The Weekly Rations

4oz Bacon Substitute 

4oz Dairy Free Spread

4oz Oil 

1 Carton Almond Milk

3oz Cheese

8oz Sugar

2oz Coffee

2oz Flaxseeds

2 Vegan Sausages

3oz Sweets

There are some replacements for this first weeks foods, and while I use up the supplies of things in my own cupboards this may continue for a while.  For instance I had no Trex or vegan suet so I simply doubled the weight of oil.  I did not have enough in weight of the bacon substitute (which by the way is delicious and will most likely stay on my shopping list) so I added 1oz of split yellow peas.

I have no egg replacer yet ... although I have now found a source ... so I started this month off with some Flax seeds, which work very well in baking and as a binder.  I also had no white sugar so I just used some Demerara sugar from a jar in the cupboard.

A bit bitty but it should all  work.

Off the Ration

The weekly non-rationed foods were a bit easier.  I picked these up yesterday when we called into Tesco after walking the dogs.

Just LOOK at the size of that leek!!

All this, plus the three items below for just a smidge over £7 ... I'm very impressed 😀

I'm hoping I will be able to get at least my carrots and potatoes not wrapped in plastic bags next week, but for this week I couldn't as the available unwrapped ones were really not a pretty sight. I am also only buying foods grown in the UK wherever possible.

MR £2.96

A total of 90p worth of foods from my allowable 'meat replacement' spend of £2.96.  Leaving me another £2.06 for more fruit or healthy foods for the rest of the week.

 Sanity Saver

 2/3 jar of Peanut Butter from the cupboard.

My Monthly Points Shop

1 tin of Tomatoes - 6 points

1lb Oats - 2 points

2lb Red Lentils - 8 points

1lb Pasta - 2 points

and 

1lb Rice - 2 points

= 20 Points

I think I'm already slightly regretting the tin of tomatoes for 6 points as I have just read that a tin of baked beans would only have been 2 points.  Three tins of baked beans would have made a lot more meals, but I will just have to see how it goes this month and maybe change around a bit for next.

I was quite surprised that this is it for a month.  I'm thinking one pasta meal a week and one rice meal a week, and I sat and calculated that I only have enough for approximately nine porridge breakfasts for the month, that's just over two a week.

It would seem that points are spent more quickly than cash!!

My Monthly Rations

4oz Coffee

1 Carton of Almond Milk

1/2 lb Onions

Dried Egg Replacer to be added here.

My Bi-Monthly Rations

4oz Jam

4oz Marmalade

1 Jar of Cocoa Powder

It's going to be very interesting to see how this all works out, it might take me a week or so to get into the swing of it, but I'm hopeful that this is going to be a healthy and pretty cheap year of good food and clever meal making.  

Thank you to all those of you who have signed up already to be Followers of this new blog, it's been amazing to see the numbers go up so quickly.

And now it's time to make some porridge I think  🥣 

Sue xx