Day Sixteen - This Week's Rations

 

It was only when I came to get my spread out of the fridge for this morning's breakfast that I realised that I hadn't weighed out this week's rations yet.

Oops!!

I've almost got it sorted in my head now and I've started just topping up the things in my containers with the new rations.  Isn't it easy with scales that you can just zero once you've stood something on them, they are a real modern game-changer.  So, another 2oz of oil went into my oil pouring bottle.

8oz sugar went into my sugar jar.

2oz of coffee topped up my coffee jar.

I'm surprised that I use less than 2oz of instant coffee each week, it's been a pleasant revelation.

Another 4oz of dairy free cheese was weighed out and added to the cheese leftover from last week.  I'll be able to treat myself to a good cheese and onion sandwich this week with all this cheese available. 😃

So, including all that I have weighed out and this week's carton of milk, along with the two sausages and four slices of Vegan Quorn Ham replacing the two eggs that vegetarians received instead of a meat ration, here are my rations for Week Three of the Challenge.

Oops ... how did I forget my 2oz sweet ration.

Each week I have been rummaging around for sweets that I already had in instead of buying sweets, and it seems that I have finally exhausted all but a couple more lemon sherbets, and as I still have last week's lemon sherbets in the tin, I searched high and low for something else.  I found the only bit of chocolate that I have left in the house, and look ... it weighs almost 2oz.  

That will do nicely then. 😄

This week is going to be a very cheesy and sausage-y week as when I went to put my two new available sausages into the freezer ...

... I found that last weeks were still there!!

So now it's time to write out this week's menu plan and make sure that I make good use of all my new foods and the leftovers and things in the freezer.

I'm going away for a couple of days now, so I will pick up where I am leaving off on my return.

Sue xx

Week Two - Day Eight - Fresh Rations, a Naughty Cheat and First Dates

Week two, and it was time to replenish the fresh foods.  

It's only the second week of my modern rationing and already I was thinking of the people in wartime going to the grocers on their shopping day each week, and buying exactly the same things week after week, month after month, year after year.  With only the amounts that they could buy with their ration stamps changing as supplies grew or dwindled, or other things were added to the list.

For instance, at the very start of rationing here in the UK ... 8th January 1940 ... the three things on the ration were bacon, butter and sugar, very quickly all the other things you see in my photo (with eggs replacing my Quorn bacon and sausages, and 3 pints of cow's milk replacing my almond milk, tea replacing coffee and lard replacing oil of course ... I told you this was 'modern' rationing!!) joined them.

Going to the shop to get your rations and expecting one thing but getting a lot less of it must have been really upsetting.  The same with the points system, getting to the grocers to find that your previous amount of points would no longer buy you that tin of Spam or full pound of lentils must have played havoc with any menu planning.  Of course, there would have been the occasional happy days too when suddenly the radio announced that the cheese ration was going up, or more sugar was available for the autumn jam making sessions.

Whereas we tend to menu plan and then shop, knowing pretty much that in our times of plenty there will be what we want or at least very near replacements, back in the rationing years I guess the housewife would shop and then come home and work out what meals she would be making and how she was going to feed her family for the coming week.  At times no doubt stretching things thinner and thinner and hoping and praying that nothing would snap!

And talking of stretching things thinner, I decided this week I would open one of my cans of beans.  At just two points per can, they were a relatively good points purchase this month I thought, but I still wanted them to go as far as possible.  

I decided that they would be the star of three meals and divided them into the portion sizes that I thought would work.  

The biggest portion being for a beans on toast breakfast.

I'm so glad I did this and that this was one of the most filling breakfasts up to date, as not long after I had eaten my son came to pick me up so we could go and visit Mum in hospital.  You'd think a two-hour visit would be just that, but when you live so far from the hospital, each visit is taking between five and six hours including the travelling time.

I do admit to taking a sneaky Deliciously Ella flapjack with me to eat at lunchtime, and it saved the day.  No one likes me when I get hangry!!

 When we got home, I made us both a coffee, offered Jason a snack but he refused as wanted to get home, he lives a good 40 minutes from me ... so his day was even longer than mine.

I fed the dogs, took them for a quick walk and then tipped the entire contents of the jug of remaining soup into the pan.  This bowlful and a little top up straight after, saved the day and filled me up with lovely vegetably goodness.

Then all I needed before I went to bed was a nice cup of coffee and a relax in front of the television watching First Dates Hotel.

Sue xx

It's All About the Fruits and Veggies, Bought and Scrumped

 

It was all about the fruits and vegetables yesterday.  Sorting out the fridge and getting all my new weeks off-ration purchases stored properly was the first job of the day.  The vegetables all fit neatly into the bottom drawer.

And the tomatoes were added to the pack I already had and put into the fruit drawer ... well they are officially fruit. 😁

You can ignore the cheeses at the back of the drawer I won't be touching them until it's time to take out 4oz for next week's rations.  The three mandarin oranges have lived in the fridge for far too long so I will be eating one a day this week, it would be wasteful to throw them away. 

Well, that's about it for the fridge, all the fruits and veggies in the drawers and the butter, cheese and vegan ham on the shelf.  I just had to put the pint pot of spring onions in the door as they were too tall for the shelves.  Once I use them I will be able to move them over, but I was determined not to give them their usual 'haircut' to make them fit.  Every little bit of food counts even more than usual from now on!!

We went to the garden centre to get some grease bands for our apple tree at the weekend and while we walked the dogs around the paddock there Alan asked if I wanted an apple or two from the old trees there, of course I said yes.  It was only when he emptied his pockets out at home that I realised he had managed to reach five. 

Meanwhile in the cafe I scrumped the plastic cups that you have to use to get water in now that they seem to have put away the glasses.  It's a shame but they are so flimsy you do need to take two. There was no way I was going to let them go into the trash or even into the recycling, so I brought them home and I will use them next year as little 'greenhouse' lids for plant pots when I start seedlings off for my Victory Garden next year. 

The scrumped apples are now in the pot on my little storage unit alongside the potatoes in the basket and the bread in the 'flour bin' ...  and the plastic cups are in the shed.

And that's it all the prep work and shopping has been done, there's nothing for it but to begin My Modern Wartime Rationing.

https://youtu.be/HheoEd4wrYg

A fascinating collection of memories about rationing.

Sue xx

 

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

Week Three - Rationed Foods

 

At last I got round to actually getting my food weighed out and ready for use, and you'll see a surprise addition this week ... I have one egg!!

  One egg per week per person was the usual ration although at some points in the war it went down to one egg per person per fortnight.  I don't usually eat eggs, but as we now have no cockerel and our last laying girl is doing such a sterling job I thought for the next five weeks (that's how many eggs I have), I would share some wartime suitable recipes that include eggs.

Once they have gone I now have the added advantage of a couple of boxes of 'dried egg' that I found in Asda ... totally suitable for vegans.

I have stopped weighing out the coffee as I have discovered that my 2oz of allowable coffee in place of the tea ration that I cannot drink fills this little jar nicely and I have never managed to reach the bottom of it yet.  So each week I will just top it up from the large jar in my cupboard.  If I do run out I still have the whole of the 4oz that are part of my monthly rations in place of the Camp Coffee.

Also pictured are my two Linda McCartney vegan sausages and my carton of Almond Milk.

Here for posterity are this weeks weights and measures -

4oz Margarine 

- added to what was already in the butter dish.

4oz Bacon/Ham 

 The smidge of additional weight is the packaging.

3oz Cheese

This week some more of my ready grated Mozzarella style.

4oz Oil

 This is instead of the 2oz butter and 2oz lard.  I just topped up last weeks bottle, I'm topping things up as the contents are all being bought from the same bottles and packets.

8oz Sugar

This is the last of my sugar from the cupboard, as I haven't been using much up to now I think I will just keep a note in my book of any future 8oz's until I actually need to go out and buy some for use.

My 3oz Sweetie Ration

Such an important part of the ration, a smidge under ... but I will survive.   😀

Sue xx

Week Two - The Food

 

The Weekly Rations

All this weeks food rations were weighed out last night ready for a new Monday start.  It felt all wrong running from Friday to Friday just because the first of January was a Friday, so now I have switched to Monday to Monday.

You will notice one glaring thing wrong with this photo and it's a roll of modern ready rolled Puff Pastry.  To use this up I decided that this week I would forfeit the rest of my fat ration, so no 2oz of oil or 2oz vegan suet (or similar) just my 4oz of spread in the butter dish and the pastry will be considered as having taken the rest of my fats along side 8oz of unrationed flour.

If things need using up I will be using them instead of wasting them and this sort of compromise will no doubt happen for quite a few weeks as I shop from home and use things up.

Off the Ration

My not on the ration shopping this week up to now has included bread, potatoes and a round lettuce.

  Not my usual sort of lettuce at all as I am an Iceberg fan through and through, I just love the crunch it gives to a salad or a sandwich, but they come from Spain at this time of the year ... a big no-no for me during rationing ... and round lettuces are grown in the UK all year round.  I need to go to the shops late at night when it's quieter and I can have a slower, better look at all labels to see what else is grown in the UK all year round these days as these items will all fit into my modern rationing plan.

I still have half of last weeks cabbage, most of the leek and all but one of the carrots.  I do need to do so much better at piling my plate up with vegetables.

 Sanity Saver

My sanity saver this week is a carton of ready made custard.  It was at the back of the fridge and it's date was up at the start of December ... it should be fine and will be used on an apple pastry that I intend to make later.  Hot apple pastry and cold custard ... yummy  😋

My next job today after another coffee and a spot of blog hopping is to make up this weeks menu plan and take a photo of it for you to peruse.

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