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Rationing

How I remember when sweet rationing stopped , my favourite were !"Smarties".
paul
I remember when sweet rationing stopped. Everybody went barmy !

I ate half a pound of aniseed balls, (not recommended, one's urine goes a funny colour !).

Maybe it was a local thing but, because of the overwhelming demand, they started rationing again for a while.
 
Butter rationing ended in May 1954. I remember those Pearks shops.
Butter_Rationing_Ends_May_1954.JPG

Can see the attraction of butter, but just don't feel tempted by Stork margarine, Cookeen or Spry. I do remember these products very well. But then I was fortunate enough to not have been around pre-rationing. Viv.
 
viv thats a cracking pic...i was born just before rationing ended so would not know the hardship folk had to endure for years before this....i bet seeing shop windows displayed in this way was wonderful...must have felt like they had won the lottery...

lyn
 
Great photo. I remember rationing and Ration Books, etc. Echo Margarine was dreadful. Bright yellow block of greasy fat dyed with natural food
colouring as I remember it. Thanks for posting pic.
 
what a load of fuss about rationing. I was born during the war and all I seemed to want to eat was Weetabix i.e dry Weetabix with butter on or as eaten now with milk and sugar - didn't seem to do me any harm - I survived and only properly started eating veggies when I was 18
 
I don't think the end of rationing was 'a load of fuss' Jaa. People could then purchase more than 2oz of cheese per week, same with butter and sugar etc. it must have been wonderful. I was born in 1947 so remember ration books, but don't remember having to go without much at all - but then I was a poor eater and could have survived on just cheese.
 
i agree with you shortie..the people to ask about how hard rationing was is our parents or grandparents if still alive..they were the ones who had to manage bringing up a family on very little not us.. and like most parents if we are struggling we tend to shield our children from our problems and try and carry on as normal....i would like to bet that there were many parents who went without to give their children a little extra food during rationing...i wonder how many of us would be prepared now to go back to those days...very few i suspect...

lyn
 
I don't remember much about rationing as I wasn't old enough, but I do remember that during the war we seemed to have dried egg powder instead of fresh eggs, and we had minced whale meat made into a sort of hamburger. A lot of vegetables were grown in the garden. We were taken to the sweet shop every so often where our coupons could be used for a bag of sweets and a small bar of Cadburys chocolate etc. and that was a real treat.

Judy
 
We ate whale meat and horse meat,there was still a horse meat shop in Park Rd.Aston probably after rationing had finished.We had no junk food or sweets, and my opinion is,us growing up during the war were the healthiest fed generation of all.:encouragement:
 
That is right Ray, statistics prove that the war time food was the healthiest of all. I think there are two reasons for this - minimum fat and sugar, and because of the difficutly obtaining items, portions were small, not huge like people eat today. There was no junk food around, apart from fish and chip shops, but what's the betting if there had have been, some people would have eaten it because they are not interested in preparing and cooking food? I have to say for myself that I find week-day cooking a complete turn-off, but I do love preparing something special for visitors or for special occasions.
 
I have a ration book of my mother's. I will look for it and scan in some photos. I lent it to a school some time ago but I feel sure they returned it. Will do my best.

posted in response to #47
 
Lets salute the stoicism and ingenuity of our mothers as they struggled with the constraints of rationing both with food for ever-hungry children and securing clothing for fast-growing children. They could certainly show the present day "whingers" how to cobble up a healthy meal from bits and pieces. Sorry to moan but its true. Regards. willey
 
We will never see the like of this, hard working, and lovable generation again, how I do miss them so.
paul
 
Following on from post #73
I have found the ration books - they mean nothing to me so perhaps someone can talk us through what happened at the time of issue.
The family ration books are kept in an old folder. It is like a thick wax with thick thread, almost hide like. I don't know if it is plastic or not, slightly opaque and green in colour.
Ration Book Case.jpg

inside are the family's Ration Books and two identity cards - one for my mother and one for my brother - issued in 1940. I am showing the front and back so no family information is disclosed.
Sorry can't upload next pic so will carry on in next post.
 
sorry as a newbie I haven't really found my way round here yet! lol
Identity cards
I presume there is a picture here!
 

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inside pages
- page 4 will no doubt bring back some memories - I have never really looked at these and when I saw the name and address - oh!yes! some good memories there!

Inside cover + page 01.jpg

pages 2+3.jpg

pages 4+5.jpg

pages 6+7.jpg

the paper is very thin, brown and has been cut in places - I presume these small squares are the coupons, must've been a nightmare for the grocer to keep track!

pages 13.jpg
 
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