Transport your class back to WW2 rationing with these six simple war recipes. Provides an excellent link to D&T cooking and nutrition.
Wartime Recipes – Classic Fork
A thrifty and yet very tasty wartime dish of fish in a devilled white sauce, cooked au gratin, This recipe makes a pie that is adequate for 4 to 6 people, when served with potatoes and vegetables on the side, or a high tea meal for 4 people when served with bread and butter.
This year marks the 105th anniversary of the US’s entry into World War I…a topic which I happened to do a lot of research on for my YA fantasy What Lies Ben
Believe it or not I first started making these several years ago in a very old Welsh farmhouse! Authentic or what! This is a delicious recipe and to me, the Welsh Cakes taste even better the day after where the flavour of the nutmeg comes through. Wartime Welsh Cakes 6 oz plain flour with 3 […]
It's a while since I posted one of the wartime recipes so here is a really delicious cookie/biscuit recipe. This recipe gave the option of using lard, margarine or (bleurgh) dripping. I chose half lard, half dairy free margarine but feel free to use whatever you like. I also used golden syrup where in the…
Food for Victory! World War II continued to change the relationship between food and family. Pamphlets like this one provided suggestions on how to balance rationing with supporting working family members and other war efforts at home. “How to Pack Lunch Boxes for War Workers” included a detailed meal plan for lunches on any…
Mrs Lewis, of Severne Road, interviewed in 1977 That was very hard really (rationing). Because working a full day you don't have time to go shopping. Not to get anything special, you know. Sheila used to go and do most of it from the shops down the road, just local shops. We just had our rations, and …we used to have an ounce of butter a head a week, and I think it was four ounces of margarine a head. Still, there's only the two of us, so we had 2 oz. of butter and 4 oz. of margarine. And potatoes if you get any. You waited in queues for those. I'd got pretty well of stuff in my pantry when the war started. I'd got about 5 lbs. of tea, I remember. We used to have a tea man call, and when the war broke out he said he'd sell all his stock because he was going to join up and he said "How much would you like to have" and I bought all he could spare which was about 5 lbs. I think. Cos he said "You know it'll go on ration", so I had quite a nice lot of tea. It lasted a long while. But other things, like perishables of course, you'd got to...and sugar. That's when I started to go without sugar. We'd got some blackcurrant bushes in the garden. You see, well of course jam was on points – you couldn't get that, and I thought, it's such a shame for me blackcurrants to get spoilt, so I didn't have any sugar in my tea. I kept me half pound separate. And then, when the blackcurrants came ripe, I made them into jam...with my sugar. And then I thought - now I can have a cup of tea with some sugar in, and it made me sick! And I've never had sugar in me tea from that day to this. But, it was tough. There's no doubt about it. They don't know nowadays. They just simply can't imagine it. And of course, we remember the First World War as well. I remember waiting in a queue for half a pound of margarine...in the First World War. When I was a little girl. About ten I should be I should think, or 11. And I've waited for practically eight hours, in a queue, then. And when you got it, it was so rancid and nasty that you just couldn't eat it as it was. My mother used to get a bit of fat, from the butchers -beef fat - if she could, and render it down into dripping, and mix it with the margarine, and an Oxo cube to give it a bit of bottoms. And that's what we had on our bread... And potatoes...you just had to stand in a queue if anybody (was) selling any. It was very bad then, in the First World War. Then coming to the Second war, we'd got the same thing again...But it was better organized. It was much better organized. There wasn't rations in the First war. You just got it if you could. If you saw anybody selling anything you stood in the queue and hoped for the best, Of course, in the Second war, we were rationed, and so much bread, so much flour. I forget how much now, but I think it was half a pound of bread a day, something like that. One week's allowance for one person was: One egg, 2 oz cooking fat, 2 oz margarine, 2 oz tea, 8 oz sugar, 1 oz cheese, 4 oz bacon and ham, and meat to the value of 1s 2d. Margo Hitchinson on rationing (from ‘Around 4 o’clock’) Food rationing began in 1940 for basic foods such as meat, sugar, butter, eggs and cheese. Ration books were distributed and everyone had to register with a grocer and butcher. There was great excitement when shops had little extras and word would go round like wildfire when bananas, oranges or tomatoes appeared. An average weekly ration for each person included 8 oz sugar, 4 oz butter, 1 oz cheese, and one egg, although it varied during the war how much was rationed. Food such as sugar, tea and fats were very scarce by 1941 and rationing made life very difficult. When planning a meal, ration coupons had to be calculated as well as the cost. Tedious queues at shops became a fact of life. Papers and magazines were full of ideas for ‘austerity cooking’ with suggestions for fatless pastry, sugarless puddings, eggless cakes, meatless meals and fuelless cookery. The Ministry of Food recommended the ingenious hay-box where a porridge or stew could be transferred from the stove to a wooden box stuffed with hay or paper. There it would cook slowly throughout the day or night in conserved heat. Pigs Feet in Jelly, Calves Feet Pie, and Sheep’s Head Broth were advocated for a change! Patricia Smith We used to have a card for meat. Mr Bourne the butcher was in the third shop on Fox Hollies Road. Mum used to go there, come back, then get some blood off the meat and rub it into the card to hide the mark where it said we had been to him. Then she sent me back with the card. he'd say: "I'm sure your mother's been up and had it", and I'd say: "Oh no, Mr. Bourne". We had to wait in different queues for different things. Everyone used to tell everyone else: they've got this or that. We used to go to Hazelwood Nurseries to queue for tomatoes. We used to mix margarine with a little cream to make it more like butter. Josie Smith (with thanks to Sheldon library) My aunt in Canada used to send us food parcels. She always included a little box of chocolates for my mother. On nearly every occasion each chocolate had been pressed in by the censors in case something was hidden inside. Ministry of Food War Cookery Leaflet no. 11 (From The War Years, used with permission)
By the time I got in from work last night and picked up groceries it was 7 pm. It made me think how challenging it must have been for many women on the home-front during WWII who literally became single parents overnight while their husbands went to war. Many went out to work to keep […]
Apart from the strict but necessary food rationing policies implemented in Britain during WWII by the Ministry of Food, a campaign was started to actively involve society in a food-safety strategy to ease food shortages by transforming gardens and public parks into allotment fields or “Victory Gardens” and plant highly nutritious vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, cabbages…
During World War II, rationing changed the way people cooked. Despite the limitations, homemakers got creative, turning simple ingredients into hearty, satisfying meals. The Vegetable Pasty is one such creation – a humble dish that blends resourcefulness with comfort.
Wartime food policies were one of the critical success factors in WW2 for the UK. They kept the military fed & the civilian population working, & resulted in the British population being healthier than at any time before or since in history.
100’s of authentic ‘Wartime Recipes’ will be recreated and photographed throughout the year of the 1940’s Experiment. During times of uncertainty and disruption, frugal, storable ingredients to make simple, nutritional recipes come into their own. I hope the wartime recipes I have recreated will help people to feed themselves and their families… Check back here […]
Today we are going to talk potato.. a the lovely and lowly potato, it made up a huge amount of the calories depending on where you lived and what you did.. In one of the research I was reading it recommended a total of one pound of potato per day for a adult and half…
These wartime recipes were staples for families during trying times. From borscht to Spam fritters to wacky cake, visit a bygone era with these basic dishes.
Step back in time with these wartime recipes from a bygone era! Discover how simple ingredients created hearty meals during challenging times.
Of all the biscuit/cookie type wartime recipes I have created over the many years of recreating 1940s wartime recipes, this is my very favourite indeed. It’s sweet, tasty and filling and the tart berries lift it and make it totally delicious… I’ve made this several times this year using blackberries, raspberries and blueberries… You can […]
I have always been hugely interested in the way women lived in the Second World War. Obviously for me a huge part of that interest centres on what they ate at a time when food was rationed and not as plentiful as it is today. They would have had to make do without using a lot of eggs for…
My youngest boy loves his apples. He probably eats at least two every day ( and after each one he asks "mummy am I stronger now?" Since daddy told him apples make you strong!) so imagine his delight when he got his hands on this whopper. Kindly given to him by a friendly apple farmer…
