Make It Do or Do Without: 1940s Ration Recipes - Retro Housewife Goes Green (2024)

FAQs

What was the ration diet in the 1940s? ›

A weekly adult ration during the war allowed for 100g of Bacon and Ham, up to 226 grams of minced meat, 50g of butter, 50g of cheese, 100g of margarine, 100g of cooking fat and three pints of milk. It also included 225 grams of sugar, 50 grams of tea and one shell egg or one packet of dried eggs every four weeks.

A: Millions of ration books were issued during World War II. They were intended to prevent the hoarding of such goods as coffee, sugar, meat and other items in short supply due to the war. Ration books generally sell in the $5 to $25 range, but unlike savings bonds, you can't cash them in as you wish.

BOOK 3 - Introduced October 1943

These books contained brown stamps, which were used for meats, canned milk, canned fish, butter, cheese, lards and fats. Examples: 1 pound of pork chops - 7 points. 1 can of condensed milk - 22 points.

The wartime food shortages forced people to adopt new eating patterns. Most people ate less meat, fat, eggs and sugar than they had eaten before. But people who had a poor diet before, were able to increase their intake of protein and vitamins because they received the same ration as everybody else.

A typical weekly ration per person, when at its lowest level, was butter 4oz; bacon and ham 4oz; loose tea 4oz; sugar 8oz; meat one shilling-worth; cheese 1oz; preserves 8oz a month. By 1942, most foods were rationed except vegetables, bread, and fish.

1940s: Mint, orange juice, and apple butter

A sample brunch menu includes: orange juice topped with mint, creamed ham and mushrooms, waffles de luxe, maple syrup, apple butter, coffee, and milk. Notable breakthroughs: General Mills rolls out CheeriOats in 1941; the name is changed to Cheerios in 1945.

Ration cards included stamps with drawings of airplanes, guns, tanks, aircraft, ears of wheat and fruit, which were used to purchase rationed items.

Two ration books were distributed to "every eligible man, woman, child, and baby in the United States." One contained blue coupons for processed goods while the other contained red coupons for meat, fish and dairy products. Each person started with 48 blue points and 64 red points each month.

Issued to the public May 4 - May 7, 1942. Of the 180,000,000 printed, 123,000,000 were issued. Initially used to ration sugar, coupons were later designated for other products.

An English Breakfast during WWII. Breakfast tended to be porridge with milk if available but some families would use melted lard! OMG. A special treat was toast or bread and jam (we always had jam apparently – my grandmother would make it, but so little sugar, she relied on the fruit.

What did kids eat during WWII? ›

During wartime rationing, it was important that everyone got the right nutrition to stay healthy and grow. Children got more eggs and milk and were encouraged to eat more fruit, vegetables and fish. But health issues caused by poor nutrition, such as rickets, still increased.

Throughout the war each person was allocated a scientifically devised weekly provision of specific foods. We often think of rationing as a 'starvation diet' but the daily calorific value was around 3000 calories. This is up to 1000 more than we are recommended today – so was it still good for us?

1940s. In the 1940s, the Second World War was ongoing and food rationing was introduced. Meat, cheese, butter, cooking fats and sugar were heavily restricted, but potatoes, other root vegetables and bread were freely available. People ate a diet much higher in carbohydrates and lower in fats than we do today.

[2] K-Rations and C-Rations were both issued to troops in combat. They provided between 3,000 and 3,600 calories per day. Within these rations, soldiers found candy, freeze dried coffee, and canned meat. [3] In civilian life, we know these as M&Ms, instant coffee, and Spam.

The 1940s were marked by the austerity of World War II, with food rationing imposing a diet high in carbohydrates and low in fats. People's diets were restricted but relatively balanced, emphasizing available root vegetables and bread due to the scarcity of meat, cheese, and sugar.

Also known as the 14-Man Ration, the 'compo' ration came in a wooden crate and contained tinned and packaged food. A typical crate might include tins of bully beef, spam, steak and kidney pudding, beans, cheese, jam, biscuits, soup, sausages, and margarine.