What food did they ration in wartime?

Ration books worked on a coupon system, so people could only purchase their entitlement and no more. A typical person's weekly ration allowed them 1 egg, 2 ounces each of tea and butter, an ounce of cheese, eight ounces of sugar, four ounces of bacon and four ounces of margarine .

What was the rationing on the homefront?

In May 1942, the U.S. government implemented “rationing” programs, and citizens were asked to limit their personal food and supplies so that factories could manufacture and supply more for soldiers abroad . Citizens on the home front helped fight the war by living with less.

What does it mean to ration in wartime?

Rationing involved setting limits on purchasing certain high-demand items . The government issued a number of “points” to each person, even babies, which had to be turned in along with money to purchase goods made with restricted items.

What food was eaten in the war?

However, soldiers at the front still relied on preserved foods. These largely consisted of tinned items, but also dehydrated meats and oatmeal that were designed to be mixed with water . Morale-boosting items, such as chocolate and sweets, were also provided. And powdered milk was issued for use in tea.

What food was rationing in the US during ww2?

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.

What was in a WWII ration pack?

The 24-Hour Ration consisted of a “meat block”, “oatmeal block”, chocolate, biscuits, boiled sweets, instant tea, chewing gum, salt, sugar and latrine paper . This was all tightly-packed into a waxed cardboard box with an instruction sheet.

What foods did people ration in ww1?

Material rationing was common during World War I in the United States, along with certain types of food products, such as wheat, beef, butter, and sugar .

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.

The Wartime Kitchen and Day Five - Ration Book Fish on Friday: Devilled Fish Recipe (2024)

Fish and Chips in Black and White

The Wartime Kitchen and Day Five – Ration Book Fish on Friday:

Devilled Fish Recipe

The Wartime Kitchen and Ration Book Fish on Friday: Devilled Fish Recipe

Today is day five of my wartime ration book cooking challenge, and it’s Friday, which means it has to be fish on Friday. We may not all follow thetraditionalfish on Friday menu plan nowadays, such a shame I think, but families would have still tried to eat fish on Friday during the war, despite thescarcenessof fish as the war progressed. Fish and chips were NOT on ration during the war, and when there was fishavailable, there were long queues to the “chippie” as soon as the sign “frying tonight” was displayed in the fish and chop shop windows. Those who lived in coastal areas were luckier, as there were still some small boats that had not beenrequisitionedforwartime duty *(see below), and they would still go out fishing; thus, fish wasundoubtedlyeasier to obtain intraditionalfishingportsthan in the country, towns or cities. Tinned fish was popular (available with points), as were fish cakes (90% potato!) and preserved fish such as soused herrings and mackerel. In fact, herrings were fairly prolific throughout the war, and manyMinistryof Foodleafletswere aimedtowardsherring recipes. Smoked fish may seem to be a luxury today, but due to its long shelf life after smoking, smoked fish was also popular, especially smoked haddock. My mum remembers a favourite supper dish of smoked haddock in milk, in to which fingers of bread were dipped to mop all the precious juices up with.

HMT Moravia: Built at Beverley in 1917 for the Great Grimsby & East Coast Fishing Co
1943 Mined in the North Sea SE of Aldeburg as HMT Moravia FY 1819

The history of fishing trawlersduringWW2 is a fascinating one, and although most of us know about the important role that Atlantic convoyscontributedthroughoutthe war in order to get supplies to our island nation, not much is known about the bravery of the fishermen and their trawlers, who were called up and entered intoRoyal Naval Patrol Service. In myresearchto discover the vital role thattrawler-menmade, Idiscoveredthisfascinatingpiece ofinformationand photo courtesy of www.llangibby.eclipse.co.uk:

A photograph of MILFORD KING, kindly provided by David Todd, whose father Sydney Arthur Todd (1906-58), was her Chief Engineer from July 1941 to May 1943

“As in 1914, 1939 saw a “call-up” of trawlers, and men to crew them. Fitting-out yards carried out the conversions, while the men were recruited into the Royal Naval Patrol Service, set up in the “Sparrow’s Nest”, a converted theatre in Lowestoft. The trawlers were now allocated Pennant Numbers, with the “Flag Superior” letter or number indicating their roles: FY (“Fishery”) for minesweeping, anti-submarine, dan-laying and other trawlers; Z for boom defence (from 1940 onwards), Y for supply vessels, including the so-called “Essos” or fuel carriers, and 4 for auxiliary patrols, wreck dispersal and a few minesweeping and anti-submarine trawlers. Dan-layers worked closely with minesweepers to mark the swept channels. Those trawlers employed as Essos for the Normandy landings were effectively made redundant by the commissioning of PLUTO in 1944, and were released early to their owners. As many purpose-built minesweepers were commissioned during the War, they were able to take over this task from trawlers immediately after VE day, enabling a much quicker return to the owners than after the Great War.”

Fish and chips in newspaper

But back to my fishy recipe, as I was lucky enough to have some fish – coley (saithe), as supplied by John at Delish Fish, whose father played a vital role during the war as part of the RNPS. At this stage I would also like to mention my father too, who was just a little too young to join up during WW2, but who joined the Royal Navy just after the war and spent much of his time in the seniorserviceon minesweepers, (HMS Rattlesnake) and on fishery protection duties in the North Atlantic……as well as being involved in many other theatresthroughoutthe world.

Ingredients

1/2 lb (225g) cold cooked fish (I used Coley, Saithe)
1/2 pint (300ml) milk
1 oz (25g) flour
1 oz (25g) Stork margarine
2 teaspoons Worcester sauce or tomato ketchup
1/2 teaspoon made English mustard
1 teaspoon curry podwer
pinch of mace or grated nutmeg
pinch of Cayenne pepper
1 1/2 ozs (40g) stale breadcrumbs
1 hard-boiled egg (sliced or chopped)
salt and pepper

Note

Directions

Step 1	Flake fish and remove any skin or bones. Grease a pie-dish with a little Stork margarine. Melt the 1 oz of Stork in saucepan, stir in flour and cook until it bubbles. Take off heat and add milk (or half milk and water). Bring to boil, lower heat and cook for 3 minutes, stirring all the time.
Step 2	Add the fish, egg, nutmeg, curry powder, Cayenne, mustard, Worcester sauce or ketchup. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Step 3	Pour into prepared dish and coat with breadcrumbs, and bake for 20 minutes on moderately hot oven (Regulo Mark 6 - 180C/350F).

Join Fiona and Janice in their wartime kitchens too!

Fasting and Feasting with Fish on Friday: Middle Eastern Tahini and Lemon Baked Fish - Perfect for the 5:2 Diet
Fish on Friday and a Taste of India with Easy Fish Curry

Serves	4 to 6
Prep time	15 minutes
Cook time	20 minutes
Total time	35 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Fish, Milk
Meal type	Lunch, Main Dish, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Hot
Region	British
From book	The Stork Wartime Cookery Book

The Wartime Kitchen and Day Five - Ration Book Fish on Friday: Devilled Fish Recipe (2024)

The Wartime Kitchen and Day Five – Ration Book Fish on Friday:

Devilled Fish Recipe

Wartime Devilled Fish

Ingredients

Note

Directions

Join Fiona and Janice in their wartime kitchens too!

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