And so our experiment begins. I've never walked away from a weekly shop with so little in my trolley, our usual weekly food shop would cost around £50-£70 but our food shop this week was just under £30! I've attempted to stick to brands available in the 1940's to keep it as authentic as possible. Butter and Margarine will have to last us two weeks as getting hold of just 100g is impossible.
I've been researching recipes on the net as well as various book sources. I'm currently using three main cookbooks; Eating for victory (original government leaflets), Victory cookbook by Marguerite Patten and a pre-war book from 1936 which I intend to adapt recipes to the restrictions of war time rations.
During the war my grandmother was raising 9 children during which my grandfather was frequently in Scotland repairing warships. My father born in 1944 still speaks fondly of the food my grandmother would cook from next to nothing! A few of her recipes have been past down so i'll be including those in the challenge.
The following Rations are for two adults.
Bacon and ham- 200g
Meat- Around 1/2lb pp
Butter- 100g
Cheese- up to 450g
Margarine- 200g
Cooking fat- 200g
Milk- 6pts
Sugar- 450g
Preserves- 2lb every 2 months
Tea- 100g
Eggs- 2 a week
Sweets- 700g a month
In addition to this each person was issued with 16 points a month to use to buy items within the system.
Vegetables and bread were not rationed (though bread was rationed in 1946 after the war, which lasted two years) Sausages though difficult to obtain were not rationed, neither was Offal, rabbit and pigeon.
