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. Ministry of Food War
Cookery Leaflet no. 11 (From The
War Years, used with permission)
 |
