1945 Standard rationing WW2

This item is listed in Social Snapshots 1900-1968 inc. entered under date 1939

click Wars for local details of the Boer War, WW1, WW2, & The Cold War

Rationing started in 1939

STANDARD RATIONING  was tightened over the years

PER PERSON PER WEEK

BACON OR HAM             4oz

BUTTER                             2oz

CHEESE                             2oz              vegetarians 3oz extra

LARD                                 2oz

LOOSE TEA                      2oz

MARGERINE                    4oz

MEAT                                1s-2d   approx 1lb-3oz (540g)     

MILK                                       3 pints

(extra for children, expectant mums)

n.b. this was  unpasteurised full cream milk

PER PERSON PER MONTH

MARMALADE           2lb     or 1lb preserve or 1lb sugar(16oz)

SUGAR                        8oz    big increase in English sugar beet grown.

SWEETS                      12oz

TINNED AND DRIED FOOD 24 points per 4 weeks

1 EGG PER WEEK  or( 1pkt EGG POWDER, = 12 EGGS PER MONTH) vegetarians, invalids and children 3 per week, expectant mothers 2.   (If you kept your own chickens they rarely laid in the winter)

COUPONS

CLOTHING  In 1942 66 points, by 1945 down to 24 POINTS PER YEAR

An overcoat, fully lined     18      coupons,

man’s suit                      26-29 coupons depending on lining

men‘s shoes                       9      coupons

women’s  shoes                   7       coupons

woollen dress                      11      coupons

CHILDREN aged 14-16    20 extra points per year work clothes  such as overalls for factory work got extra points. Clothing coupons also used for wool, cotton and household textiles. No points were required for second-hand clothes or fur coats, but their prices were fixed. LACE and FRILLS had been popular on knickers but were soon banned to save material.  From 1942 austerity measures RESTRICTED BUTTONS POCKETS and PLEATS (among other things) ON CLOTHES

CLOTHES RATIONING ENDED IN March 1949.

JANUARY 1942 FUEL RATIONING. 15 CWT (20 CWT = 1 TON) year IN THE SOUTH, considered warmer    20 CWT per year IN THE NORTH. ANTHRACITE NOT RATIONED and eagerly sought where coal mined

PETROL was rationed until march 1942, then abolished. From then NO CIVILIAN PETROL WAS ALLOWED 

APPROVED USERS OF PETROL WERE EMERGENCY SERVICES, BUS COMPANIES and FARMERS.  THIS FUEL WAS DYED RED. Using it personally was an offence.

SOAP RATIONED     TO 4 COUPONS MONTH BY 1945. Some workers and invalids also babies were allowed more. 1 COUPON yielded  4oz hard soap, 3oz toilet soap, 6oz soap powder

PAPER SUPPLY WAS CONTROLLED. Paper for books so short that even classics liable to be out of print. Many SCHOOLS SHORT OF TEXT BOOKS.

The biggest percentage of paper used by the war office.

UNRATIONED GOODS BECAME VIRTUALLY UNOBTAINABLE. SCRAPS OF WOOD WOULD BE MADE INTO SMALL TOYS, SOME BY THE PRISONERS OF WAR WHICH THEY COULD SELL.

Editor's Comment ''SHOPS DID NOT ALWAYS HAVE THE RATIONED GOODS AND WHEN THEY DID LONG QUEUES FORMED.

BY 1945 NEWSPAPERS LIMITED TO 25% PRE-WAR CONSUMPTION

WRAPPING PAPER FOR MOST GOODS WAS PROHIBITED. THERE WERE NO SUPERMARKETS THEN, NO FRIDGES, NO FREEZERS, SO SHOPPING WAS DONE ALMOST DAILY, AT THE BUTCHERS, BAKERS,AND GREENGROCERS IN THE HOPE SOMETHING WAS IN. MILK CERTAINLY WOULD NOT KEEP LONG FOR IT WAS NOT PASTURISED AND EVERY EFFORT WAS MADE TO KEEP IT COOL, EVEN A BUCKET OF WATER COULD HELP.

DIG FOR VICTORY

PEOPLE GREW AS MUCH OF THEIR OWN PRODUCE AS POSSIBLE AND CANNED AS MUCH AS THEY COULD FOR WINTER. IF REGISTERED EXTRA SUGAR WAS ALLOWED FOR FRUIT.

WHALE MEAT NOT RATIONED. Whale meat was allowed, but it was not popular because the smell was thought to be unpleasant while cooking and the taste thought to be bland.

ONE PIG ALLOWED. YOU COULD KILL ONE PIG A YEAR. IT WAS NECESSARY TO SHARE THIS, THE OTHERS SHARING THEIRS LATER

RABBITS ALLOWED. IF YOU KEPT RABBITS FOR EATING A SMALL SUPPLIMENT OF MEAL WAS ALLOWED FOR THEM. CHILDREN OFTEN KEPT RABBITS

VITAMIN C. CHILDREN ALSO COLLECTED HIPS WHICH WERE BOUGHT BY THE CHEMISTS FOR A SMALL SUM AND SENT BY THE CWT FOR PROCESSING INTO ROSE HIP SYRUP.

BABY EXTRAS. CLINICS DOLED OUT CONCENTRATED ORANGE JUICE, COD LIVER OIL AND MALT SYRUP FOR BABIES AND YOUNG CHILDREN

EXPLOSIVE FATS. FATS WERE RATIONED BUT THERE WAS ALSO FAT OUT OF THE PIG MEAT, WHICH COULD BE VERY FATTY, BUT IT WOULD BE USED MANY TIMES OVER UNTIL AT LAST IT WOULD BE HANDED IN TO THE BUTCHER FOR PAYMENT. THE BUTCHER SOLD IT TO RENDERING PLANTS TO BE MADE INTO EXPLOSIVES.

NOT RATIONED. CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO WERE NOT RATIONED

BREAD WAS NOT RATIONED. The “National loaf” of wholemeal bread which replaced the white was very unpopular, said to be “mushy, grey and to cause indigestion”