Tuesday 20 February 2018

Meals on Rations

No, we are not starting this again but a few people are on it so although I rarely talked about what we ate, I remember that we didn't have pies or puddings very often. Here are a few examples of what I could find on our War Diary page:

Main Meals: mince, stew and dumplings, spaghetti bolognaise, ham salad, corned beef and potato pie – (2 meals from one pie), fish, and toad in the hole. 

Seven snacks: jacket potato, salad sandwiches, beans on toast, tinned tomatoes on toast, cheese and ham toasted sandwiches, cheese on toast and ham and potato cakes and beans. Our breakfasts are a choice from porridge, toast and marmalade and cereals.

Main Meals: One roast chicken, leftover chicken and mushroom pie, bones and scraps to make thick vegetable, potato and chicken soup, fish cakes, toad in the hole, jacket potatoes, ham and potato cakes.

Snacks: Leftover chicken sandwiches, remainder of chicken soup, cheese salad, tinned tomatoes on toast, jacket potato, curried parsnip soup, salad sandwiches.

There were three of us, 2 adults and 1 child but as he was over 6, he was on full adult rations. When using meat, there was always more vegetables than meat and when making a pie, it also had vegetables and potatoes in it to stretch it over 2 days. 

Oddly enough, our food bill then and now is very similar, around the £30 mark, Guess permanently being on menu writing and careful shopping is helping keep the costs down.





10 comments:

  1. Thank you, it's helpful to see what others ate on rations-type challenges. I'm very keen on the idea of having a chicken and using that as the only meat source for the week - not all weeks, just occasionally. I've been steadily reading through your war diaries again, inspirational.

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    1. It wasn’t a challenge but a desperate attempt to feed us on next to nothing, just £500 pm for absolutely everything. Doing the chicken thing this week as it happens.

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  2. Must read the war diaries - they won't help right now but for the future. Thanks for reminding me.
    J x

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    1. We had no choice and hardly came off them, just didn’t have the spare cash.

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  3. I've recently been reading through your War Diaries - very interesting! It's amazing how well we could all eat with the ability to adapt/invent/substitute and generally make do with just a few ingredients. Plus, the meals all look very tasty and nutritious too with sensible portions. My mistake is portion sizes - I'm OK at the moment as I'm back on my 800cals for 8 weeks again, but hubby eats far too much (good job he has a manual, physical job to burn some off).

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    1. I think portion sizes are the bug bear now, something that sneaked over here from abroad. Plus eating too fattening items regularly rather than a treat. It is certainly hard to maintain.

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  4. Your war diaries are a brilliant read, very inspirational. I guess living that way for so long really sunk in, hence your ability to keep costs down now for the two of you.

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    1. Shows the increase though in costs doesn’t it. Three then, two now.

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    2. Definitely, and I think what shines through in the diaries is that you were actually having to live this way, but at the same time making the absolute best of what you had. Hardship yes, but with fun and family times whenever possible ... and a very healthy diet thanks to your hard work.

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  5. True and for the most part, it was fun!

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