18 Rationing Tips From WWII That May Come In Handy Soon If Times Get Hard

Rationing was first implemented in Britain in 1940, and then in the US and Canada in 1942. There were a lot of creature comforts, as well as survival supplies, that became expensive, rare, or even vanished. According to my own grandmother, one egg, two ounces of tea and butter, one ounce of cheese, eight ounces of sugar, four ounces of bacon, and four ounces of margarine were all part of the average person's weekly diet.

WW2 ration bookPhoto byRichelleg/canva

Every family received ration stamps, and you can imagine how this shaped people's diets during this time. There was a significant shift from imports to local production and consumption as resources were allocated to the war. Women had to be resourceful in the kitchen and make do with whatever they could buy for their families in order to contribute on the home front.

There is so much we can learn from how families survived WWII at home. Below are 20 tips from my own late grandparents on how anyone, at anytime, can ration food, money, and household supplies for any situation.

“Plant a Victory Garden : Our Food Is Fighting : A Garden Will Make Your Rations Go Further.” Poster, Office of War Information, 1943.Photo byollection of Northwestern University Libraries, Government & Geographic Information Collection

Tip 1: Grow Your Own Victory Garden

Victory gardens were one of the things the homefront was occupied with while our soldiers were at war. Cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and other veggie plants were planted, often by clearing entire front and back yards. According to my grandmother, the produce produced by her gardens was often the only fresh food they'd get to eat.

Tip 2: Get Comfortable With Carrots

Carrots were a staple in those victory gardens because they were cheap, easy to grow, and stored really well in root cellars and basements. Also, carrots can be used in both savory and sweet recipes and can be used to replace a host of other ingredients in recipes.

Tip 3: Also, Potatoes

Like carrots, potatoes are inexpensive, grow and store well, and are resilient. Luckily for us (and everyone who has ever had to survive solely on potatoes), a talented home cook can transform this starchy tuber into a variety of other recipes. They undoubtedly played a crucial role in the wartime kitchen!

“War Gardens for Victory: Grow Vitamins At Your Kitchen Door.” Poster, National Garden Bureau, c. 1943Photo byCollection of Library of Congress

Tip 4: Don't Let Anything Go To Waste

It was almost illegal to waste food during this time. The media throughout the war gave women tips on how to preserve every ounce of scrap. Since there wasn't much food to waste in the first place, creativity and resourcefulness were crucial.

• Diced leftover meat would be used to make a pie or stew.
• Bones were boiled for stock
• Soups, stews, and stocks were also made from "vegetable garbage."
• Extra fish can be used as a sandwich filler, salad dressing, or tucked in other recipes.

Tip 5: Reuse Your Vegetable Water:

Nutrients seep into the water when veggies are cooked.Don't just dump this water, use it to make stocks, soups, and sauces. You can also water your Victory garden with this water.

Tip 6: Get Saucy

Serving a dish with a sauce is one of the best ways to add flavor. Making good sauce is an art that is easily mastered. Take a cue from the 1940s and transform any meat drippings or burnt bits stuck to the pan into gravy. Add the beef stock and use cornstarch or a roux (equal parts butter and flour) to thicken.

Tip 7: Beans, Beans.. Cook Your Own

Cooking your own beans and lentils is significantly more cost-effective than buying canned options, and in an emergency, who knows if you can even find canned beans. With today's chemicals and sodium levels, cooking and storing your own beans just makes sense.

Tip 8: Own Your Oatmeal

One of the most significant culinary staples in the 1940s was oatmeal. Oats were cheap and plentiful because they were grown stateside. Oats were pounded fine and mixed with normal flour to extend their breadmaking during the rationing period. Soups and stews were thickened with them. Toasted oats were used in place of nuts to make them crispier. Oats were a fantastic filler when included into stuffings, burgers, and sausage meat. In fact, a lot of people who avoid gluten still do this today!

Own your oatmealPhoto byRichelleg

Tip 9: Schedule A Baking Day

During World War II, energy conservation was a major priority. Organizing a baking day was one of the strategies used to persuade women to conserve fuel. This was done not simply to use up as much oven space as possible but also to finish all of the baking for the week. My grandma said they'd even take turns at different houses in the neighborhood, and everyone would gather to bake. This takes meal prep to a whole new level!

Tip 10: Save Your Old Bread For Crutons

Even though we've just talked about not throwing away food, bread merits its own category. Once it becomes stale, there are a ton of things you can do with it! You may make croutons out of stale bread to add some flair to soups and salads. It can be soaked in milk or water to be used in meat patties and meatloaf (this extends out the meat), made into pudding, or ground into breadcrumbs. Furthermore, the stale bread can be made into French toast by dipping it in eggs.

Tip 11: Preserve Preserve Preserve

Extra produce was conserved for later use in an effort to prevent food waste, especially from Victory gardens. We can do this today by keeping an eye on grocery store sales and farmers markets, picking up extra to preserve via canning, freezing, or dehydrating.

Tip 12: Making Your Own Pectin Will Preserve Your Own Fruits And Veggies

Did you know that apple leftovers can be used to produce your own pectin? You can create your own pectin to thicken jams and jellies easily using only apples, water, and lemon juice.

Tip 13: Render And Save Your Cooking Fat

Butter could no longer be relied upon as the primary cooking fat in the kitchen because it was on ration. Skimmed off and kept was the layer of fat that solidifies on top of soups and stews. Even the fish oil from tinned sardines was used, as was grease from pans, particularly bacon fat.

Beef offal on a skilletPhoto byRichelleg

Tip 14: Offal Isn't Awful

Offal was and still is among the least expensive meat cuts available, along with liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, and hearts. Organ meats are among the foods highest in nutrients, rich in copper, zinc, selenium, and vitamins A, B12, C, and D. These days, finding them can be more difficult, but if you can get them, learn how to cook offal. It could save your life.

Tip 15: Don't Be Afraid Of Properly Canned Meat

It could become difficult to find fresh meat, especially with impending food shortages. Even though canned meat isn't perfect, it's still better than nothing, which is why tinned sardines, corned beef, and ham were so popular during World War II.

Tip 16: Powdered Eggs

Fresh eggs were impossible to find unless you had your own flock. The use of powdered eggs became essential because each person was allowed one egg per week. It took some getting used to cooking with dried eggs, but by the end of rationing, they had mastered the technique.

Powdered eggsPhoto byRichelleg

Tip 17: The Sugar Stretch

Since sugar is known to be unhealthy, the introduction of a sugar ration sounds like a good thing. 1940's ladies, however, relied on sugar for baking as well as for canning and jam-making. With all of their resourcefulness, they discovered that you can reduce the amount of sugar while stewing fruit by adding baking soda (half a teaspoon for every pound of fruit). Swapping sugar for another sweetener, such as honey, is another option to save sugar.

StampsPhoto byRichelleg

Tip 18: Stick To Butter And Animal Fats

Did you know that margarine originated from a war? When butter was rationed during World War II, margarine—a less expensive alternative to butter—became extremely popular.

I do not advise replacing butter with margarine or shortening, though, as seed and vegetable oils are very bad for you. Animal fats like bacon grease, lard, tallow, and other drippings were and are a decent substitute for butter while cooking. They also don't burn as easily and have a greater smoke point than butter.

Do you have more rationing tips to share?

Hopefully, rationing will never return to its 1940s form. Though we can never know what the future may bring, I think it's better to be ready and know how to survive (and eat well) than to go hungry!

Rationing stampsPhoto byRichelleg

Citations and Attributions:

Personal stories lived and told by my own late grandmother.

Rationing during WWII by Marianne Giullian. (n.d.). https://ussslcca25.com/rationing.htm#:~:text=Some%20say%20eggs%20were%20rationed,would%20be%20next%20to%20impossible.

MarshallV. (2018, July 11). Rationing. The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/rationing-during-wwii