Make It Do or Do Without: 1940s Ration Recipes - Retro Housewife Goes Green (2024)

FAQs

What did the stamps in Book 3 of war ration mean? ›

BOOK 3 - Introduced October 1943

These books contained brown stamps, which were used for meats, canned milk, canned fish, butter, cheese, lards and fats. Examples: 1 pound of pork chops - 7 points. 1 can of condensed milk - 22 points.

The rice diet is a high-carbohydrate, low-fat, low-protein diet to lose weight. The diet features calorie deficit, reduced sodium, and mindfulness and may help some people lose weight and achieve better health. A research scientist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina created the rice diet in the 1940s.

World War II put a heavy burden on US supplies of basic materials like food, shoes, metal, paper, and rubber. The Army and Navy were growing, as was the nation's effort to aid its allies overseas. Civilians still needed these materials for consumer goods as well.

The Rise of Commercial Pet Food

During World War II, metal rationing halted all production of canned pet foods, and manufacturers began focusing on dry foods, selling them to customers by promoting the convenience factor. By the mid-1940s, there were two types of dry food: biscuits and kibble; and pellets.

The overall condition of the booklet as well as the stamps have the biggest impact on the resale value, with a large number of these available on the market. With 100+ stamps and in very good condition your 1940's era War Ration Book would have a fair market or resale value of between 25-50 dollars.

Stamps also accumulate value over time. Depending on the stamp's rarity, those tiny squares could be worth a huge amount of money. There are two main types of stamps, definitive and commemorative. These can be collected in mint or used condition or with a postal cancellation marking applied on top.

Ration cards included stamps with drawings of airplanes, guns, tanks, aircraft, ears of wheat and fruit, which were used to purchase rationed items.

An English Breakfast during WWII. Breakfast tended to be porridge with milk if available but some families would use melted lard! OMG. A special treat was toast or bread and jam (we always had jam apparently – my grandmother would make it, but so little sugar, she relied on the fruit.

1940s: Mint, orange juice, and apple butter

A sample brunch menu includes: orange juice topped with mint, creamed ham and mushrooms, waffles de luxe, maple syrup, apple butter, coffee, and milk. Notable breakthroughs: General Mills rolls out CheeriOats in 1941; the name is changed to Cheerios in 1945.

It's thought that a 1950s woman burnt 1,000 calories daily, almost double what today's women burn. This was before any actual exercise! The vibrating exercise belt was popular – going round your waist, vibrating so fast you lose pounds.

What food was not rationed in WWII? ›

Some important items escaped rationing, including fresh fruit and vegetables. And, much to the relief of millions, whiskey and cigarettes went unscathed by regulations, although shortages appeared from time to time.

Sugar. Sugar was rationed from May 1942 through June 1947--well after the war ended. [19] It was the first food rationed, and the last to be taken off the ration list.

As eggs continued to be rationed, by July of 1942, powdered eggs became available courtesy of the United States. The allowance was one tin, or packet, of dried eggs every two months. One tin was equal to 12 fresh eggs.

Rationed Foods. The categories of rationed foods during the war were sugar, coffee, processed foods (canned, frozen, etc.), meats and canned fish, and cheese, canned milk, and fats.

Even though thousands of items became scarce during the war, only those most critical to the war effort were rationed. Key goods such as sugar, tires, gasoline, meat, coffee, butter, canned goods and shoes came under rationing regulations. Some important items escaped rationing, including fresh fruit and vegetables.

Every American was issued a series of ration books during the war. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items, like sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods.