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

FAQs

What food was rationed in the 1940s? ›

A typical weekly ration per person, when at its lowest level, was butter 4oz; bacon and ham 4oz; loose tea 4oz; sugar 8oz; meat one shilling-worth; cheese 1oz; preserves 8oz a month. By 1942, most foods were rationed except vegetables, bread, and fish.

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.

WAR RATION BOOK FOUR

The book had four colored stamps. Green and blue stamps were used for processed foods such as canned and bottled fruits, juice, vegetables, soup, baby food, frozen food, spreads and dried foods. Red stamps continued to be used for meat. Black "spare" stamps were set up for future changes.

Every person in the country, including children, received a ration book and each home had to register with a local butcher, grocer and milkman who had to ensure they had enough food for their customers. The ration books contained coupons which had to be presented when items were bought.

Sugar: The First and the Last Food Rationed

Siegal, Office of War Information, Spring 1942. Collection of the National Archives and Records Administration (NAID: 535570).

A: Millions of ration books were issued during World War II. They were intended to prevent the hoarding of such goods as coffee, sugar, meat and other items in short supply due to the war. Ration books generally sell in the $5 to $25 range, but unlike savings bonds, you can't cash them in as you wish.

Government economic control produces lucrative results for underground markets. During World War II the United States instituted a rationing program that led to both underground markets and official efforts, including the use of propaganda, to curtail black market activity (see Figure 1: Stamp Out Black Markets).

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.

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

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.

Why was paper rationed during WW2? ›

Wood pulp was bought into Britian from Norway and once Germany had taken occupation, this supply became very short. Paper was rationed from September 1939 and newspapers were limitedto the amount they could use.

The rationing of coffee wasn't due to a lack of the product–in fact it was readily available from South America–but more so due to the lack of means to ship large quantities of what was considered an unnecessary luxury in wartime, as well as the ever-present danger to US merchant ships from German U-boats.

c. 1943. On the home front during World War II, posters urged women to conserve precious resources for the war effort, whether that was by breeding rabbits for their meat or collecting cooking fats for conversion to glycerin, an ingredient in explosives.

Two ration books were distributed to "every eligible man, woman, child, and baby in the United States." One contained blue coupons for processed goods while the other contained red coupons for meat, fish and dairy products. Each person started with 48 blue points and 64 red points each month.

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.

Americans used their ration cards and stamps to take their meager share of household staples including meat, dairy, coffee, dried fruits, jams, jellies, lard, shortening, and oils.

1940s. In the 1940s, the Second World War was ongoing and food rationing was introduced. Meat, cheese, butter, cooking fats and sugar were heavily restricted, but potatoes, other root vegetables and bread were freely available. People ate a diet much higher in carbohydrates and lower in fats than we do today.