Some friends of mine and I were discussing rationing today. I often think of how spoiled we are, and so many times I just wonder how American’s would cope if they had to ration their food and clothing like they did back in WWII. I got a list of what was rationed….what each person was allowed per week…
** 3 pints of milk
** 3/4 lb – 1 lb meat
** 1 egg or 1 packet of dried eggs every 2 months
** 3-4 oz cheese
**4 oz bacon and ham
** 2 oz tea
**8 oz sugar
**2 oz butter
**2 oz cooking fat
**+ 16 points a month for other rationed foods (usually tinned) subject to availability.
I know when I look at a typical day of cooking/baking, I will use at least 1/2 a dozen eggs, 1/2 a pound of butter, 1 pound of meat, 1/4 pound of cheese, and if I am baking, I will use at least 1 cup of sugar.
I know that there is a lot that I could do without…..but could you??? Could you make do with the amount of food on this list?
Sure I could. As long as McDonalds or Rallys was still open. I have Uncle Jim’s ration book from when he was little. Also have a page from an old newspaper dated July25,1940.coffee was 21cents a #,tomatoes 4 1/2 cents a #,potatoes were 19cents for 10#and a 5# bag of Jack Frost sugar was 26cents. Of course their wages were a little different then too.
Of course I could, and I think everyone else could as well. Thank God we don’t have to though. 😀
I would say that I could but only because there wouldn’t be a choice in the matter. Would I like it? Probably not but it’s survival and we do what we must.
I could probably live on such limited amounts of items, but it would be very difficult. We would definitely have to have a garden! And we would have to work out some kind of bartering system with the local farmers!
As it stands right now, I would have absolutely no clue how to survive on those amounts.
I can tell you my husband would very, very quickly be complaining and moaning.