Ration book experiment

[igenlode]

I'm probably going to be taking part in the Ration Book Experiment challenge, where you have to live for a month (or a week, or whatever) on the equivalent of Second World War ration allowances... mainly in order to see how hard it actually is, since I've been doing very much the same thing with my supplies for the last couple of years! (Although in the last nine months or so I've also managed to gain back the half-stone that I lost via an enforced low-carbohydrate diet -- thanks to getting access to snack foods again, however limited -- and am starting to have problems with buttons gaping and waistbands digging in...)

Looking at the meat allowance, I strongly suspect that's actually *higher* than what I'm allowing myself at the moment; I certainly don't get through 4 ounces of bacon in a week, let alone ham (I only have a single rasher of streaky bacon in the freezer at the moment), though the meat that I do buy is so expensive that £2·50 doesn't go very far, and I'm pretty sure I don't get through three pints of milk either, though it's hard to be sure when I'm diluting tinned evaporated milk most of the time. On the other hand, I get through about 3 eggs a week on average, or, at least, I buy them every other week or so.

I'm not sure I can face the whole WW2 experience with no citrus fruit, no onions, no spices or cocoa, trading off points for rice against points for split peas or dried fruit, etc. though -- and unlimited bread but rationed flour complicates matters if you bake your own! I'll probably just stick to limiting the rationed items...

               Rations UK
Minimum weekly allowance for one adult:

Bacon & Ham 4 oz (113 g)
Meat to the value of 1 shilling (equivalent to £2.50's worth)
Butter 2 oz (57 g)
Cheese 1 oz (28 g)
Margarine 4 oz (113 g)
Cooking fat 2 oz (57 g)
Milk 3 pints (568 ml)
Sugar 8 oz (227 g)
Preserves 1 lb jar (380 ml) every 2 months
Tea 2 oz (57 g)
Eggs 1 (or one packet of dried egg equivalent to 12 eggs, every 2 months)
Sweets/Candy 8 oz every 4 weeks


   Every person in the UK was allocated points every month to buy other
 foods in shops where available. For this experiment we are using 16 points
  per month. Points fluctuated though to encourage people to buy foods
             more readily available. Here are some examples:


                        Points Per Pound or Per Tin


  Baked Beans — 2                 Rice — 8                Stewed Steak — 20
  Dry Biscuits — 2              Sardines — 2                Rolled Oats — 2
 Sweet Biscuits — 4             Sultanas — 8                  Salmon — 16
    Herrings — 2             Skimmed Milk — 5             Sausage Meat — 12
     Spam — 16                 Currants — 16             Best Red Salmon — 32
Lentils/split peas - 2
                Chopped Ham — 3 (per oz)