Ration book roundup
10 July 2022 02:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI ran a few figures on the conclusion of the "Ration Book Experiment":
I spent £106.30, of which £83.76 was on fruit and veg and £13.04 on meat, although this doesn't really reflect the cost of what I was eating, since all the dried goods and the lard and butter came from store (and, conversely, it includes money paid for chocolate and a bottle of oil that I didn't open during this period). I used 4oz of cheese, most of it very stale, 8oz butter, 4 eggs, 4oz lard, 4oz dripping, and 500ml of oil in lieu of the 1lb margarine I should have had.
In terms of dried goods, I consumed 8oz dried beans, 6oz dried fruit, 5oz lentils, 8oz oats, 1lb rice, 8oz split peas and about 4lb of flour during this period -- and around 6lb of potatoes! I still had 3oz of lentils left over despite my panic at the beginning of the final week. In addition, I had six portions of leftovers in the freezer and another one-and-a-half (half a portion of ratatouille) in the fridge, i.e. meals for another three or four days without cooking anything at all. So I really wasn't short of food.
I only used about 1.5lb of sugar of the 2lb in the ration for this period, despite making no attempt whatsoever at economy after discovering that I had vast amounts left over at the end of the first week; my conclusion is that in the absence of eggs and butter to bake with, it is actually quite hard to use much sugar even when you try! I still got the impression that 2lb of sugar in a month is rather more than I would normally be using, as I have been so careful with it for so long.
I still had a whole week's bacon ration left untouched at the end and only bought beef/lamb on two of the four weeks, due to the fact that I couldn't get anything within the nominal £2.50 weekly limit. On the other hand I did get donated a quarter of a cooked chicken and five small cooked sausages in addition to what I bought for myself, and I had about half a pound of pig's heart in the freezer before I started and used that. But in terms of leftovers I found myself actually struggling not to have to serve more than one meat-based meal per day (my normal rule of thumb) in order to use things up -- again, I got the impression that the WW2 rations actually provided a larger quantity of meat than I would normally eat. I have become far too good at padding it out :-p
I think I lost 4lb in weight, since although daily variation remained considerable the general trend was undoubtedly downwards. That puts me back to about where I'd like to be, although it had very little discernible effect on the waistline issue. (I honestly think that is far more due to lax abdominal muscles than anything else, since it is worse in the mornings when I first get up, it is definitely affected by posture and whether I slump or not, and the only times I felt more svelte were when I was hungry, i.e. my digestive system was empty! It really does feel more like the internal contents of the abdomen pushing out the muscular layer rather than a band of fat on top of it -- well, much of one, anyway.)
I spent £106.30, of which £83.76 was on fruit and veg and £13.04 on meat, although this doesn't really reflect the cost of what I was eating, since all the dried goods and the lard and butter came from store (and, conversely, it includes money paid for chocolate and a bottle of oil that I didn't open during this period). I used 4oz of cheese, most of it very stale, 8oz butter, 4 eggs, 4oz lard, 4oz dripping, and 500ml of oil in lieu of the 1lb margarine I should have had.
In terms of dried goods, I consumed 8oz dried beans, 6oz dried fruit, 5oz lentils, 8oz oats, 1lb rice, 8oz split peas and about 4lb of flour during this period -- and around 6lb of potatoes! I still had 3oz of lentils left over despite my panic at the beginning of the final week. In addition, I had six portions of leftovers in the freezer and another one-and-a-half (half a portion of ratatouille) in the fridge, i.e. meals for another three or four days without cooking anything at all. So I really wasn't short of food.
I only used about 1.5lb of sugar of the 2lb in the ration for this period, despite making no attempt whatsoever at economy after discovering that I had vast amounts left over at the end of the first week; my conclusion is that in the absence of eggs and butter to bake with, it is actually quite hard to use much sugar even when you try! I still got the impression that 2lb of sugar in a month is rather more than I would normally be using, as I have been so careful with it for so long.
I still had a whole week's bacon ration left untouched at the end and only bought beef/lamb on two of the four weeks, due to the fact that I couldn't get anything within the nominal £2.50 weekly limit. On the other hand I did get donated a quarter of a cooked chicken and five small cooked sausages in addition to what I bought for myself, and I had about half a pound of pig's heart in the freezer before I started and used that. But in terms of leftovers I found myself actually struggling not to have to serve more than one meat-based meal per day (my normal rule of thumb) in order to use things up -- again, I got the impression that the WW2 rations actually provided a larger quantity of meat than I would normally eat. I have become far too good at padding it out :-p
I think I lost 4lb in weight, since although daily variation remained considerable the general trend was undoubtedly downwards. That puts me back to about where I'd like to be, although it had very little discernible effect on the waistline issue. (I honestly think that is far more due to lax abdominal muscles than anything else, since it is worse in the mornings when I first get up, it is definitely affected by posture and whether I slump or not, and the only times I felt more svelte were when I was hungry, i.e. my digestive system was empty! It really does feel more like the internal contents of the abdomen pushing out the muscular layer rather than a band of fat on top of it -- well, much of one, anyway.)