The Need to Ration

During WWII, Britain needed to act fast, to ensure that their citizens would have enough supplies to last the war.  German U-boats took every chance they could to destroy incoming ships carrying much needed supplies.  In order to control supplies that were known to be in short supply, the British government began rationing supplies such as food, petrol, and clothing.

People were given ration books which gave them coupons to purchase products in a limited supply.  By the end of the war, over half of the British food supply was being rationed.  Furthermore, the British government created a “Grow Your Own” campaign.  Below are a few highlights of the campaign as written on johndclare.net.

●  Farmers were encouraged to plough up as much land as they could.   

●  The Women’s Land Army was mobilised to provide workers in place of farm workers who had been called up.   

●  Public parks, bomb sites and railway embankments were used as allotments.   

●  Householders were told to use their gardens to grow vegetables, and many people kept rabbits and chickens. 

●  People formed Pig Clubs, and shared the meat when the pig was slaughtered.   Food waste was collected in pig bins to feed to the pigs.

To help people accept the food shortages, the government also created the Ministry of Food, which was setup to encourage people throughout this hard time.  This Ministry of Food did the following things (as mentioned on johndclare.net:

●  Created a morning radio program (The Kitchen Front) which gave housewives recipes on how, for instance, to make a ‘tasty’ dessert out of potatoes, without flour, sugar or lard.   One government tip was use liquid paraffin (a laxative) instead of lard in baking – the effects were devastating!

●  Lord Woolton spoke on the radio.   He was cheerful and treated housewives like he was speaking to his daughters.   He told them what food was good for them and their families; many people trusted him and liked him.

●  propaganda, such as jolly adverts in newspaper, bright posters and catchy phrases and rhymes – ‘the sight of potato peelings, hurts Lord Woolton’s feelings’.   Cartoon characters – ‘Potato Pete’ and ‘Dr Carrot’ – were used to encourage people to eat more foods that were not rationed.   

●  the government encouraged people to use alternatives wherever possible – they used SPAM instead of ham, and British flour (which was poor quality and grey) instead of American flour (which was white).