Rationing In Britain

there wasn't any shooting but this ordinary shopping street has been the scene of a revolution a social revolution caused by the war which has changed the buying habits and therefore the living habits of the British people as drastically as bombs changed their towns pre-war Great Britain imported 2/3 of the food aid and it ate pretty well mrs. bill green an average British housewife filled her Market Basket with her choice of foods brought from all over the world she bought as much as she wanted of anything she could afford but on that old system the British could never have survived the war so they cut down their food imports by a half they rationed all basic foods except bread and vegetables they controlled prices strictly it put the dollar add a man on an eating level with a dollar a year man there are four in the green family their basic rations don't amount to much but they are sure of getting them every week two pounds of sugar half a pound each week for every one half a pound of tea two ounces each half a pound of butter half a pound of lard and a pound of margarine that is 2 pounds of fats for the green family 3 ounces of cheese for each person for cheese is an excellent meat substitute a box of dried eggs from the United States and finally a full pound of bacon canned goods but few there are and spaghetti breakfast food and all that sort of thing are rationed on the points system and since all prices are controlled housewives can afford the cost in money it's the cost end points is the problem shredded wheat for example is points the jar of jam is on the basic ration when mrs. bean has collected all her groceries shares to start thinking about the meat fashion meat is rationed by value 23 cents worth for everybody each week it works out at an average of a pound a week on each individual's plate while mrs. green stands in line for her meat bill green gets ready to take the 10:30 morning Express to Birmingham because he works on the railway bill gets an extra tea allowance for tea is as precious to British workers as coffee is to Americans bill must get along on odds-and-ends of meat substitutes in his sandwiches but he doesn't grumble if he gets plenty of tea strong enough for a most to trot on Helen Green who was drafted to work in a tank Factory there's a semi skilled job of drilling for at least 48 hours a week she eats her lunch in a factory canteen since the war began 10,000 new canteens have been started mostly in factories and schools these canteens get extra allowances of food Jimmy the baby of the family and his pal have had a good lunch at school but Jimmy can never get enough candy to fill his sweet tooth his ration like everybody's is only three ounces a week he finished that days ago but his Chum is a hoarder he has saved a whole month's ration saving has always seemed rather an anemic virtue to Jimmy except at such moments as this but maybe he can persuade his Chum to do a little bartering mmm candy is worth more than a penknife in a swamp back at the butchers mrs. green is lucky enough to get that roast she was hoping for as her family's meat ration for the week price 92 cents if they slice it thin enough there may be some left for hash even though the rest of the family eat their lunches out mrs. green finds that feeding them well when they're at home is no small job well I do have to give a lot more thought to housekeeping problems than I did before the law the rations have to be evened out over the week that's no easy job take butter margarine for instance we used to eat at one meal but has to last us a week now before the war I used to pride myself on the homemade cakes but now because of the fat ration I can only bake them once a week then take sugar we used to like our tea sweet and strong but now dad and I take it without sugar so that you may can have enough for his breakfast cereals and I have to keep a strict watch on the tea ration if I didn't dad it'd be taking a can of hot water with him to work by the end of the week all the time I have to be thinking about substitutes substitutes for meat for milk for eggs and all the other things we used to have in plenty and believe me it's quite a problem for Helen green the war's biggest riddle is how to keep pretty and decently dressed in the midst of luxury taxes and stringent clothes rationing it's a waste of time now walking into a shop and asking for your favorite brand of cosmetics you just take what you can get and as they're classed as luxury goods the government slaps a hundred percent purchase tax on them but the main headache is trying to figure out a wardrobe on 24 clothing coupons every six months if I want a woollen frock that takes 11 coupons leaving me just enough for a pair of shoes and say a blouse mother takes the other tool for towels and of course there's a purchase tax on clothes to my last winter coat costs first as much as I'd have paid pre-war but when every coupon counts you can't afford to buy cheap stuff all women's magazines offer hints and women have used more ingenuity over their clothes and ever before they simply have to with only 24 coupons to spend every six months that's one way of spending coupons and here's another way by patching and mending and making things over women have managed to look neat and fresh on the outside even if they sleep without noise and cut down on Landry British families know that all these restrictions are necessary to victory but even to father they are irritating sometimes to bekka fear and all the other things that I consider necessities they class as luxuries and the text accordingly take this tobacco for instance cost me more than twice the pre-war price and most of the extra goes on text the same with beer that's gone up double - and the strengths only half what it was the restrictions on manufacture hits in a hundred different ways we might walk down the street full of shops with well stocked windows when you get inside you find your favourite shaving creams out of stock for your sizing shoes they haven't seen for a month we've got to get a permit of our furniture and the book you want is out of print we have to search for substitutes but wherever you go in every shop you've got to pay a purchase tax on luxuries it might be sixty percent on the original price or a hundred percent but it puts a lot of things beyond our pocket Jimmy misma it's time you bought another saving stem hence the chocolate man I thought you'd spent all your sweet coupons you haven't been swapping have you well I've got five bars of chocolate and a bag of candy from terming and what did you give him my saving stamps you must admit mother that lease lends a wonderful arrangement you

Channel: Imperial War Museums

Views: 937,598

Keywords: Rationing, Ration, Second World War, wartime, food, Imperial War Museum, World War 2, iwm, imperial, war, museum, uk, britain, rationing in britain

Id: o9wNJ78S2GY

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 08 2010