The 1940s House: The Kitchen

this is the kitchen of the 1940s house and the room in the house that's probably undergone the greatest changes since the Second World War a look around the kitchen reveals that there are very few if any labor-saving devices hardly any british households had fridges at the beginning of the Second World War and none had freezers washing machines were comparatively few in the kitchen here there is an electrically heated tub which was used to do the household laundry at the time Monday was washing day in Britain it was a very time-consuming task that the housewife had to do in washing and indeed doing the washing up no detergents just done with household soap and soap flakes and even they were rationed from February 1942 onwards China glassware and cutlery were also all in very short supply during the Second World War keeping the 1940s house clean was also a difficult and time-consuming task a few households did have electric Hoover's but most just had the carpet sweeper a broom dustpan and brush were used for sweeping up the dirt whilst the kitchen floor would be mopped up with a bucket of soap and water lacking a fridge most of the household edible foods were placed either in the larder cupboard or in a separate pantry in some of the older houses food was rationed in Britain from the 8th of January 1940 ration books had been issued in November 1939 and the first items food to be rationed were bacon and ham butter and sugar other foods were added later meat going on the ration in March 1940 here is a typical week's ration of food Churchill when shown that week's rations said that doesn't look a bad meal to me but had to be told but Prime Minister that's one entire week and the Prime Minister said oh my poor people fuel was also rationed during the Second World War and housewives revised to cook asthma as possible in one go to conserve fuel behind the cornflakes packet there's the family bread bin bread wasn't actually rationed during the Second World War but was rationed from July 1946 for the next two years during the war a national wholemeal loaf was introduced but it wasn't at all popular with the public you

Channel: Imperial War Museums

Views: 420,194

Keywords: Imperial War Museum, Second World War, home front, rationing, World War II (Event), 1940s House

Id: HPVvta-tHC8

Length: 2min 57sec (177 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 07 2012