Ration Book Diet

novembersuse

I'm starting a challenge/diet next week for one week to see how I get on - the Ration Book diet. It isn't a commercial thing - just following what people could eat during the war, in the same quantities and weight loss/saving money should be a benefit.

The quantities of food are really small compared with what I normally eat, and the list of items is really limited. I'd be interested to hear what everyone else thinks or if anyone has done anything similar!

Weekly basic ration per person.
Sugar: (225g)
Tea: (50g)
Butter: (50g)
Margarine: (100g)
Cheese: (85g)
Eggs: 1 or dried eggs 1 packet every four weeks.
Milk: 3 pints(1800ml).
Bacon or ham: (100g)
Meat: (450g)
Jam: (56g) every two months
Sweets: (85g)

Plus
Points System
8 points for every 2 weeks
Standard canned meats, fish, fruit and vegetables - 2 points per tin
Pasta 150g- 2 points
Rice 140g - 2 points
Sausages - 2 points per sausage
Breakfast Cereal one box - 3 points
Bottle of Wine - 8 points
Bottle/Can of Beer/Cider - 3 points

bunnywestley81

So is fruit and veg "free?" (as many people would grow their own)

Does meat include chicken and rabbit...my Mum remembers the end of rationing and keeping chicken and rabbits to eat (which would also mean more eggs)

I'm just interested as that doesn't sound like a lot to live on!

Afura

Best of luck to you, I couldn't do it, I eat a lot of eggs and meat and not a lot of canned foods (too much sodium). As far as what I think, it seems like a temporary diet, fairly unsustainable for life overall. If you have issues with portion control it could help for getting that in control, otherwise, meh.

AllonsYtotheTardis

This sounds horrible.

gramarye

This doesn't sound remotely sustainable in the modern era? How did their access to home or community gardens impact the sustainability of this? There are no vegetables that I see here -- surely they had the ability to get them elsewhere.

Afura

gramarye wrote: »

This doesn't sound remotely sustainable in the modern era? How did their access to home or community gardens impact the sustainability of this? There are no vegetables that I see here -- surely they had the ability to get them elsewhere.

Standard canned meats, fish, fruit and vegetables - 2 points per tin
And nice armor.

bunnywestley81

It was the war! The entire country was encouraged to grow their own. If you had a garden, you grew veg. My Grandad did up until he died!

Which would mean at least potatoes, carrots, runner beans, peas, cauli, cabbage, parsnip, swede, turnip, Brussels, corn on the cob, pears, apples, plums, berries, rhubarb and probably many others but those are the ones I can remember my Dad growing on his allotment cuz we was poor in the 80s.

novembersuse

Yes! Apparently it includes unlimited vegetables (I should have listed that) because everyone did grow their own, and unlimited bread if you bake your own (which I won't.. but I might buy one loaf for the week). It seems like it might be quite a stodgy diet, but with little portions.

I think it might have been easier to manage for families, where everyone pooled their rations, and one person did all the cooking. I live alone, so don't have that option, but I'm really interested to see how it goes.

ndj1979

you can only have one egg every four weeks...why????????????

bunnywestley81

I would have thought you would be allowed more eggs as many people kept chickens for eggs and food. Same theory as the veggies.

bunnywestley81

Get a chicken

doktorglass

I have stumbled upon this many years ago, not because of the diet but because I am very interested in the history of World War I&II. There was this website The 1940s Experiment where a woman tried to lose weight by eating like in the 1940s. I loved her wartime recipe collection of fake and substitution everything. I think it sounds like fun, but maybe not as a diet regime, but to get an understanding of those times.

SconnieCat

100 grams of bacon!??!?! What is this madness?

icemaiden37

SconnieCat wrote: »

100 grams of bacon!??!?! What is this madness?

PeachyPlum

What!? There is no food here...

novembersuse wrote: »

Weekly basic ration per person.
Sugar: (225g) 871 Calories
Tea: (50g) 8 Calories
Butter: (50g) 357 Calories
Margarine: (100g) 600 Calories
Cheese: (85g) 343 Calories
Eggs: 1 or dried eggs 1 packet every four weeks. 74 Calories
Milk: 3 pints(1800ml). 2635 Calories
Bacon or ham: (100g) 444 Calories
Meat: (450g) 804 Calories
Jam: (56g) every two months 19 Calories
Sweets: (85g) 337 Calories

Plus
Points System
8 points for every 2 weeks
Standard canned meats, fish, fruit and vegetables - 2 points per tin
Pasta 150g- 2 points 529 Calories
Rice 140g - 2 points
Sausages - 2 points per sausage 260 Calories
Breakfast Cereal one box - 3 points
Bottle of Wine - 8 points
Bottle/Can of Beer/Cider - 3 points

So, assuming you choose to eat your egg this week, you choose ground beef instead of a leaner meat, you opt for whole milk, your weekly rationed calories is 4717.

So if we go ahead and spend your 4 weekly points on something calorie dense, like 150g of pasta and 1 pork sausage (and we'll be generous and go with a Brat and not a piddly breakfast link) ....

Your weekly calorie total is 7281, or 1040 calories per day.

So, assuming you're like 5 feet tall and don't get a lot of exercise, you'll need to grow about 200 calories per day of vegetables to hit a 1200 calorie goal. I'd recommend potatoes. It's going to take a lot of salad to make up 200 calories.

PeachyPlum

Yes, I am procrastinating from work. Thanks for noticing

RodaRose

Theses foods were not rationed in the UK: potatoes, brown bread, coffee, fresh fruit, fresh veggies, pinto beans, kidney beans, navy beans, dry peas, lentils.

Tubbs216

Are you doing this as a social experiment or to lose weight?
If the former, ok, I guess. It's interesting and humbling to see how bad things were for millions of people who lived through ration-induced malnutrition.
If the latter, I find it in bad taste.

JoRocka

UltimateRBF wrote: »

Ah, war rationing. Those were the good old days!
Pretty sure this nonsense is a sign just how far present generations are removed from the horrors of WWII. Go find someone who lived through it, especially if they lived in the UK or Europe and get them to tell you how great rationing was. Don't blame me if you get severely beaten by an elderly person.

nods.

secondly people suffered horrible from malnutrition.

Unless this is out and out a social experiment- I disapprove.

jddnw

This conversation reminds me of an article I read on "Food rationing during World War two: a special case of sustainable consumption?" (http://aof.revues.org/6383) Apparently some people were pretty resourceful about supplementing there rations with interesting local options including sea gulls and moss.
See the section Use Everything (http://aof.revues.org/6383#tocto2n3).