Wartime Wednesday: Rationing Up Close and Personal

Wartime Wednesday: Rationing Up Close and Personal

Rationing is one of the topics that often comes to mind when discussing the war’s impact on the home front. The concept came home to roost in a small way last week. I have a strong sweet tooth. As far as I’m concerned it’s not a meal if it doesn’t include dessert. 

I decided to make some cookies and went to the pantry and fridge to collect ingredients only to discover we were out of eggs. That’s not normally a big deal, but this month has been a financial challenge with large unexpected expenses such as four new tires and a broken furnace on top of the planned expense of personal property taxes.

We had run out of money before we ran out of month. (I hate when that happens!)

As a result, I couldn’t go to the store to purchase eggs. It wasn’t because of ration points or unavailability like it was during wartime, but I was in the same boat nonetheless. What to do? After all, I still had a hankering for dessert.

Time to go to my wartime cookbook. Who knew it would come in handy quite so soon? 

So here is a yummy (eggless!) dessert of Apple Crisp:

2 Cups peeled and sliced apples

2 t cinnamon

½ Cup water

¾ Cup flour

½ Cup shortening (I used butter)

1 Cup brown sugar

1/8 t salt

Grease a one quart baking dish (an 8X8 will do nicely). Put the apples in it and sprinkle with the cinnamon. Pour the water into the dish.

Put the remaining ingredients into a bowl and with your fingertips, rub the flour, shortening, sugar, and salt together. When it is crumbly and the shortening is well distributed, sprinkle the mixture over the apples.

Place the dish in a 350 degree oven and bake about 20 minutes until the apples are tender and the top browned and crisp. This is also tasty with peaches, apricots, cherries, or blueberries.

Enjoy!

Wartime Wednesday: Britain's Land Army

Wartime Wednesday: Britain's Land Army

Photo from Imperial
War Museum

Britain is an island with an area of more than 50,500 square miles. For those of you like me who need a comparison to understand what that means in terms of size that is roughly the same size as the state of Alabama. Before WWII, Britain produced only 30% of the food necessary to feed their population, Approximately 55 million tons of food per year was imported. During the war imports dropped nearly 80% to 12 million tons per year.

It’s no wonder the county implemented rationing!

Another response to the food shortage was to create the Women’s Land Army. Or more accurately, re-found the organization that was originally established during WWI. Initially the government asked women to volunteer to fill the many jobs vacated by men who were serving in the military, but by December, 1941, Britain had passed the National Service Act which allowed for the conscription of women in to the armed forces or vital war work.

Photo from Imperial
War Museum

The WLA attracted women from all over England, with more than one third coming from London and other large cities. Work was varied, and the hours were long, especially during the summer months. Tasks included milking cows, lambing, managing chickens, plowing, planting, harvesting, and farm maintenance. The women often worked alongside POWs who were also used as farm helpers. A subgroup of the Land Army was the Timber Corps, responsible for chopping down trees and running sawmills.

Run by Lady Denman, who by all reports was a formidable force, the WLA boasted more than 80,000 “land girls” by 1943. Despite the word “Army” in its name, it was a civilian organization, but run with no less precision. Many of the workers lived on the farms where they worked. Others boarded at hostels that popped up all over the country. Minimum wage for the women was 28 shillings per week, nearly 25% less than the men were paid.

Food shortages and rationing continued long after the war. The WLA was disbanded in 1950, but many of the women remained life-long friends.

Wartime Wednesday: Lentil Curry

The recipe below is from a site I discovered a couple of years ago when looking for information about rationing in England.  Since then I have used quite a few of the recipes. A couple of days ago we tried Lentil Curry and were very pleased with the results. Try it, you'll like it!




8 ounces canned lentils (if you used dried lentils, triple the liquid measurement or pre-cook)
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon butter/margarine
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 apple, diced
8 ounces vegetable stock
2 tablespoons golden raisins
2 tablespoons cooked rice
salt and pepper to taste

Combine apples, raisins, rice, flour, curry powder. Add vinegar and vegetable stock and set aside.







Saute onion and carrot until soft. Add apple/raisin mixture and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Stir in lentils and simmer for 10-15 minutes until carrots are at desired consistency.

Quick and easy meal with lots of protein. The apple gives the dish a nice sweetness.

Our experience: I omitted the rice because I didn't have any left over in the house, and it seemed silly to make some just to use 2 Tablespoons. Also, we used dried lentils and had to add extra liquid and cook for about 30 minutes. Next time, I'll pre-cook the lentils (we prefer dried over canned because of the amount of sodium in the canned ones). Also next time, I'll add a couple of more carrots and additional raisins.