2013 thoughts

well here i am half way through 2013 - time is rushing by and life doesn't get any easier.

food wise i am still broadly following the ration life style but now i work for a local food bank charity and follow food austerity blogs such as  A Girl Called Jack , i am focusing my attention on the cost of food , as well as it's nutritional value. Food poverty is a subject close to my heart , especially as i see so many hungry people and especially children. I took part in the Live below the Line challenge for 3 weeks and am trying still to focus my attention on this.

I am not eating very well myself , and some new and difficult health problems mean i really need to concentrate on this more.

One difference is i am allowing myself ovaltine ( war tiime style) as it is fortified with lots of vitamins.


Dinner today was Irish Stew and carrots, follwed by gooseberry and apple sponge pudding with custard.



costing :  Lamb chops 4.00
potatoes                          .50
onions 2x10p                  .20
carrots 2                         0.03
water                                   0

Total £4.73 = £1.18 per portion



pudding

Gooseberries  ( home grown)
Flour 50g                             0.03
butter                                    0.24
sugar                                     0.04
egg                                        0.11


total 42p for 4 portions

Well - a long time off posting but i have had a difficult time this year with my son's health and my husband working away.
Yet again when the going gets really tough i turn to the 1940s to help get me through it. Having been frugal for a few months i decided to go back on the ration. I have noticed that the total cost of the same food has increased by over £20 since last summer. I stocked up on loads of veg and all the ration basics. My meat ration is :
1 small packet of chicken ( 300g)
1 small packet of pigs cheeks ( my kids love this casserole ) 200g
1 brisket joint

off ration i included 1lb of sausages , which were un rationed but more difficult to come by.


This week i intend to cook :
Pot roast brisket ( sunday dinner with lots left), potatoes and all veg
Stuffed marrow (using some of the meat from the sausages)

todays meal plan :

Potato cakes ( left over mash) , bacon ( 1 slice ) and mushrooms

Lentil soup and bread ( made with the ham stock- 5 portions and one in the freezer)

fish curry

i have already made tomorrows dinner which is a baked bean and pork dish. It smells lovely and will be ready to eat when i get home from a long day and my husband is away.


I think some cake baking will also be in the offing too !


Enjoy ! 

almost 2012

So after a lovely Christmas with plenty ( but not too much )food we are back on the ration !!!!

Using up food that is left in the freezer will take the place of our meat ration for the next few weeks.

yesterday :

Whetabix and milk ( they were around but were on the points system )
Turkey and vegetable soup and sandwiches
Woolton pie, mash and sprouts - this was amazing - kids loved it , OH loved it and no one noticed that lack of meat ! This was the meal that won the war ( according to supersizers go wartime ) and i could see why.


Today

Bacon and mushrooms
toast ( no lunch as late breakfast )

Aubergine Parmigano - ok so not many aubergines in 1940 but they were in and needed eating - i guess you could use marrow instead. Cheese ration used with this.
Salad and grated carrot ( really can see how much more veg was eaten - unusual to have salad in winter but everyone enjoyed it. I will try grating swede and parsnip next time as well )

Jam sponge ( recipe from the Good Eating book and made with no egg). No custard as we dont have any in and made with very little (1.5oz) sugar . Kids loved it . I think for them the highlight is having proper puddings !!!!

tomorrow we are having sausages in the evening , and maybe soup for lunch. We shall see.


Having had very little time to myself for the last few years because of looking after my son , i have decided to make sure i do some things just for me. I found a blog which had a knitting pattern from 1940 for a counterpane. It is simple and very pretty and i will try and do some everyday.

Today we went to the shops and i was horrified by the whole consumer "buybuy" mentality. people were pushing and shoving for items that they probably didnt want to buy full price. It was all about buying and made me realise that i would rather have less and spend more time on things and people that matter.


that they will be my new year resolution this year as i move the ration book onto 2012. Happy New Year !!! 

Almost Christmas !

Well a few months off blog as loads going on at home , especially with my wonder boy son who has been seriously I'll for 8 years.

Today I took delivery of our Xmas meat and whilst the children are excited about the Xmas food the general though was "when are we going back on the ration ? " Loudest of all was my daughter (11) who complained all through the 3 months of it but has now decided she prefers it . She cannot eat baked beans at all now as she finds them too sweet.

So after Xmas we are back in the ration again - although today we did have an almost fully ration day :
Breakfast - toast ( not homemade almost national loaf but it will be soon !!!)
Lunch - lentil soup with chard from the garden ( the last of our own ) - not quite fully ration as it had garlic in it !!

I made ginger biscuits from the " eat for victory " cookery book - very very easy and the kids really like them

Dinner - we had bread that needed eating today so used the equivalent of the cheese ration and the children had cheese toasties and OH and I had jacket potatoes with cheese and a root vegetable salad.

Went thought the fridge and found some milk which was about to turn - made a potato gratin with it which we will have tomorrow either with some lentils or a bit of the meat ration.



All in all a successful day and it was very nice to get back into the swing of things.


Also joined a fabulous blog which has vintage 1940s knitting and found a pattern for a lovely 1940s counterpane. Now all I have to do is complete the work for my Phd that I am being with before i start !!!!!!



Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy new year !!!!

October blues

Well - we have fallen off the ration wagon for a couple of weeks - sick kids and lots of household stress.

The children are starting to snack more so it is definitely time to restart the whole process again !
Interestingly - none of the children can cope with eating baked beans anymore - my 11 year old hates them now as she thinks they taste of sugar.
The kids are on whole grain cereal all of the time -porridge and wheetabix - with hot whole milk. My son is now drinking more milk this way than before.

Yesterday i made a massive vegetable and lentil soup from all of the left over vegetables in the fridge drawer. It went down very well and fed 5 last night, 2 today for lunch, 2 portions frozen for the week and at least 2 portions left. Not bad from things that would normally have been thrown away.

Another new recipe - dried apples. This is mentioned a lot in the book/recipes of the period but the instructions are a little vague ( e.g. dry in an airing cupboard - which we dont have !!). I found a recipe on the "love food, hate waste" site which was for apples crisps:

apples sliced with a potato peeler ( peeled and cored first) spread onto a baking rack ( i used my grill one) and dried in a low oven for about 2 hours. Really really good.


So the aim is now to stick to the ration again - with perhaps a little more fruit variety.

Will let you know how we go on !!! 

is this supposed to be summer ?

Well the last few days have been seriously wintery - lots of driving rain and dark skies.

food wise - it has not been as manageable. Last night we had friends for dinner and my husband used about  2 weeks meat ration to feed 8 of us. It was surprising but we as a family had much smaller appetites than usual and found it all a bit rich.

What has become clear is how hard it is to replicate the actual food conditions - we have so much choice in the supermarket , as well as the ability to freeze left over food. This has meant we have little stale bread/ ingredients. We still seem to have a large amount of food - admittedly we are eating many more vegetables and loads of potatoes !!! It has made the experience easier than it would have been in 1940. Although we have given up oranges today i bought some bananas as a treat. Food buying would have been such a major exercise - a daily not weekly chore which took far longer than today.

I watched "The 1940's  house " again today - and reminded the children that other items such as soap and shampoo were rationed. Although they are getting fed up of the idea of rationing , the older two have both agreed that it has made them more aware of just how much they have ( of all things). a definite  improvement in their moods has also been noticed - no meal feat with 1 teenager and 1 pre-teen!.

 i went to the supermarket today and bought some different cuts - as our meat ration was used up we had to look for offal and sausages neither of which were rationed. I bought a small amount of liver and some oxtail to casserole. My daughter was horrified as, although we have eaten these before she had never seen them in the raw as it were !!!!

Cooking rice pudding as dessert i modified the recipe - i initially cooked the rice and milk as they were - adding the sugar at the end. I found that the amount of sugar required to make it sweet enough was actually less than 1/3 of the recipe amount.

todays meals :

bacon and potatoes- we are getting a little bored of this so i need to look for some more creative breakfast dishes.

split pea soup with bread

oxtail stew, mash and green vegetable
rice pudding

i have enough oxtail left for another 2 meals for the children ( or one for us all ) , plenty of boiled potatoes and vegetables. Tomorrow morning i may use the potatoes and some of the eggs for a frittata. It is the egg situation which makes me most anxious - 6 for the week does not go very far if you 2-3 in a dish. Last week i saved them and made cake but i may end up using recipes from the eggless dishes this week.

School begins again next week - this will reduce the amount of food being eaten so i may reduce the ration - however as canteens and school meals were all a part of 1940's life I may keep things the same. Watch this space.

End of week 1

well this week has certainly been interesting !!!

Had a surprising amount of food left over, vegetables and fat ration - so much so that i went back and rechecked the amounts. They are correct so i used my eggs and fat to make cakes for this week.
One that worked particularly well was the "weight of an egg" . Basically , weigh an egg in its shell ( for example mine was 2oz) and then use the corresponding amount of sugar, fat and flour. This made 6 fairy cakes which the children enjoyed.

Another surprising thing ... I have lost 3lbs in weight. Now this was not intended ( i need to lose some but wasn't thinking about it right now) but i was very pleased.
I am finding lunch time difficult. I think looking at my books that most people ate a hot meal at lunch and at dinner. I am also finding that the amount of time needed to prepare the food has increased , and also that you really need to be very good at planning. I sis better earlier in the week , when i prepared soup which lasted for lunch over a couple of days.

Yesterday's menu :

2 rashers of bacon ( last of the ration) with lots of mushrooms and potato cakes from left over mash. Bread and butter.

Potato and leek soup , bread and butter and fairy cake ( see above)

Beef tomatoes hollowed out with some macaroni pasta and cheese mixed together .

We would have had more cheese but my husband forgot and ate most of it by accident as a snack earlier in the week !!!

I went shopping today and found it was much easier to be restrained. I actually bough slightly less bacon (250g) , a small amount of breast of lamb ,1/2 a lamb shoulder, and 250g of sausages ( these were not on the ration). I will add to this 500g mince that l already have in the freezer.  Total weigh of meat about 1.6kg.

Am going to spend some time this weekend planning set meals this week to see if that is easier.