SEASONED SOUTHERN STYLE: WWII Rationing and Today, Plus Two Economical Cake Recipes

As most of us do each night, I was watching the news updates about this new war we are in--the COVID-19 war. I watched in dismay at the long food lines, empty grocery store shelves, and the hunts for toilet paper. One young man, sitting in his car in line for food over an hour and a half stated that he had $4 in the bank, so it was worth the wait to obtain food for his family. Between the falling stock market and the unemployment, I couldn't help but be struck by the similarities with the Great Depression. In most of our country, food is still available to buy, while some groceries are having a hard time getting shipments into their store in other places. Another thought occurred to me. Will we have to ration food again?

As an experiment, I decided in the fall of 2019 that I would go on a food ration diet, just to experience what it would be like. I was also interested because my health depends on how well I stay away from carbs and too many calories. In actuality I simply returned to the meals of my childhood. I have a cousin who is doing research, partially on our food and how it affects health. He has found that our bodies respond the best to the foods that are grown and prepared in the area in which we live. I found that to be true for myself. I also found that my ration diet was easy, as long as I had fresh vegetables available in the grocery store. What I wasn't prepared for was COVID-19 and the need to stay in for not just weeks but possibly months. My fresh vegetables ran out within ten days. At any given time I have frozen vegetables to fall back on because we live in a food desert as far as clean eating is concerned. My primary source for  grass-fed meat, organic veggies and fruit is an hour away. Even as we tried to shop for a few items locally, I found many parallels to WWII rationing, as some items were not available at all. My ration diet took on a new perspective, as I relied even more on family recipes to get us through and stretch our supply. But, as I have realized before, the recipes and foodways of my Delta family were carry-overs from the Great Depression and WWII rationing. It was a healthy way to eat. It was then and it is now. A healthy immune system is the body's biggest defense against disease.

In the spring of 1942, the Food Rationing Program legislation was passed in the United States. The federal government needed to control the supply and demand in order to prevent shortages and also to curb the purchase of commodities by those who had more money. Government ads, radio shows, posters and pamphlets urgently asked Americans to comply without complaint, for the war effort.

"Rationing regulated the amount of commodities that consumers could obtain. Sugar rationing took effect in May 1943 with the distribution of "Sugar Buying Cards." Registration usually took place in local schools. Each family was asked to send only one member for registration and be prepared to describe all other family members. Coupons were distributed based on family size, and the coupon book allowed the holder to buy a specified amount. Possession of a coupon book did not guarantee that sugar would be available. Americans learned to utilize what they had during rationing time.

While some food items were scarce, others did not require rationing, and Americans adjusted accordingly. "Red Stamp" rationing covered all meats, butter, fat, and oils, and with some exceptions, cheese. Each person was allowed a certain amount of points weekly with expiration dates to consider. "Blue Stamp" rationing covered canned, bottled, frozen fruits and vegetables, plus juices and dry beans, and such processed foods as soups, baby food and ketchup. Ration stamps became a kind of currency with each family being issued a "War Ration Book." Each stamp authorized a purchase of rationed goods in the quantity and time designated, and the book guaranteed each family its fair share of goods made scarce, thanks to the war.

Rationing also was determined by a point system. Some grew weary of trying to figure out what coupon went with which item, or how many points they needed to purchase them, while some coupons did not require points at all."

Life during the war meant daily sacrifice but few complained. They knew the men and women in uniform were making an even bigger one.

Sugar was the first commodity to be rationed, which probably plunged the general population into better health. Over the years, other items were added:

Sugar: May 1942 – 1947
Coffee: November 1942 – July 1943
Processed foods: March 1943- August 1945
Meats, canned fish: March 1943 – November 1945
Cheese, canned milk, fats: March 1943 – November 1945

With the rationing came recipes and tips on how to stretch the budget and the foods available. The government printed a monthly meal-planning guide with recipes and a daily menu. Good Housekeeping printed a special section for rationed foods in its 1943 cookbook. Numerous national publications also featured articles explaining what rationing meant to America. My collection over the years has included booklets from not only food companies but from appliance purchases and one from an insurance company, free cookbooks filled with ration-oriented recipes. Even Lysol offered a free "Victory Cook Book" of eighty-one recipes with every purchase. Ads in magazines and newspapers often included money and food stamp saving recipes. These types of ad recipes continued on into the 1950s and 60s.

As always, there were those who saw a way to profit from the rationing program. . .

"Then there were the food manufacturers who took advantage of the wartime shortages to flaunt their patriotism to their profit. The familiar blue box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner gained great popularity as a substitute for meat and dairy products. Two boxes required only one rationing coupon, which resulted in 80 million boxes sold in 1943. Food substitutions became evident with real butter being replaced with Oleo margarine. Cottage cheese took on a new significance as a substitute for meat, with sales exploding from 110 million pounds in 1930 to 500 million pounds in 1944."

Three years after rationing began, WWII came to a welcome end, but rationing itself did not end until 1946. My mother continued the techniques and recipes she had learned during the rationing period through her mother and her home economics courses, although she did add back desserts at every meal for her own sweet tooth.  Here are a couple from her booklet collection:

In this war with the COVID-19 virus, I must admit I do feel a bit of the WWII patriotism in providing healthy meals with limited ingredients. We have by no means gone hungry nor unsatisfied, but I do have to say that our waistlines are shrinking and our energy is higher. It has been fun making-do with the food on hand and the few items we found at the grocery.  I have also realized that we take unlimited supplies of groceries for granted. This has been a lesson for us all.

I'm thinking there might be more canning and freezing going on this summer. . .

How about you?

For more on the healthy WWII Ration Diet: CLICK HERE

I'll be back with specifics of the diet and more recipes.

SEASONED SOUTHERN STYLE: War Ration Diet Could Strengthen Immune System

Baker's Cabinet, ca 1900

I have been doing research on WWII and the rationing of foods in the U. S. After looking through the first few books, I realized that my own childhood and the way we ate was, in part, a product of the years of cooking with rations during the war. My mother was raised during this time of rationing, so it was a way of life for her. 

World War II affected how people cooked and ate all across the United States. Cooking for the family meant making do with as few ingredients as you had. Since most mothers had lived through the Great Depression, they knew how to stretch the food they cooked. Many redesigned the recipes from the 1920s and 1930s to fit what groceries were available.  Because of WWII, food rationing was a normal part of life. You couldn't just go to the grocery store and purchase whatever you wanted, even if you had the money. Items such as meats, sugars, and cheese were in rationed supply. This was so that the government could ensure that everyone was getting an equal amount of these items and that things were fair.

Candied Yams and Spinach

Now this isn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, it was noted that children and adults benefited from what is now called the food ration or war ration diet. Most were much healthier and had more energy. Many families continued the diet well into the 1950s, as did mine.

"World War II provided a graphic example of how the ravages of these diseases could be totally halted. Norway was one of several western European nations occupied by Nazi Germany during the conflict between 1939 through 1945.  The Germans removed all animal livestock from these occupied countries. The native population subsisted on whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit. Almost immediately death from heart attacks and strokes in Norway plummeted. With the cessation of hostilities in 1945 animal products became available as well as an immediate return to the pre-war levels of deaths from these illnesses. It is a powerful lesson in public health about the cause and cure of our most common killer-heart disease." Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn

"But that wouldn't apply to us today. We have different foods now," I've heard others say. Well, I think it should apply. Our "different foods" have caused numerous diseases and 70% of the population is now obese. Besides that, we are in a WAR right this minute. The enemy is COVID 19, and your immune system probably needs a boost. It certainly doesn't need junk food.

Mom's Basic Soup Recipes

Consider the findings of the British historical reality television program made by Wall to Wall in 2001. The 1940s House was about a modern family who tried living as a typical middle-class family in London during the Blitz of World War III for nine weeks. It included rationed food. There are some valuable lessons we can learn from the WWII diet that could help us beat the biggest threats to health today. 

Rosemary Chicken

The Hymers family followed the War Ration restrictions, and meals were prepared from scratch from what we now call clean foods. A 2001 article in THE GUARDIAN made note of some of the surprising changes in the Hymers eating habits. Wendy Moore wrote:

"The proof of the pudding lies in the experience of the Hymers family who volunteered to go back in time and spend nine weeks surviving on austere rations for the series The 1940s House. . . Not only did all the adult Hymers lose weight and show modest health improvements by the end of the experiment but, six months after filming has ended, grandmother Lyn Hymers has stuck with her wartime regime and insists her health has benefited.

'I feel so much better,' says Lyn, 50. 'It really has become a way of life for me.' 

Taking up the wartime challenge was no easy option for the Hymers. The family - Lyn and husband Michael, their daughter, Kirstie, 29, and grandsons Ben, 10 and Thomas, 7- previously ate a typical modern British diet. Their staple fare consisted of ready-made meals, tinned and frozen convenience foods and takeaways. Lyn rarely cooked, had no idea how to bake a cake and enjoyed smoking and drinking. Not surprisingly, both she and Michael, 52, were overweight and unfit.

After nine weeks of spartan rations and, without the benefits of modern time-saving conveniences, heavy physical labour, it is hardly surprising the adult members of the family lost weight. But after just nine weeks, medical tests also showed their cholesterol, blood pressure and body fat levels had fallen moderately and their muscles grown stronger.

Light Jambalaya and Rice

More significantly, despite returning to their 21st-century home comforts, Lyn and Michael have continued their wartime regime, complete with Spam fritters and home-made cooking. While Michael feels more ambivalent about the benefits of his revolutionary lifestyle change, Lyn has now lost more than a stone, feels healthier, fitter and more energetic than ever before and has given up both alcohol and coffee, without the aid of any weight-reduction programme or exercise regime.

Instead of driving to the supermarket for weekly shopping, she now walks daily to her local bakery, grocer's and butcher's shops to buy fresh produce. She no longer buys convenience foods or ready-made meals, but cooks everything from basic ingredients. And while previously she threw away vast quantities of food each week, she now wastes nothing. One day for lunch she may make soup with fresh peas and the following day a broth from leftover pea pods. She is even converted to the delights of Spam, and although she still smokes, she has given up coffee and alcohol because she simply doesn't want them any more.

Grape Nuts Quick Bread

To her amazement, she has not regained the weight lost during the 40s experiment and feels healthier all round. 'I have battled weight all my life with different diets and going to Weight Watchers,' says Lyn. 'But whatever I did, the weight always yo-yoed back to its old level. This time it is just staying off and I am not hungry.'

In addition, she says, her teeth are whiter, her gums no longer bleed, her eyes are no longer bloodshot, she rarely becomes breathless and her skin is as clear as ever, without the aid of expensive creams.

The fact the Hymers lost weight and their short-term health improved confirms nutritionists' faith in the benefits of combining exercise with a diet high in (fresh vegetables and fruit) and low in fat. But more importantly, nutritional experts also argue that a return to aspects of the wartime diet could, for all of us, be the secret to surviving modern-day killers such as cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes."

Creole-Spiced Ham and Beans

Bottom line, if you don't have a good immune system and you're not in good physical shape, you're the one the new COVID 19 is looking for.  Besides washing hands and taking other precautions lined out everywhere in the media, I suggest you also throw away all the "junk" and eat good, healthy, clean food. Make meals with grass-fed meat, organic non-caged eggs, lots of vegetables and fruit, if you can. Start up the soup pot again and/or make bone broth for sipping during the day. Give up anything with high fructose corn syrup drinks and junk food, along with anything that has chemical additives. Read the labels! Think smart! Cook smart! and also Exercise daily. You'll be strengthening yourself and your family against this newest threat to our lives and health. And, you need to start NOW. . .

Grandmother's White House Cookbook

I'll be writing more about the War Ration Diet soon. I have adopted many of the recipes in cookbooks written during WWII into our own meals. Since I've pretty much cooked from scratch for many years, the biggest concession we made while testing the War Ration Diet was smaller portions at meals and no "grazing" in between, a habit we have all gotten into. Finding foods without additives and preservatives has become harder, too. But, it is more than worth it. 

For links to healthy, easy country recipes from my blogs, go to bottom of the page and look under SEASONED SOUTHERN STYLE and WHAT ELSE IS COOKING?

For a quick look at the diet of one British woman who inspired me to try the War Ration diet, go to: THE 1940S EXPERIMENT .

Stay Healthy. . .Stay Safe. . .