Could you cope with rationing?

Imagine visiting someone and finding there was no alternative!?

It would be a sharp wake up call to me if lots of things I am used to suddenly weren’t available.
I can’t think it would do us good exactly, but it wouldn’t harm us. We all eat richly, and (me - I am not finger pointing IYKWIM) I eat too much.
That’s what happens in a rich nation like the U.K. We have been so lucky to live at a time when world markets opened up and we have so much choice. At a cost of course.

Fruit and veg (if you could get them) weren't rationed. Would anybody like to swap my sugar and preserves for a couple of eggs?

No eggs growstuff but I could do you a bunch of beetroot later in the year if that's any use?

We grow veg for fun, enough for a few meals, so would have to up the production rate somewhat!
I think I could manage but would be less sure about my AC. Certainly the GC would become a lot less fussy, though what would we do without blueberries?!

Germanshepherdsmum
Luckily I always carry a packet of tissues

I remember how boring meals were, and how lacking in colour. We'd cope, we'd have to.

well we have a greenhouse and beds to grow vegetables and we have fruit trees. I suppose I could keep chickens for eggs
but no, I don't think I could cope.

My grandparents used to keep hens and rabbits after the war which they would 'trade' for 'other stuff'

Where on earth did the idea of 'famine and starvation round the corner' come from?

So, some items may go into short supply for a short while (eg: cooking oil at present), but apart from these sort of short-term shortages cannot see many problems. Except, that is, for the poorer members of our society. I think it is the the rising costs of so many food items which is far more of a problem than actual shortages.

I can, vaguely, still remember rationing after the war. As an only child at home, cannot say it was much of a problem for me. It is all very well for people to say about growing their own foods and keeping chickens, etc. E - xplain to me how people living in high rise flats in inner cities can do this??

It is not going to be shortages and rationing that is going to be a problem - at least not for the more better off members of society - but (sadly) I can see food banks being more and more needed by far too may families.

There were so many foods we didn't have when we were young that I expect I could manage without avocados, peppers, olives, chicken, vast range of fish although herrings seemed to be to readily available. Its back to root vegetables and a bit of meat. I agree that food banks will flourish unfortunately.

Farming has chnaged since the 1940s. Chicken has replaced beef and lamb as the cheapest meat because changes in the way chicken are reared has made them a staple and no longer a luxury.

Taking into consideration, environmental damage done by modern intensive cattle rearing practices, we are going to have to get used to eating less beef as intensive climate damaging methods of rearing cattle are discarded and we have beef raised in more extensive animal and climate friendly ways.

Modern horticulture is raising salad veg under cover in this country, including peppers and these can now be available all year. We need to go back to seasonal eating. I am checking weekly to see if my local farm shop has fresh asparagus in and when the season ends in June, will not eat aanymore until the new season startsin April 2023.

There is no reason for us to go back to the limited food options of war time years, when so many fruit and vegetables considered luxuries then can be bought in season from farms who grow and harvest them in the UK.

I remember when chicken was a real luxury. I don't eat it nowadays (nor eggs) unless it's free range. (I realise that with bird flu chickens that would otherwise be free range must be kept in barns at present.) Nor do I eat any other meat if the animals haven't been reared in an acceptable way. That may mean more expensive, or less, meat and eggs but that's my preference and I won't starve. I feel very sorry for those who cannot afford to make that choice, though other diets are available, and for the animals concerned.

I’d hate it but we’d manage as everyone around us would be in the same boat.

Many years ago I used to frequent the Moneysavingexpert site. On one of the forums a member undertook a project to live for a couple of months or so on wartime rations. As I recall she managed but found it a very tedious and boring menu, but they survived. We'd manage too but doubt many would voluntarily subscribe.

I watch a woman on youtube who has no income from any source, always buys eco friendly options, and lives on the pittance she earns from YouTube and her allotment goods.
She often does a breakdown of her £10 shopping bill for the month. (That is for everything, btw. Clothes, cleaning items and bits she needs to stock up her food cupboard)

GSM I totally agree with you. I also only buy meat that meets the highest welfare standards; organic chicken and Pasture for Life beef and lamb.

I do not like large lumps of meat (steaks, roasts, burgers) and have always bought mainly mince and stewing cuts. Over the years, especially recently, I have cut our average meat portion from 4oz to 2oz because top quality meat is more expensive, but the flavour is so good that it can be extended by adding extra vegetables, beans and lentils to well-loved recipes, with little reduction in flavour.

If we went back to rationing we would not be living on the limited range of foods available during WW2. That range of goods were much the same as people ate then before rationing, just quantities and availability were limited.

Modern rations would include a wider range of foods, because british agriculture now produces a wider range of foodstuffs. Home grown vegetables would also be more varied. In my vegetable garden I grow courgettes, pumpkins, squashes, sweetcorn, aubergines, and peppers. All vegetables not grown in this country until quite recently.

Well said Franbern. Unfortunately, it does seem some posters are missing the point with food.

rationing is about fair shares in whatever food supply is becoming difficult, otherwise the grabbers and selfish will be out in force, as in sunflower oil above.

Not forgetting that the warmer climate can mean a change in that more `exotic` foods can now be grown in the uk. Seed supply might be worrisome as so many now are F1 hybrid seeds and seed capture from our own plants might be problematic

I do believe that there will be food shortages but for starters, would it not be a good idea if field areas given to biodigestors, oilseed rape and sugar beet etc were turned over to produce food staples. Farmers are worried after the over reliance on bought artificial fertilisers, produced mainly in russia and ukraine. Use of sewage sludge has already increased. The starved fields are bio-dead and micro-organisms will not come back in a hurry. We will now reap the consequences of growing the same yearly crop on many arable fields, year after year

If we as considering food rationing we are talking about the basics, enough calories to maintain good health. Pre WW2 the UK imported much more of many foods, farming was at a very low ebb in the 1930s, machinery had to be imported from the US and vast areas of grassland were ploughed up to grow wheat to produce bread, it was never rationed in WW2.

In an emergency the UK could grow a high % of essential food, in reality only a blockade would result in that much shortage. We are a rich nation and would still be able to buy food on the world market and the government would have to make sure it was distributed fairly through rationing

I'm sure that I'd cope just fine with rationing - as I don't eat most of the mentioned foods anyway, being vegan.

I really can't see 'famine' here in the near future and I don't agree that 'most countries' are facing bankruptcy.

What I do see as a major problem is rapidly rising costs on everyday items, across the board. Those on low incomes, those just managing to struggle along now, living hand to mouth - will find themselves in trouble and unable to cope.

Most of us have options. We can make adjustments or cut down to balance our budgets. We may have healthy savings accounts and/or assets to help us weather any storm.

Don't forget that rationing improved the health of the nation - by a greater reliance on vegetables and less meat consumption - so was a challenging but positive thing, back then, often changing bad food habits for life.

Large areas of farmland are currently used for fuel crops and environmental enhancements to reduce carbon footprint and diversity. These ares would brought back into food production, Germany has already done this in response to the Ukraine emergency, a increase in fertilized production would also be needed which is produced using gas.
The EU farm policy is designed to have a high self sufficiency of food production, albeit dependant on Russian energy, so they aren’t as independant as they thought, I’m sure that will rectified very quickly, now that Russia has shown it’s true colours.

Huge acres of farm land is used to grow animal food. Stopping all cattle raising that requires animals being fed soya, rape, maize etc, which is not suitable for their digestive systems and is the main cause of the emissions of methane. Return to grass only systems for rearing, which will reduce the number of cattle, and we will need to learn to eat less meat.

There is arable land that requires a high input of fertiliser to produce crops. If those farmers growing cattle food grew other crops, and the poorer land returned to pasture, that would help replace some of the cattle previously intensively bred.

I am old enough to remember rationing after WW2 and my mother and grandmother regularly cooked delicious meals that did not depend on meat for taste. There is also so much more in an animal than just red meat: liver, kidneys, heart, pigs trotters, oxtail, that can be the basis of good nitricuous food.

Lots of people pride themselves an all the exotic foods they are prepared to try, however odd they may be, well lets go back to the huge varieties of product from animals we breed in the UK and which people get ridiculously squeamish
about.

During WWII one person's weekly rations were, eg:-
113g bacon/ham (4 thin slices), 227g minced beef, 57g butter, 57g cheese, 113g margarine, 3pts milk, 227g sugar, 57g tea and 1 egg

DH and I would last about 2 days on those rations.

If it became compulsory then I suppose I'd have no choice but to make it last, and supplement it with anything I could grow myself.

I'd probably start keeping chickens.

If we are considering emergency conditions where food could not be imported then it would have to be arable crops because livestock especially beef and sheep are so much less efficient. As you see from the ration list it is protein that was rationed not energy foods

The staple energy crops for human consumption we can grow in the UK are Wheat and Potatoes along with other root vegetables, production of those is dependant on chemical fertilisers particularly nitrogen, so sufficient energy (gas) would have to be available for that.

Ironically such rationing would result in a great improvement in health of the population

But when you add bread (never rationed) and seasonal fruit and veg it’s tough but obviously doable, people managed and would do again if they had to, apart from those who have no idea how to cook and rely on ready meals and takeaways. Bulking up meagre ingredients into a tasty meal was an art form in the wars and well before.

sarah1954 I dont know where you come from by my family all lived in the city centre ,mostly in tenement flats .Not a garden in sight .Rationing was a very different experience from those who could pop out and pull some veg ,or collect eggs etc .