War-Time Rationing

Robert Harris once wrote home to his wife Margaret that he believed he ate better at 550 Squadron than he did at home.  This was not a slight on his wife’s cooking.

From 1942 until 1947, the consumption of sugar, meat and dairy products was carefully rationed in Canada.  Enormous quantities of food were being shipped overseas to feed the British public, whose own supplies had been cut off.  Food also went to feed Allied forces, prisoners of war and refugees fleeing war-torn countries.  In general, Canadians were sympathetic to the war-weary, hungry British public and willing participants in the rationing program.

Eleven million ration cards were issued in Canada with coupons issued for staples such as sugar, butter and meat.  Canadians supplemented their war rations by planting ‘Victory’ gardens, preserving food, fishing, and hunting.  Not a single scrap of food would go to waste.

In Britain, rationing began two years earlier, in 1940, and continued until 1954.   In letters home to Margaret, Harris described receiving many packages from her, containing such provisions as tinned salmon, honey, tomato juice, cookies and toffee. Given the ongoing rationing in Britain and the reasonable availability of food on base, Harris would pass many of the treats along to his parents who were living in Newark, England, about 80 km southwest of North Killingholme.

At the end of the war, Canadian exports made up 57% of all wheat and flour, 39% of bacon, 24% of cheese and 15% of the eggs consumed in Britain.

I wonder what the determined Canadian public of the 40’s would make of today’s COVID-19-related grocery hoarders?

Source: Wartime rations meant Canadian cooks got creative by Elinor Florence

https://www.e-know.ca/regions/east-kootenay/wartime-rations-meant-canadian-cooks-got-creative/