My girls and I have decided to do 1940s Days!! We have been reading all about history and rationing of the ‘40s and the response to rationing in different countries.
Britain began rationing January 1940, whereas Canada did not begin rationing until 1942 after failed attempts of “volunteer rationing” where the government wanted the citizens to voluntarily give up what was scarce or running low. Canada exported a lot of food to Britain, and other countries so horribly affected by World War II, and helped refugees as well as prisoners of war. Because of this, Canadians had to ration as part of the war effort too. I must say, seeing what happened during the 2020 pandemic, I think I can understand that voluntary rationing probably would be unsuccessful.
We decided to do 1940s Days for the same reason we did Depression Days and even Pioneer Days — to better understand that part of history and how it relates to food. I have always been interested in food history. With ever rising food costs, I thought this would be a great “experiment” to be more conscious of what we are buying and eating, be more frugal and learn new recipes of that time period.
Not only with that, but also to live a little more in the moment, appreciate ‘40s music, express more gratitude for the world we live in today, and to learn about 1940s hair and fashion. And of course to “mend, make do or go without.” This will be a great way to simply learn more skills like sewing (particularly sewing clothes), cooking from set ingredients, and better understanding food rationing. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks!
“Individually, people are finding that a simpler lifestyle provides greater satisfaction than relentless pursuit of materialism.”
Laurance Rockefeller
Day One
Day 1 started with setting old fashioned curlers in my hair and dressing ‘40s inspired. I don’t have much for ‘40s clothing (ok, I don’t have anything vintage), so we will be wearing what we can put together from the closet. We may purchase a few cardigans and perhaps some brooches, otherwise we’ll do our best with what we have.
Here’s what we ate for Day 1 of 1940s rations…
Breakfast was oatmeal with 1oz caramel pear jam, 1 tsp sugar (I added before I thought of the jam), 1/3 banana (exotic fruits may not have been readily available but we have them to eat up!), 1 cup milk and tea. We used one tea bag to make a pot of tea that we shared.
Lunch was pasta that I got from a 1940s cookbook along with salad and pickled beets. You could select one dry item per week with points. Pasta is our one dry item.
Afternoon pick-me-up— one piece of candy from our sweet ration.
And this evening we tried to make potato candy – a recipe from the Great Depression. It’s so sweet, because it uses a lot of icing sugar. I’m not sure if icing sugar/confectioners sugar was rationed or not. We’ll see how it tastes tomorrow once it sets.
Supper was Sausage with peppers, celery and onions, boiled carrots and homemade whole wheat bread. I used half of my meat ration for this evening’s meal. We do have leftovers as well. I may freeze the rest of my meat ration for later in the week. We had fresh fruit for dessert.
Overall, Day 1 went pretty well. I wasn’t hungry all day but was a bit hungry at supper time.
We also prepped our rations for the week. You can read more about rationing in World War II or watch us prep our rations!
Day Two
Day 2 started with my hair!! I was so glad to take those curlers out…they’re so painful to sleep on! I brushed my curls with a soft bristled brush and set waves to give me waves on top and the curls below. It’s used a bunch of hairspray and my hair stayed like this all day!
Then we started our day with Lady Grey Tea which is actually really good (it has a light citrus flavor), and a good old fashioned breakfast.
We used half of our bacon rations, had cornmeal (mămăligă – recipe can be found Here) with a bit of our butter and cheese rations and dried eggs that were reconstituted to make “fried” eggs. Dried eggs (equivalent to 12 eggs) were part of rations. One pack of dried eggs was issued every 2 months.
Lunch was skipped because we were both busy and couldn’t decide what to have.
I made another loaf of whole wheat bread. It’s not exactly the UK National Loaf (I did not add 7 tsp of salt!!) and instead I used the recipe I have for bread from the Great Depression. It’s our favorite bread! Canada had an “approved loaf” which was also whole wheat which has more vitamins and minerals than white flour. White flour was banned.
Supper was “poor man’s meal” from the Great Depression. It’s onion, carrot and hot dogs cooked up and then potatoes added and cooked until tender. I season with salt, pepper and dill. Then tomato sauce or ketchup is added and then it’s ready to be served. We had that with plain pasta with some of my margarine ration and a teaspoon of cheese and of course a slice of bread with some butter ration. I usually add peas to the poor man’s meal but forgot. A salad would have been great, but I had no lettuce so we finished up a cabbage salad from a couple days ago.
Dessert was brownies from a 1940s recipe along with strawberries and tea. Find the brownie recipe Here!
My daughter sewed herself a tie and our dog Rusty got one too!! Super cute!
Overall, it was a pretty good day and everything was delicious!! Making sure we’re aware of our rations really makes you think about what you’re eating and cooking.
Day Three
I brushed my curls today and was so surprised that most of my curls stayed! I set waves in my hair and doused that in my hairspray!! I wore a blue skirt with flowers, shirt and cardigan.
We started our day with pumpkin pancakes with banana, pumpkin butter and whipped cream. We also drizzled a bit of Golden Roger’s Syrup. When I was a kid, Gramma always put the can of Golden Roger’s Syrup on the table to drizzle over pancakes. I added extra pumpkin butter I had in the fridge to use up in the batter and decreased the sugar so I wouldn’t have to use so much of our sugar ration. I did use another egg which leaves us with one egg for the rest of the week.
Our tea today was Earl Grey tea which had a lovely lemon flavor. I actually really enjoyed this tea today. I also had a little sweetened tea from the leftover Lady Grey tea from yesterday.
Lunch was leftovers from yesterday along with salad and of course bread and tea.
Supper was split pea soup with fried Spam and bread. Spam was not rationed during the 1940’s, so I added that to our meal. Over 133 million cans of Spam were eaten between 1940 to 1945.
Dessert was brownies from yesterday along with strawberries, home canned rhubarb & orange fruit and tea.
We headed to the local butcher to get the last of our meat rations for the week and the grocery store for a few items. Oranges were allotted one per person to be sure citizens were getting vitamin C. Fruit was not rationed but sometimes was hard to come by. Fruit that was in season was eaten most, aside from citrus fruits and Victory Gardens were encouraged.
Overall, it was a pretty good day and everything was delicious!! And I’m noticing more just how much sugar we consume, whether it’s in baking or just eating or drinking in sweetened beverages! I never noticed just how much it really was!
Day Four
Today I used a hair net for the first time and it was a great way to keep my curls at bay!! I loved the look of it!
Breakfast was toast and jam with English Breakfast tea.
Lunch was leftovers of slit pea soup, the last of the bread as toast, salad, fried bbq Spam (so good!) and sweetened tea.
I made another loaf of whole wheat bread using a recipe from the Great Depression.
And supper included fresh bread, salisbury steak, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, carrots & peas. I used one of our meat rations.
My daughter made a mug rug trying out appliqué for the tea pot to sit upon. It’s so cute!
Day Five
Today I used my hair net again — I like that it keeps my hair off my face and is a great way to keep my unruly curls at bay!! I wore my favorite short, short and cardigan and earrings my girls made me for my birthday a few years ago.
Breakfast was toast and jam with Lady Grey tea. I’ve nearly used all my jam rations. My girls still have lots of their jam rations.
Lunch was a piece of bread with meat. Then we were off to run errands.
My daughter and I had afternoon tea with Earl Grey tea and cookies.
Supper was bread, mini meatloaves, pan fried veggies and leftover fried mashed potatoes with bacon, onions and the mushroom gravy from yesterday. This meal used the last of our bacon rations and the last of our meat rations. I also nearly used all my cheese rations on the meatloaves — 1oz of cheese just does not go very far!
Day Six
As you can see my hair lost most of the curl, so I just pinned it up. Today I’m wearing a sweater and pants.
My brother was over for the day, so I cooked as though we had his rations too!!
We started the day with homemade pancakes with whipped cream, bananas and tea.
Lunch was fried Spam with onions & peppers, pasta with butter and cheese and leftover veggies and meatloaf from yesterday.
I made homemade wholewheat biscuits and bread today. For supper we had homemade pork sausage gravy & biscuits, potatoes, carrots and corn. Dessert was potato candy and homemade canned rhubarb & orange fruit. The fruit is a bit sour so the candy balanced it. The fruit always reminds me of gramma — I always loved having rhubarb fruit at her house as a kid! Our rations are definitely low!
Playing Scrabble-Monopoly with my girls and my brother (who’s visiting for the day) is definitely tricky with the two games melded but actually kinda fun! We did have some crackers as a snack while we played.
Parker Brothers first published Monopoly in 1935. Scrabble was originally called Criss Cross and was invented in 1931 and renamed Scrabble in 1948. So it fits in with our ‘40s Days!
We played Hello Kitty Game of Life which was a lot of fun.
The Game of Life was first released as “The Checkered Game of Life” in 1860 by the actual Milton Bradley!! The Game of Life we know today was mass marketed in 1960. This version we are playing today came out in 2024.
Day Seven
I curled my hair with the curling iron, pinned it up and tossed it in the hairnet again. I wore my plaid skirt, shirt and cardigan. It’s a new cardigan but has that old vintage feel to it.
It was an absolutely beautifully sunny day today. It was +14C/57F and simply gorgeous — a nice break from winter for sure, and a great day to head out!
Breakfast was toast & jam with tea.
Lunch was yesterday’s leftovers! I fried up the potatoes & carrots with onion to spruce it up a bit.
We ran a bunch of errands and went grocery shopping for a few things today since it’s supposed to snow tomorrow. It was a lovely day to do so! My daughter and I got lots of smiles and nods, “good-days” and compliments on our attire which was so nice!! It definitely brightened our day!
We got some popcorn to enjoy with a movie we’ll watch tomorrow from the ‘40s. We also treated ourselves to bubble tea although that most likely is not ‘40s!! But that’s totally ok!
Supper was leftover pancakes from yesterday with homemade strawberry sauce I made a few days ago!
Overall this week went well. I used up the last of my jam and butter rations this morning. All of our margarine rations are gone along with our egg and meat rations. We have milk and sugar left, my girls have butter and jam still as well as cheese. We have a little late left but will probably be used up tomorrow. I used most of my rations when cooking. We have nearly all of our coffee rations still and have tons of tea left. We haven’t even used all the tea for one person yet!!
Tomorrow we will be diving our rations again and will be doing this another week. I’m actually looking forward to it!
Day Eight
We officially 🎉 made one week on rations! 🎉 Yay! Today, I’m wearing a blouse, cardigan (same as the blue one but just in a different color) and skirt. I pinned up my hair after I curled a few pieces with the curling iron.
Breakfast was orange pieces and apple with Irish Breakfast tea. I’m not much of a tea person unless it’s flavored tea, but now I actually really am enjoying tea everyday. At the start of the week, I disliked the Irish Breakfast tea but enjoyed it today!!
Lunch was rice, stir fry veggies with rehydrated egg and maple Spam along with a piece of homemade whole wheat bread. We also had Irish Breakfast tea.
Supper was chicken stew with dumplings. Chicken along with fish and wild game was not rationed then, so we enjoyed that stew! I just made a small pot, used only one chicken breast with a bunch of vegetables and we gobbled most of it up, with just a bit leftover for tomorrow. We also had cheesy garlic toast.
We have used up nearly all of our rations aside from sugar and candy and my girls still have their jam rations. We do have milk rations left as well. It was an interesting week and towards the end of the week, I really had to think what to cook that stayed within our rations. Earlier in the week, I felt like I needed to save things like milk, since we used up other rations quite quickly, so that’s probably why we have some left. But all in all we did quite well and I think Week 2 will go a lot better.
It was definitely tricky, but I’m looking forward to week 2 now that I know a bit of what to expect!
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours“The only way to learn is to keep trying new things and making mistakes.”
— Unknown
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