to think that if asked to go back WWII style rationing, we'd never cope?

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Not that it's a seriously likely thing to happen, more a reflection of how spoilt we are by the 24/7 disposable consumer-goods culture, even in relatively hard economic times. Reading up on the WWII home front experience & all the fantastic ways people (women) then coped with shortages of basics, I can't imagine being asked to present a ration book at Sainsbury in exchange for my one solitary egg for the week. They'd have to barbed-wire the shelves and post armed guards... What would happen to all those fussy kids? Would they just starve to death? And I'm not sure I could knit a sock to save my life.

AIBU to think that, unlike our grannies, too many of us are a bunch of trembly-lipped 'ruined my life by delivering the wrong sort of tomato' wussies that would cave at the first mention of 'make do and mend'? ... or are we just as tough and capable of knuckling down in a crisis?

Portofino, I read Housewife, 49 too and loved it.

wigglybeezer, you are so on my team when the zombies attack.

I think the problem would be that we are so much further away from the rations now than people were then. For many people even before the war, diets would have been far simpler (and lacking) than they are today. Can you imagine only having fruit and veg that you could grow? The derkins family wouldn't get 1-a-day let alone 5, as I can't keep a houseplant alive, let alone a veg patch!

Also, we have so much processed crap in our diets. Can you imagine giving up chocolate, crisps, sweets - all the usual stuff we take for granted? I think thats where we would all find it hardest. That and the fact that we would all have to go back to planning meals and spending a lot of time in the kitchen preparing food, rather than simply sticking something in the microwave.

All of the above is said in a light hearted manner. If my family and I were living during WW2, dp would of been in the army, dd would of been sent to live somewhere else, ds wouldn't be alive (born at 27wks) and I would of been petrified every night as we live spitting distance from Dover.

of course you would get by you woudl have too

be a bit crap though as i would not be able to do my low carb diet when i needed to loose a few pounds quickly

I would cope (somehow) because there would be no alternative.

I still recall the dripping in a dish on my nans kitchen windowsill and the chicken block covered in blood in their garden shed. She always had food stockpiled in the spare bedroom too, bless her. I am sure it was a result of the war. I expect she is turning in her grave at the way we live in our house today. I like to think we dont waste much but by her standards we must be appalling.

I just cannot imagine it working very well really these days. It would take a huge team of geniuses to work out a workable a ration system in the UK today.

All the different religions to consider, people who choose to be vegetarian or vegan - would it be against their human rights to just tell them they would have to have the same as everyone else? Although I expect they could do well out of trading their meat. Then there are the people with food intolerences. I assume none of these issues were a problem in WW2 and the following ration years purely because I have never heard about it.

I would absolutely cope with rationing. I am the only person that I know whose DC's went to the Imperial War Museum and brought me back a recipe book of WW2 recipes - because they recognised most of the recipes in the book and ate them all the time.

And I am under the age of retirement.

I think people would generally cope, obviously we don't have the skills that they had then now, but in that situation I'm pretty sure a lot of people would quickly learn them.

We are pampered atm, water on tap, any kind of food you could fancy with barely any effort, but that could change in a heartbeat. There would probably be a lot of chaos if something bad happened, but things would settle down and people would come together and share skills/food. If community and sharing wasn't innate within us, we would have died out a long time ago

I grew up poor so I'd be better than some, I expect. I'm quite good at making something out of nothing.

I think it'd be good for us, actually.

Thing is, a crisis could happen which rendered a 'war-time' spirit necessary. Peak Oil, for instance, may well happen fairly shortly and if we don't have the renewable forms of energy, recycling and reduction of waste already in place then it will be a huge shock for everyone.

naughtaless, my gf was evacuated to Wales from Dover during the war. He hated it. Our first house was in a street where all the gardens were different heights because of bomb blasts. The war command centre in the cliffs under Dover Castle is fascinating to visit.

Missuswife, I would LOVE to learn how to make my own dress! I keep meaning to attempt to learn skills like sewing and knitting but with a toddler needing almost constant attention I don't get much time. The farthest I've gotten is an unfinished blanket of basic knitted squares!

I think it's a real shame that schools don't teach practical old fashioned skills as I worry that when all the elderly ladies of today die out, those skills will too. It would be a good idea for those that know how to start local classes as the make do & mend philosophy is quite trendy at the mo. I'm 27 and know that if there was any local classes going most of my friends would be interested in attending. Unfortunately though, I've checked and the only thing on offer is to make a roman blind in a day!

I would also love to learn some old school baking skills and have bought some recipe books from antiques fairs that have some great tips in them. I think the problem these days is that most people under 50 haven't really had anyone to learn from as girls are no longer expected to be domestic goddesses, even if they'd quite like to be!

Widening the perspective slightly, it wasn't just that certain food stuffs were rationed, it was that every resource the country had was directed to war work, and that the shipping lanes were blockaded. There was nothing spare - no cardboard for packaging, no wood for furniture, no fabric for clothes, no metal for pots and pans and cutlery and utensils. And that knocked on through industry, so very little other than national loaf, national furniture, the national clothes patterns for example, were produced. No face creams, no cosmetics, no shampoo, etc.

It was the sheer unremitting drudergy of life for most women with children that slowly ground them down. When your clothes washing takes up maybe a full eight hour day (by hand) that you also have to fit in round a twelve hour day in the factory, or on the community allotment, or in the WVS canteen. When you have to queue for two hours a day (no fridges remember) to get food, which may or may not still be available when you get to the head of the queue. Lots of food stuffs weren't rationed but weren't available anyway because we couldn't produce or import them - fish for example was a very rare treat when most of our seaboard coast was mined. And on top of that was the points system for most other goods - not rationed but you only had a certain number of points - that was introduced to stop the wealthy buying up everything else on sight. When you've got no coke, coal or anthracite to fire your boiler and range (no fancy electric systems), having to get it alight and keep it alight. No vacuum cleaner, just a dustpan and brush or a carpet sweeper if you were lucky.

All these things took time, and filled a womans day in a way we rarely think of today. It took hours every day just to wash up, wash clothes, prepare food, keep the house clean, all by hand. To work out how many points, coupons and rations you'd got left and where best to allocate them.

I'm sure most of us could manage on thr relevant food rations for a month, two months etc. But to live our lives entirely the way our mothers and grandmothers had to? Not just for a few months but for 5, 10, 15 years? It was well in to the 1950's before many families had anything spare. That I'm less sure we'd all cope with.

I think I would cope....sorry to blow my own trumpet but I really do.

I've coped with hard times in the past and made a meal of nothing, and could do so again if I had to.

I'd do fine, because my parents raised us living on the land.

I can milk cows and goats, butcher a chicken, castrate a pig, bale hay, fell a tree, and build a shed.
I have hauled water, heated it on our woodstove, and used washboards to do laundry.
I can make maple syrup, catch fish, and shoot a partridge.
I can make moose jerky, smoke a ham, and make pickles.
I can do a lot more too.

It doesn't change the fact that every day I am greatful for my hot and cold running water, washer and dry, electric heat, and grocery store accross the road!

and the flushing toilet is pretty damn cool too

Goody - you are just the sort of person needed in a crisis!

Have to say that MILs allotment would be very handy...we get a lot of really good produce from it.

Also very grateful that I have a roof over my head, food on my table and clothes on my back.

Most people would cope, some people would die. Same as then. I'm not sure it's worth being sentimental about. I used to think I could "never cope" with lots of things but actually, you know, stuff happens, you carry on living, that's all coping is.

This is such an interesting thread! :)

I think I would be ok on the rations, but DH (and maybe DD, although she doesn't eat much but is fussy ) would struggle!

I am getting more self sufficient. Starting to grow some veggies, MIL has chickens & gives me eggs anyway, I'm quite good on a budget & I am always using leftovers to make another meal. Plus I'm good at jam & chutney making...although that might be tricky with sugar rationing. Best stock up now!!

I'm good at sewing and already mend stuff, most notably putting patches on DDs trousers when she wears holes in them but still has an inch of growing room in the length! :o Can also make clothes. Have been known to knock up a dress out of old curtains, make cushions out of old clothes & make DD a dress out of DHs old jeans.

It would be a massive struggle though, things now are so far removed from what they were even pre war. Can't imagine not having my washing machine, or not filling my car with petrol whenever it was running low!

It was the healthiest we have ever been. Some of us do not eaten the modern rubbish put out as food by the food industry anyway although of course shortage of basics could be a problem. We certainly would grow more of our own. My father as a child kept rabbits to eat during the war.

Yes, semi starvation was very healthy.