Snap Time!: Rations

Before the war, over half of Britain’s food came from other countries by ship. However enemy submarines sank so many ships that there was a shortage of some foods. Rationing of certain foods made sure everyone got a fair share as each person could buy only a fixed amount of certain foods each week. Shoppers had to hand over coupons from their ration book, as well as money, when they went shopping. When a ration of a food was used up, they could not buy any more that week.

The Ministry of Food recognised that men working in factories and mines needed extra rations than those doing light work. It calculated that a man doing heavy work required 3000 calories a day. The following amount of food / week was provided:

Bacon/ham: 8 oz; Meat: 19 oz; Cheese: 8 oz; Butter: 8 oz; Margarine: 12oz; Milk:  3 pt; Sugar: 16 oz; 1 egg/week

In addition 16 points were available in each ration book to buy the following items: tinned meat (eg Spam), tinned fish, rice, tinned fruit, condensed milk, breakfast cereal, biscuits, and vegetables.

But this still wasn’t enough to meet the miner needs of 4,000 -5,000 calories a day…