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A Typical Weeks Ration for 1 Person at the height of Food Rationing in 1942
Bacon and ham: 4oz (100g) Meat: To the value of 1s.2d (6p today). (perhaps a pork chop and four sausages) Sausages were not rationed but difficult to get; offal (liver, kidneys, tripe's) was originally un rationed but sometimes formed part of the meat ration.
Cheese: 2oz(50g) sometimes it went up to 4oz (100g) and even up to 8oz (225g).
Margarine: 4oz (100g)
Butter: 2oz (50g)
Milk: 3 pints(1800ml) occasionally dropping to 2 pints (1200ml). Household milk
(skimmed or dried) was available : 1 packet per four weeks.
Sugar: 8oz (225g).
Jam: 1lb (450g) every two months.
Tea: 2oz (50g). (half a packet or the equivalent of 15 tea bags)
Eggs: 1 fresh egg a week if available but often only one every two weeks. Dried eggs 1 packet every four weeks.
Sweets: 12oz (350g) every four weeks |
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Dig For Victory
At the outbreak of War the Government launched one of the most memorable slogans of the whole conflict - Dig for Victory. From then on, the whole of Britain was encouraged to transform their own gardens into small allotments to substitute the shortage of food. It was hoped that this would not only provide much needed vegetables for families and neighbourhoods, but also help the war effort by freeing up valuable space for war materials on the merchant ships |
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In just over just a few months Britain was transformed, with gardens, flowerbeds and parks dug up for the planting of vegetables.
Even the most famous of Parks and gardens were dug up to make way for vegetables - Kensington Gardens, Golf Clubs, Tennis courts, grass verges, rubbish dumps, window boxes. Even the moat at the Tower of London gave way to growing vegetables.
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Over ten million instructional leaflets were distributed to the British people.
The propaganda campaign the Ministry of food had put in place was a success and it was estimated that over 1,400,000 people had allotments.
By 1943, over a million tons of vegetables were being grown in both gardens and allotments. |
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| Dig for Victory billboard |
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During the course of the war, The Ministry of Agriculture did many things to promote the importance of 'growing your own'.
Leaflets were distributed, posters displayed in prominent places such as billboards, tube stations, shops and offices. Radio broadcasts were heard in the form of 'food flashes', promoting the need to grow your own vegetables. |
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Newspaper and magazine articles all carried the same message. 'DIG FOR VICTORY'.
Dig For Victory became very much the key phrase and anyone who wasn't seen to be doing their bit was frowned upon.
Indeed in 1940 York Council estate tenants who were once forbidden to keep poultry in their gardens were told they either had to dig for victory or face eviction.
Even national anthems were introduced such as the one promoting the Dig for Victory slogan.
Dig! Dig! Dig! And your muscles will grow big
Keep on pushing the spade
Don’t mind the worms
Just ignore their squirms
And when your back aches laugh with glee
And keep on diggin’
Till we give our foes a Wiggin’
Dig! Dig! Dig! to Victory"
As the war progressed it was evident that the Dig for Victory campaign had become a huge success and had gone beyond all expectations. However, as the following 1944 message from the Minister of Agriculture to all gardeners and allotment holders suggests, complacency in efforts were to be avoided despite the anticipated end of the war only being a few months away. There was still a lot of work to be done, even after the war.
" We can justly congratulate ourselves in what we have achieved. But we must on no account relax out efforts. The war is not yet won. Moreover, even if it were to end in Europe sooner than we expect, the food situation, far from becoming easier, may well become more difficult owing to the urgent necessity of feeding the starving people of Europe. Indeed in many ways it would be true to say that our real tasks will only then begin. Carry on therefore with your good work. Do not rest on your spades, except for those brief periods which are every gardeners privilege." |
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