Rationing during WWII

@sissy15 (12660)
United States
June 13, 2026 4:52am CST
Something I have always found interesting is the way, during WWII, countries began rationing food supplies. During the war, some countries, I'm thinking mostly about the United States and the UK in particular, but others also did it. In order to avoid hoarding, keep distribution fair, and to divert critical supplies to the military, countries made it so people had to use little ration books. The United States used a ration point system, and I believe the UK did it based on weight. The UK was also more strict with its rationing since a lot of its food was imported and its supplies were threatened by German U- boats. Rationed foods were items like sugar, meat, coffee, canned items, butter, etc.There were items that were not rationed that people learned to use in creative ways to make sure their family was fed. Each family in the US got so many points based on the size of the family that they could spend to feed their family. I believe in the UK they were allotted so much by weight of each item each month, which depended on the size of the family. I follow a woman who lives in the UK who makes videos of meals she prepares based on when the UK rationed. She tells what they were allotted and how she uses it in the meal. I find it interesting to watch; some of the meals don't seem terrible, and others seem very interesting. It kind of reminds me of how things were in the depression era prior to that, where families had to make meals with what they could afford. A lot of families could get around rationing if they grew their own food or had their own farm animals like chickens. A lot of people during this time used carrots and turnips in a lot of their recipes (especially in the UK) as they weren't rationed and were more readily available. Some items were not rationed, but were not always easy to get. I just thought it was interesting how families learned to be resourceful and use what they had access to in order to make meals. I know a lot of recipes came out during the great depression, but WWII was also similar in how people had to get creative with their cooking, but I imagine a lot of people who were alive during the depression had already had practice at being resourceful. I guess I just thought it was interesting how rationing worked and how people got around not having certain items. Whenever I complain about cooking, I try to remember how the people who came before me had to cook and be more resourceful, and make a lot of things from scratch. My grandmother had to cook that way, and I am blessed to have a lot of shortcuts available to me. I imagine the food back then probably tasted better, but I would hate to have to put in the amount of work they had to back then. I have been blessed to have more convenience.
5 people like this
5 responses
@Wrexxo (1986)
13 Jun
I read about the great depression and it was a terrible time. One thing about humans is we always make do with what we have..we adapt and we become resourceful when things are difficult. Thanks for sharing this article.
2 people like this
@sissy15 (12660)
• United States
13 Jun
That is definitely one of the better things about humans. I feel people were much more resourceful back in the day because they had to be. I don't know how many people would be able to survive now if something similar happened, because we have been spoiled by convenience. I'm sure a lot of us would be fine, but some of us would struggle.
1 person likes this
@sissy15 (12660)
• United States
13 Jun
@Wrexxo They do, but it's also survival of the fittest; those with the strongest will to adapt will survive, the others will not.
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@Wrexxo (1986)
13 Jun
@sissy15 humans always adapt. If anything happens, people will adapt
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@Orson_Kart (8301)
• United Kingdom
13 Jun
Rationing ended in the UK in the 50’s, before I was born, so I didn’t experience it. They did bring in some rationing during Covid here when supplies of certain things were running out. This was mainly down to panic buying fuelled by social media, and The Media. Even now, it’s still a good idea to keep a decent stock of items that have a long shelf life. Just in case!
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@sissy15 (12660)
• United States
13 Jun
I never experienced it either. I wasn't born until the late 80s, but I love learning about it. My grandmother lived through the depression and the rationing during the war. My grandma was very resourceful and didn't have much even after the war. She raised a bunch of children on what little they could afford. She was in her late teens when the depression started, and I'm thinking she got married and started having children during that time. She was a survivor who had been through a lot and kept on going. During COVID, we had issues with getting some things here; ironically, the hardest thing to get was cleaning supplies and toilet paper. Food wasn't too difficult to get, but I think there were some items that were more difficult to find than others. They started putting limits on how many of certain items you could buy at a time. I remember some people hoarding some really weird things during the earliest part of the pandemic. I remember walking out of Walmart and seeing someone buying a bunch of vacuums. I don't know if that was coincidental, and there was maybe some weird reason he needed that many, but it was insane. I remember it was really difficult to buy certain appliances like big freezers because so many people were buying them to stock up. It was probably one of the craziest things I will see in my lifetime, but who knows.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (121015)
• United States
13 Jun
I can’t imagine being alive back then. My Nana and Papaw obviously did, and my Nana seemed to know every cooking trick in the book. She must have learned it from her mother too. Of course, they were awesome cooks and passed that down to my mother. I guess we would adapt too, but I am very glad we don’t have to.
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@sissy15 (12660)
• United States
13 Jun
My grandma was also a great cook. I remember she used to make Sunday dinners for the entire family (I'm talking my mom and all of her siblings and their children and their children's children), and we would crowd around her kitchen table. There were always green beans, cucumbers and vinegar, noodles, and freshly made biscuits at every meal. She did things even as she got older that I'm guessing stemmed from back in those times. My mom did not learn my grandma's cooking skills. I think humans would adapt, but some humans wouldn't if things happened now. There are definitely people who I feel wouldn't be able to. I am also grateful we don't have to adapt.
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@celticeagle (189927)
• Boise, Idaho
13 Jun
Interesting. In the US vegetable gardens were called 'Victory Gardens' during the war.
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@sissy15 (12660)
• United States
13 Jun
I actually knew that. People really relied on their own produce and farms during that time. They heavily relied on vegetables to make meals. Things like potatoes, turnips, and carrots were used to make things you never would have thought to use them to make.
@JudyEv (382408)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Jun
They had rationing in Australia but those who lived on farms weren't so restricted in their choice of food as most would have had a milking cow plus chickens and eggs. They would also kill their own sheep for mutton.
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@sissy15 (12660)
• United States
13 Jun
That makes sense. I imagine the farmers during that time in any country had it much easier than those who didn't farm. I know a lot of my family were farmers, so I imagine they weren't hurting as much as some. I am guessing those who struggled the most were those who lived in the bigger cities. Around whre I live, there are a lot more farmers.
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