Rationing in World War 2 Britain, any information?

Question

Can somebody elaborate on why, when and how rationing was in World War 2 britain?

Answer 1

During World War II all sorts of essential and non-essential foods were rationed, as well as clothing, furniture and petrol.



Why was rationing introduced?



To make the British weak, the Germans tried to cut off supplies of food and other goods. German submarines attacked many of the ships that brought food to Britain.



Rationing was introduced to make sure that everyone had a fair share of the items that were hard to get hold of during the war.



When was rationing introduced?



Rationing was introduced at the beginning of 1940.



On National Registration Day on 29 September 1939, every householder had to fill in a form giving details of the people who lived in their house.



How did rationing work?



Using the information gathered on National Registration Day, the government issued every on with an identity card and ration book. The books contained coupons that had to be handed to or signed by the shopkeeper every time rationed goods were bought. This meant that people could only buy the amount they were allowed.







What were ration books?



They were books which contained coupons that shopkeepers cut out or signed when people bought food and other items.





People still had to pay for the goods with money.



Why did they issue ration books?



To make sure that everybody got a fair share. The government was worried that as food and other items became scarcer, prices would rise and poorer people might not be able to afford things. There was also a danger that some people might hoard items, leaving none for others.



Was rationing fair?



Some people considered food rationing to be very unfair. Eggs, butter and meat could be obtained fairly easily without coupons in rural areas.



By the summer of 1941 greengrocers in the towns were taking their lorries into the country to buy vegetables direct from growers.



When did food rationing stop?



Fourteen years of food rationing in Britain ended at midnight on 4 July 1954, when restrictions on the sale and purchase of meat and bacon were lifted. This happened nine years after the end of the war.

Answer 2

Everybody had to have a ration book to get basic foods such as eggs, butter and tea, and clothing.

The book was divided into small coupons on each page which had to be cancelled or cut out by the shopkeeper.

Each category of food had its own pages and the ration book was issued by the Ministry of Food for a year which was divided into 13 four week periods.

The last year of issue was 1953/54 as rationing went on long after the war finished and in some respects was worse.

Non basic foods were almost unobtainable so without a ration book you were in trouble.

Answer 3

Oh so many things , But you would need to know what life was like before the war for most families . So different to now ,, Much simpler ,, no gadgets or machines, no cars ,, A roof over your head, meals of a simple nature . a bed , a table and chairs and not much else ,,, no real luxuries . a radio set . perhaps a gramophone .. Washing done in a copper , a mangle and dry on the line ,, People were happy though . Then war ,, rationing , gas masks, bombs , air raids , vbiggest thing was the younger men called up to services , then the older ones too . So women had to fill in in the fctories . on the farms , drive ambulances and so on ... Before the war very few married ladies went to work . They looked after the house and children . Hubby provided for the family .. Almost all couples were married .. very few lived together in sin as it was called then .. Lots of men lost their lives , but after the war , wome4n werent going to go back to being household skivvies . They had founfd a place in commerce and would hang on to irt .. People started to want more from life . It was gradual but the idea of a better income and standard of living from two wages became more normal .. Lots of new things were invented and people wanted them to improve their lives , Television. refrigerators , washing machines. tumble driers. dishwashers. freezers etc ,, not all at once but in 50's and 60's most people got them ,, Ordinary people started to get motor cars ,, They travelled more .. They had holidays . at first at places like Butlins but then started to go abroad , Oh so much changed . I was a boy in the war .. I look back and still think some things were better then , People were more satisfied . No debts like credit cards , no bank accounts for most just a £5 pay packet on Friday .. As hids we could do so much more than kids are allowed to do now ,, We roamed the countryside, rthe woods , all day ,, making up games, explorind ,, Kids dont do that any more .. We had no dangers .. Hope mt reminiscences might have helped

Answer 4

yes, we had two kinds of ration cards, one for food the other for clothes



the system started in 1939 when our mums had to fill in the form to say how many there were in our house



then the ration cards were allocated and we got rationed from 1940 on - it lasted until after the war right up to 1954 when the last food, I think that was ham or bacon, was finally taken off the the ration system



every food ration card had coupons in it that had to go, so many at a time, to the butcher or greengrocer or whoever the shopkeeper was. (we still had to pay in cash too)



our clothes' ration cards did the same kind of job -except that we kids got a few more because they thought we were growing so they said we needed more clothes every year to grow into. They lasted from 1941 I think until after well after the war about the end of the 1940s.



the idea was to make sure that some people didn't hoard all the food and clothes. But some people were able to get food without the cards - for example most of us kids had schol dinners every day and some workers had workers canteens where they could get lunch. and I think that richer people could get meals at restaurant without having to hand over their coupons, but I'm not sure about that. And my dad built a chicken coop at the bottom of our garden so we did get eggs, off the ration, until we had to knock that down to build an air raid shelter. At Christmas the idea was that we could kill the oldest one of the chooks (chickens) but my Mum wouldn't let my Dad do that so he took it into our Uncle's house next door and asked him to kill it instead.





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Answer 5

With regards to womens' clothing (along with food and all other resources) Britain placed a tight ration on material whereby less fabric was used for dresses than previously -raising hemlines, shunning frivolity, producing basic utility designs, and less of the influence of glamorous 30's film stars. Women were encouraged to 'make do and mend'. In the 50's material usage would loosen up with coats & skirts beginning to widen and increase in volume.

I just read a book on fashion history, plus history of WW2 was my fav subject.

http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Museum%20Docs/clothing1.html

http://www.fashion-era.com/utility_clothing.htm

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Answer 6

Malta and England had to open the victory kitchen to feed the hungry , and also introduce rationing ,this is a sort of book with squares every square represent a week, and on that ,people use to have the necessity of life

Answer 7

Rationing was because of the lack of workers available in WW2 and hence less food.



Rationing went on until the mid 50's (for sweets even longer) to ease people back.



Sugar was a major cut back because it could no longer be imported.



rationing gave birth to alot of recipes that subsituted unavailable or usable quanties of ingredients such ad vinigar cakes.