Rationing Diet

It's January, we've eaten too much and it’s time to pull in the purse
strings. Sound familiar?

Before Christmas me and my Dad hatched a plan. It seemed brilliantly
simple and would also a be fun way to experience history. We decided to go on a
World War 2 rationing diet!

I’m using two books for reference,

For one month we will be living on the following rations per adult:
Bacon and ham: 4oz (100g)
Meat: To the value of 1s.2d (6p today). Sausages were not rationed but difficult
to get; offal (liver, kidneys, tripe) was originally unrationed 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 month
Tea: 2oz (50g)
Eggs: 1 fresh egg a week if available but often only one every two weeks. 1 packet equals 12 eggs every four weeks.
Sweets: 12oz (350g) every four weeks

The first challenge was calculating the current value of the 1s.2d. After much searching and comparing, this turned out to be £1.70. For my experience I've set a few rules: Offal and sausages are hard to get so we're only having these a couple of times I haven't been able to find dried eggs so I'll just be using fresh, 1 packet of dried egg was equivalent to 12 eggs.

I'm averaging the cheese ration to 3oz per week. I've found it’s not the rationed items that are causing difficulties but actually the non-rationed items. Information on availability and cost is scarce and my Nana was quite young when she lived through rations. Spam, for example, was not rationed but there's no guidance on how easily it could be bought and how expensive it was. In addition, there was a points system for certain foods. There is little information on the food available through this so I have spent our points on dried fruit and dried peas and pulses.