Rationing

A generous rationing system was introduced in March 1940. Many of the British could remember rationing in the First World War and even welcomed it as a 'fair shares for all' system. In early 1941 when British merchant shipping losses were at their worst, rationing was more severe. Rationing meant essential goods were sold at controlled and affordable prices, while inessential, imported items like sugar were available only in limited quantities. Nettle tea was never a great success but it was more popular than acorn 'coffee'! Beer was not rationed but liberally dosed with water.

Sweets, of course, were rationed - a 250 g bar of chocolate or its equivalent a month was the allowance. Children's teeth and health, though, benefited. Indeed, the British were much healthier during the war than they had been before. Many nutrition experts believe that the wartime diet was better than that of the average Briton today. Some people believe that the changes which take place in history are changes for the better but change and progress are not always the same thing. Our diet certainly has changed from that of the 1940s but it is not a change for the better.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 60