that might not last much longer.
For breakfast we had bacon turnovers, a different recipe this time. Instead of a sort of pasty, these turnovers were more like a scone. Crisp bacon, flour, milk and a few herbs formed into a dough and then fried. I served them with scrambled eggs and they made a good meal. As I started to make the eggs I dropped one and it smashed all over the floor. I still had two left so we just had slightly less egg that morning, it wasn't really a big deal, and my 40s self would have had plenty of eggs from the hens. But it did make me think. What if I had only had one egg every few weeks? Of course I would have just had to get on and eat something else but how would I have felt about it? Perhaps it would feel like a great disaster, my recipe ruined, other ingredients wasted, beating myself up for being so careless. Or perhaps it would be a very small loss compared to bombed out houses and soldiers loosing their lives. In all likelihood it would depend on my mood that day and what else was going on. I'd like to think I might keep calm and carry on, but then again it might just be the final straw.
In the 40s Sunday lunch was still an institution, but of course rations put paid to a roast joint. People
tried to have something special, like a chop, instead and eat it at lunchtime, with a lighter evening meal. I hadn't thought of that when I did the menu though, so our Sunday lunch was mushroom soup, using up the vegetables, followed by Spam with salad. We didn't need to use the spam, I was quite aware that the tin was a lot of points and would be an occasional treat. But as we both like spam I didn't see why we shouldn't have it! The tin would have done two meals and quite a lot of fat came out when it was cooked, which could be saved for another recipe, so it would have been worth it.
Our main meal was a meat roll. Suet pastry spread with mince and chopped leek, then rolled up like a Swiss roll and steamed for a few hours. I served it with roast potatoes, veg and the ever present brown gravy. Pudding was a cherry crumble, made with tinned fruit and the last of the fat ration. Mixing leek with the mince might seem a bit odd but onions were in very short supply. Of course gardeners tried to grow them but the varieties available then were not the same as the ones we have now and didn't grow well in our cold, wet climate. Most gave up trying after a failed crop and used the land for something more profitable.
And so our week draws to an end! I haven't been hungry, or missed any particular foods, although I'm sure after a few weeks I would be longing for a Chinese. I must admit that I'm sick of wholemeal flour. So many things are made of flour and all that bran gets a bit wearing after a while. I can see why people used stockings to sift it and make white flour, just to have something lighter for a change!
The questions everybody asks:
I haven't lost any weight, or gained any. Before the war people ate 3000 calories a day. Huge numbers of villages didn't even have running water yet so you can imagine the amount of physical work involved in just running a home, let alone any other work. All the pastries and custards kept you going! If you used the rations but ate modern food you would probably eat less fat and loose weight. Or you could eat the 1940s diet and do their work as well!
It did work out cheaper than our usual diet. Three generous meals a day for two people, including a hot breakfast and puddings, were about £65 for the week, or about £1.55 per meal. And lots of things were left over, so it would be less if we were to do a second week.
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