FOOD RATIONING IN BRITAIN
RATION BOOKS
Buff-coloured ration books were for adults
Green ration books were for pregnant women and children under five years of age
They were also allowed double egg ration and one pint of milk per day
Oranges, when available, were for them also
Blue ration books
These were for children between five and 16 years of age
They were allowed full adult meat ration and 1/2 pint milk per day
There were also school dinners and free milk at playtime
Works canteens helped because ration books did not have to be shown
The same applied to the many British Restaurants
Average rations per person per week
4oz(100g) cheese
4oz(100g) bacon
2oz(50g) butter
2oz(50g) cooking fat
20z(50g) margarine
8oz(200g) sugar
4oz(100g) jam
3oz(75g) sweets
2oz(50g) tea (adults only)
Approximately:-
3/4lb(350g) minced beef or meat of equivalent value
1 fresh egg (3 for children)
3eggs as dried egg powder
7 pints of milk for school age children (most of whom had school milk)
1 pint’s worth of dried milk
Fish, bread, offal and fruit were not rationed but were often difficult to obtain. Oranges and bananas were extremely scarce and reserved for green ration book holders only. Green ration books were for children under five. Vegetables were not rationed. People with gardens or allotments grew their own. Many people kept fowl and pigs and were allowed a ration of animal feed. Pig-keepers had to be registered with a bacon factory who bought their animals and in return allowed them an allocation of ‘fry’. This was offal.
Woe betide any person who unlawfully butchered a pig! They ran the risk of imprisonment although many thought the risk worth taking.
Soap rationing restricted each person to 3 oz(75g) soap per person per week. This allowance had to be used for personal washing, laundry and house cleaning. Most people kept tiny left over slivers of soap in a jam jar which they then boiled to make a liquid soap.
Water had to be used with care. Five inches(13cms) of water was the recommended allowance for the WEEKLY bath.
CLOTHING COUPONS
In 1940 60 clothing coupons were allocated per person per year. Later in the war this was reduced to 48.
A man’s coat =16 coupons
A woman’s coat =14 coupons
A dress =11 coupons
A pair of shoes = 5 coupons
The Black Market thrived everywhere. Although not in many homes where money was as tight as the rationing. Parachute silk was a luxury for anyone lucky to obtain some.
Food rationing ended on 4 July 1954
Barbara's Web Site 
My mum use to make all my Dads shirts, from Parachute silk, she was lucky to have an American Airman as a border during the war, who gave her the silk.
Wow…that’s amazing. Everyone takes most things for granted now-a-days!
Thanks for such detailed research, just what I was looking for, trying to decode some WWII and austerity years Co-op shopping lists
Hi Esther
Pleased that you found it interesting.
Barbara
It’s sad to think that in 2022 we are heading back to the ww2 era. When everyone was given ration books and its sad to see. Ive seen on afew sites and news channels this week alone that rations books are going to be introduced again to help the people that haven’t enough food and will be announced by truss in the coming weeks because of the on going gas and electricity crisis that we are facing at the moment. People of this generation have no clue and are going to find it so difficult adjusting to basically living on nothing and in this day and age this shouldnt be happening. Coming from older parents myself I have an insight to what it was like from the stories I was told when I was younger and how my parents struggled to get by and to be thankful of what you had because if you could afford meat in them days even eggs you were one of the lucky ones and as I’ve grown up my parents could never afford luxury items or new clothes ect.. so Coming from that kind of background makes you appreciate things alot more as you get older and see how the times have changed I’m now 45 and my parents are no longer here but everyday there words ring out to me when I hear what’s going on in the world I was also very fortunate that my mother was a great cook and taught me how to bake and make bread and jams ect… so I think myself very lucky where most people are gonna suffer to do basic things and it’s such ashame
Hi Emma
You are right. Times may get worse and I remember so well the wartime years and rationing. We were lucky in that my Father was a keen gardener so we had plenty of vegetables. Other things which came from abroad etc. were very scarce.
Yours, Barbara
Thanks again Emma.
So much to learn.
One day, I might concentrate on those Coop grocery orders – and find a way to the person who wrote them.
As one of my young uncles said – your mother was my mother., Living now,, I know I was lucky to experience the care they took to use everything, three times if they could. Reading Our Hidden Lives is fascinating, including the enormous cost of a chicken for Christmas in 1945 – 19s 6d… translated into over £100
The 70’s too. -1975 would have been especially hard – when inflation was almost 25%. Growing up with my gran as my mother figure might be why I decided to write a book starring someone over a hundred.