Taking a Break

I'm off for a while.

For various business and health reasons I am going to take a break from my blogs.  I will be turning the comments off from today so that I do not have to worry about missing any of your messages ... or of course that all intrusive Spam.

It's just time to take a step back from blogging and reassess a few things.

Hopefully I will be back soon, but if I'm not please don't worry there is nothing drastically wrong.

Wishing everyone love, light and happiness ... and the cosiest of Winter seasons.

Sue xx  💖

Menu Plan Week 8 ... and it Just HAD to Be Done

 

It just had to be done didn't it.  😎

A real childhood favourite of mine and a not so secret adult addiction too.  A fishfinger butty along with crisp butties are just a brilliant, simple and oh so tasty snack meal.  There's nothing 'wartime' about it, but as soon as I saw the pack of fishfingers that I bought as my 'meat ration' this week I knew what would be on the menu.

And here is this weeks menu plan, there's a couple of missing days as we have something on, but it's still good to have the other meals down in writing so I don't have to stand and ponder every meal time ... or just be tempted to live off fish finger butties.  😆

As per the menu, Monday was porridge for breakfast.  The fish finger butties for lunch and then I fancied something a bit more substantial for my tea, as I knew I would when I wrote out the plan.  Fish finger butties may be tasty but they are not that filling are they.

So I had a small 'roast dinner', and it was really tasty.  

Just two Linda McCartney sausages, two little sage and onion stuffing patties, boiled potatoes and a handful of mixed vegetables, all topped off with a generous pour of Bisto gravy.

While I was making the boiled potatoes I made sure that there were enough extras to be able to mash them ready for Wednesday and Fridays meals, it's nice to get a little ahead with things.

Sue xx

Giveaway for Followers

 

I re-read this book a couple of weeks ago, and whilst I found it interesting I do not think that I need to keep it.  It goes over so much of what I already know from my other books and most of the recipes in it have been lifted from other WWII cook books that I have on my shelves.

It is one woman's account of her and her husbands week living on rations, with the shopping list that they used and the recipes they followed.  There is also a chapter at the back including some Christmas recipes.

After reading it for the second time I don't really feel the need to keep it on my shelf, and giving this away will give me just a little bit more space on my main 'rationing book' shelf ... meaning that I will be able to slide the others out without having a tug of war every time.  😄

If you would like to be in with a chance of having it for yourself and you are a Follower of this blog, just leave a comment below and I will do a mini draw if there is more than one person interested.

Sue xx

New Month, New Points, New Rations

 

So, here we are a new month and my second 'official' month on rations and a new twenty points to spend ... and this is what I chose to spend them on this month.

First I had looked at what was left over from my first months rations ... a little rice, most of my lentils, pasta and dried fruit and about a serving and a half of oats.  Not a bad starting point and then I chose the supplies in the top photo

I played fair and just had one sleeve of the 'Weetabix' biscuits.  During the war years this was the size of the cardboard pack ... just twelve biscuits ... so it seemed a bit excessive to take thirty six.  The remaining packs will be in the cupboard for the next points spend.

Then it was time to sort out the Monthly rations.

This month I have decided to take a pack of two 'No Chicken Kyivs' from Aldi instead of the egg ration. As mentioned on the last post, each month I will choose one meat-free replacement for the eggs.  There is also a surprise item in this month's choice!!

At the start of my rationing journey I had decided to take 4oz of instant coffee in place of the jar of Camp Coffee that I could have had during the war years.  I really thought that I would need this to pad out the 2oz that I have each week on the weekly rations, but ... I have not touched this at all.  The two ounces that I get each week has been more than enough, and as you can see from the jar behind the monthly ration jar, my supply has been steadily building every week with each 2oz top up.

So I have decided that I will swap this 'coffee allowance' each month for something from my food cupboard, just as if I bought it and swapped it with a coffee loving neighbour during the war years.  This months swap choice is a jar of Mayonnaise.

And finally ... the Weekly Rations.

6oz Butter

3oz Cheese

2oz Oil

1 litre Almond Milk

2oz Coffee

8oz Sugar

4oz Vegan Sausages 

*Fish Fingers instead of the £3.50 Meat ration

and 

2oz Sweets.

Somehow this all feels so much more logical.

*Officially as they only cost me £1.75 I still have another £1.75 to spend, but I think I will leave it for this week and think a little more carefully about what I choose to buy with my £3.50 next week.

And of course, don't forget I have all the non-rationed vegetables and fruit in the fridge and freezer to bulk out the monthly and weekly rationed foods.  Including some homegrown tomatoes and potatoes from the Victory Garden.

Sue xx

My October Ration Reset Information

 

This is the information sheet that really seemed to help me think about and put into action the new rations from today onwards. I think I am the kind of person who needs to 'see' what I'm learning and these little images made it all so much easier to plan from.  It shows you which years more foods came onto the ration as well as the extras for pregnant women, invalids and children.

Here's the un-scribbled on copy so that any meat eaters can see properly what you could have.

I have been and will continue to follow 1942 rationing for the whole of my journey, I'm already chopping and changing enough without having to move forward each year as well and 1942 is the year that the most foods were rationed.  Although looking at this image shows me that jam rationing went up to a whole 1lb each month instead of bi-monthly.  But I think I will stick with my bi-monthly ration of it for now as I have the stash of compost heap jelly to add to my rations.

This is the plan that I typed out for myself to make gathering my rations together each week.  It's nice to have something to reference especially as this month is different to last.  

As you can see on here, on the 'monthly rations' section I am also being generous with myself and allowing myself a bag of British onions once a month rather than just 1/2lb which is only about two large onions.  I use them such a lot and I do grow my own and hopefully will be doing so again next year if I get all the onion sets in soon.

With today being the first of October I will be getting my weekly rations weighed out, my monthly rations sorted and choosing my Points shopping to have for this month.  Twenty points doesn't go far I need to think about this months choices.  

I'll be back tomorrow to show you what I choose.

Sue xx