But on the right-hand side these are foods that I will use to make up my rations in future weeks or months, so these are out of bounds until it's time to weigh them out.
I am also allowing myself to dip into anything that is here as it's what I had in already and is mostly things that are added to fresh ingredients to make meals. I will obviously continue to take my vitamins as I'm hoping that this rationing experiment/challenge is going to make me healthier not make me ill.
So alongside the bottom part of this cupboard that I showed on yesterday's post, you can see that I am starting this Challenge with a LOT of food in the house. What I am going to try and do is to firstly plan my meals around the weekly rationed food and bring in some of what I have here and in the lower cupboard to round out those meals. I want as few meals as possible to be made out of purely non-rationed foods, or it will be a huge shock to my system when those foods run out and I can't buy any more.
So I guess the first six or so months will be a bit of a transition period, based on rations but using modern foods that won't be replaced. My shopping for the last week and from now on will be UK grown and in season vegetables and fruits, brown bread and things allowed on my rations to be weighed or counted out at home into the right quantities. This part of the challenge is what I am hoping will save me money.
Does that all make sense, gosh I hope so ... my brain is fuddled!! 😵
Sue xx
All makes total sense Sue, and no reason why it should not make you healthier. Isn't it now thought that at the end of the war British people, generally, were healthier than they had been before?
ReplyDeleteShe says, sighing . . . wouldn't it take a considerable strain off the NHS and our country's budget if more people ate like you are going to?
Yes, it was a proven fact that most of the population were healthier at the end of the war years.
DeleteIt would take a massive strain off the NHS if people would stop eating so much processed food.
You've put a lot of work and thought into this, Sue. I shall enjoy reading along.
ReplyDeleteIt's been fun, if a bit confusing at times, getting ready for this. Now it's just becoming a new way of life. I'm enjoying the simplicity of the meals.
DeleteIsn't it amazing how much we can accrue in our cupboards , we have moved all of the things to be "shopped " from to a cupboard in the spare room ,it's really odd to look at my food cupboard in the kitchen but I rather like it ,not so overwhelming . We have just started day three, so far so good, we have made one pack of eight vegan sausages do four meals, the oatmeal sausages were rather good ,the last two will be made into a sausage and bean hotpot today . We said a fond farewell to a jar of mayo last night, I can't find it on a points system :(
ReplyDeleteThere's something satisfying about having 'just enough' food in the house isn't there. I'm looking forward to my cupboard being clearer.
DeleteI don't think mayo was a thing in the 40s, but salad cream was if you like that. 🙂
It makes absolute sense, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking just this morning about how you said that all of your previous challenges have prepared you for this one and I feel much the same. I had many, many 'lean' years as a student and then in the early years of our marriage when the kids were small so I learned, very early on, how to be frugal and stretch our budget. Even after things improved financially, my desire for a simple life without excess kept things much the same. When you've never bought a lot of processed food, it just isn't a habit. Now that it's become apparent that this pattern of increasing costs isn't going away any time soon, I can take all that I learned and apply it to managing with less. Is is strange that I find the challenge to be a bit exciting? lol It's comforting to know that I have the skills, anyway. And yes, it's such a healthier way of eating in general...minimal processed food, appropriate quantities etc. Imagine that? :D
Not strange at all, doing something like this really gets you thinking in a different way and that in itself is a breath of fresh air. It's like all the years of our life and all the 'learning on the job' that we had to do out of necessity is suddenly proved worthwhile.
DeleteWe try to buy as much UK grown food as possible and not eat the imported asparagus for example even though I love it. We’ve just finished a chicken curry for dinner tonight with potatoes and carrots air fried and stirred in instead of rice. My reasoning was that the rice would keep but the potatoes and carrots were a bit suspect after a week in the fridge. Husband thought it was delicious as I stirred it all together and popped a spoonful of greek yoghurt on top. Catriona
ReplyDeleteSometimes I eat curry with shredded Iceberg lettuce instead of rice, it seems funny but it goes very well together. 🙂
DeleteWow, that is mind boggling but you know what you're doing, at least 😁 I'm looking forward to reading this 👍
ReplyDeleteDo I know what I'm doing ... haha, I really hope so. 😀🤣
DeleteVery well organized.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
It feels that way at the moment. Let's hope it lasts. 🙂
DeleteSounds like you have it all very nicely organized and planned! I like your plan to use what you have in stock to replenish your rations.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if people in the UK knew that rationing was going to be put in place, before it went into effect and if people stocked up on certain items before the rationing went into effect - do you know? The reason I ask is, that would have been my instinct - to stock up before rationing went into effect, if I had any idea that it was coming!
There was a lot of talk of it in the Summer of 1939, then later in the year the Government advised anyone that could afford to, to stock up their cupboards with 2 to 3 weeks worth of extra tinned and packeted foods for emergency use. Rationing began on 8th January 1940.
DeleteYou've done a great job Sue of making it easy to understand:)
ReplyDeleteThank you, it helps me getting it all written down on here. There's a lot to take in. 🙂
Delete