I've not really been writing that much about my day to day meals, to be honest they are not really that interesting, although they are tasty in their own way and most definintely filling.
The go to breakfast for the first week and then a couple of days of the second week was porridge.
On the first day that I made porridge for breakfast I put my normal scoopful of oats into the pan on the scales to see what measurement I was used to. It seemed a fair amount so I decided that I would continue to use this much.
Now with oats being on the Points System at 2 per pound, and me only getting 1lb of oats this month I know they are not going to last me all month. I should get approximately 10 or 11 breakfasts of porridge this month. I will perhaps buy 2lb of oats next month.
So to make the oats last longer, and of course to stop any monotony, I have been interspersing them on a couple of days with toast. Sometimes with spread and sometimes with jam and sometimes with jam and spread ... but never with both on one slice of toast at the same time.
Which is absolutely fine with me as that is the way I have always had my toast since being an adult. 😀
On the days that I have toast for breakfast I usually make my lunch potato based, in this case a baked potato ... or Jacket Potato as they were called in the UK during the war years ... with half of one of my tins of beans also bought with points.
On the porridge days I try and make my lunch bread based, on this day I used up my two veggie sausages with a part-baked roll I had in the freezer ... and very nice it was too.
Bread was never rationed during the war years, but everyone was asked to make good use of the homegrown potatoes whenever they could as they were in much greater supply. Our wheat had to be supplemented with large amounts brought to the UK on ships by the Merchant Navy as we could not grow enough to feed our population.
Potato Pete was introduced as a friendly way to make people and children want to eat more potatoes. He had a recipe book full of tips and ideas and appeared in many advertisements.
As the recommended amount of potatoes to eat in a day is 1lb I am going to weigh out what a pound looks like ... it sounds an awful lot. I work much better with visuals, as you might be able to tell by all the photos that I share. 😁
Sue xx
Porridge oats - you are immediately into the world of a housewife on rations, if you buy 2lb of oats that is 2 points less for something else.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is anything wrong with the same breakfast every day. Before the advent of recipe book-mania and numerous TV programmes about food it is how we used to eat (with maybe something different at weekends) There seems to be a never-ending pressure to constantly "eat something new". I am Mrs Boring and have the same breakfast every day but it keeps me full until lunch and doesn't spike my blood sugar.
I don't think I will need to get any dried fruit next month so I can spend some of those points on extra oats. :-)
DeleteI was only thinking the other day that I think I am going to make a menu that repeats over and over every couple of weeks, with just one or two days of different meals so I can carry on experimenting from all my books. I think my morning porridge will be on the menu for most days of the week, it's healthy, easy to make when you're half asleep and keeps me full almost to lunch time. Winner, winner, porridge ... breakfast. ;-)
I had no idea "jacket potato" was a wartime term, that's what I've always called them, I always thought "baked potato" was an American term.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness I'm not the only one is the world who only has one thing on toast - butter or peanut butter or Lidl's version of Marmite - even after thirty one years together I still look aghast at Jon when he spreads butter and then Marmite on his! xxx
I think it's wartime and Northern England too. I know growing up in the 1960s in Manchester we called them jacket potatoes. Just the one thing on toast is plenty for me, jam and butter just don't go together ... except on a scone. :-)
DeleteIf you really wanted to, you could sandwich the toast and jam with the toast and spread to get the together experience. :-D
ReplyDeleteThat does sound like an awful lot of potato, I agree. xx
Oh gawd no!! I can't stand the two together, separate is the only way ... unless it's on a scone and the butter is very cold.
DeleteI thought it was a lot, then I weighed some out to see ... I was surprised. See the photo on tomorrow's post. :-)
I think about 3 medium sized potatoes weigh about a pound, so one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner! Over here, the supermarkets often sell baking potatoes that weigh a pound each! I'm not much of a breakfast person, so I have a combined breakfast/lunch and call it brunch.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say that!!
DeleteAfter doing this post I weighed out some potatoes ... you'll see what I got on tomorrow's post. :-)
I think it's because we work in grams here in the UK now, and a pound of potatoes sounds such a lot. I am really enjoying working in lbs and ounces again. I don't think I could cope with going back to £sd though.
We have been having oats most breakfasts too but since being gifted the windfall apples I have made quite a bit of stewed apple which we have with it ,very nice it is too. I have made hash browns ,the size of my smallest frying pan and enjoyed them but thought of sprinkling a little cheese on the top and popping under the grill and serving with a salad and some green tomato chutney, might be lunch today.
ReplyDeleteI think I will make some stewed apple with the apples from our tree, Alan is talking about picking them all off today. He wants a pie but I think I would rather have a jar of stewed apple, and yes, putting it on my porridge would be a lovely fresh start to the day.
DeleteYour lunch sounds delicious ... enjoy. xx
I too thought a pound of potatoes sounded a lot so I weighed a pound to see what it looked like. It is a lot. It's three quite big potatoes. I would eat one so a third of a pound on one meal. I guess you could eat them on more than one meal but I wouldn't under normal circumstances eat potatoes on more than one meal in a day. Needs must though so if you were hungry and didn't have much to eat they would be a handy filler.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I thought the opposite when I weighed them out. Three sort of medium sized potatoes, they would do me two or three meals depending on how I used them. The pound of potatoes per day recommendation was to ensure the right vitamin intake alongside the bread amount recommended and the vegetables.
DeleteOne thing that strikes me about the wartime diet is just how carb heavy it was. Of course back then people ate what was available, or what they were given, and carb heavy meals would have filled people up and sustained them for their often heavy outdoor work. I'm glad I don't have to do that, carbs don't do me any favours. I remember back when we were kids at home (in the 70s), Mum used to send me out to the greengrocers with her shopping trolley on a Saturday, to get 14lb of potatoes, to do her and us 4 kids for a week, so 2lbs a day. Nowadays I rarely eat potatoes.
ReplyDeleteYes, it really is carb heavy isn't it, very stodgy but also very filling. I've noticed I am snacking a lot less now, I even have some of my sweet ration left from weeks one and two. Amazing!!
DeleteYes, we used to go out with our big brown 'potato bag' and get 10lb of potatoes at a time for the week ahead. Luckily we didn't have far to carry it as the greengrocers was just at the end of our road.
I eat cooked porridge 365 days a year with some fruit and kefir. Is there anywhere you could forage for brambles as that would be a nice addition to your porridge but I also like the sound of stewed apples too? Catriona
ReplyDeleteThere's nowhere close to us, but I'll have my eyes open wherever I go. :-) Stewed apple is gorgeous in porridge isn't it.
DeleteDH was in a bowls match last week in Little Stoke and they had Staffordshire Oatcakes (fine oatmeal pancakes) served hot with a sprinkle of cheese.
ReplyDeleteBircher Muesli with grated apple and soaked porridge oats, was a wartime recipe to save fuel.
I am happy with porridge every day, the variety being jumbo oats, standard oats, or oatmeal.
For Christmas we have porridge with brandy butter.
I've seen those on a television programme, it's a real local delicacy isn't it.
DeleteBircher Muesli would be a good breakfast for Summertime wouldn't it, nice and cool and full of goodness. Strange that I'm already into Autumn mode, but it's chilly here today and my hot porridge really hit the spot this morning.