Sunday 11 August 2013

Wartime Wisdom


During war time many items were rationed-butter,sugar,wheat, meat etc. Cooks had to find ingenious ways to make do-something we can all learn from even now.

There are lots of war time recipes to be found on the internet and you may even have some of your own tucked away in Grandma's old recipe box. Luckily we are not required to use ration books! Here are just a few sites devoted to war time recipes:




http://www.wartimehousewife.com/2011/12/my-christmas-cake/

http://www.allthatwomenwant.co.uk/wartimerecipes.htm

http://1940sexperiment.wordpress.com/100-wartime-recipes/

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/recipes_world_war_two.htm

http://www.retro-housewife.com/war-time-recipes.php


I kind of stumbled onto my passion for war time recipes by accident. The kids and I felt like having cake one night and the village grocery store was closed so we had no eggs,milk or butter. I decided to look up eggless,milkless,butterless cake recipes and found one that we have made several times. I can'r remember where I found it so I can't give credit unfortunately! It is a denser cake almost like gingerbread and it never stays long in my house.

Wartime Cake
1 cup water
2 cups raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup shortening (or margarine)
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Place water,raisins,cinnamon,brown sugar,shortening and salt in a saucepan and mix. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 mins. Allow to cool then sift together flour,baking powder and baking soda. Stir into cooked mixture.
Transfer to well greased loaf pan-bake at 350 degrees for 60 mins. Serving this with real whipped cream is something I am going to try!!



 ration book


I got a book from my local library called Wartime Farm as seen on BBC television. It is full of all kinds of information about wartime living including wartime food.Definitely worth a read in your journey to Living the Simple Life.



Part of wartime life was growing fruits and vegetables and canning or preserving them. Victory gardens-herb,vegetable and fruit gardens grown to relieve the wartime pressures on food supplies-were encouraged. Canning can be a lot of work but also very rewarding. You can pick up canning jars pretty cheaply at thrift stores or yard sales. Just buy replacement seals and you are all set. This is the perfect time to take advantage of past prime fruits and vegetables at the supermarket. Tomato sauce, jams, jellies, fruit preserves; there is no end to what you can make.

 courtesy Wikipedia



Another trick to using up whatever you have is starting a soup container in your freezer. Anytime you have leftover vegetables or meat pop them in a container in the freezer. When it is full add seasonings and water and make a soup. Surely this is something wartime cooks would approve of!!

Happy cooking!!

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