04 March 2020

The complexities of rationing during WWII


Found in a newspaper from 1943.  Imagine trying to keep track of all those coupons.  Pictured below are ration books my parents saved, and some loose coupons.  There's even a sugar ration book for me, and I was born in mid-1946 (sugar rationing persisted until 1947).


For those interested in this subject matter I would highly recommend the book Austerity Britain 1945-1951.

4 comments:

  1. did they have to pay for those, or were the coupons just given out for free?

    I-)

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  2. I think, people would have an absolute fit if rationing were in place, no matter what the reason. I agree with Tom Brokaw, and believe they were the greatest generation.

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    Replies
    1. They might have been, Politically, this was made far more palatable by the fact that they were still in the middle of the depression and after the dust bowl. They were already used to rationing, this just made it a formal system.

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