Making do in the kitchen …. food ….. rationing …. and heaps of imagination

In a time of relative abundance when the supermarket shelves groan with food from pretty much every corner of the world and chefs and restaurants fall over themselves to present new and interesting ways to serve our food it is as well to remember that eighty years ago much of what we ate was rationed to eek out the meagre supplies held by this country.

In both world wars and for eight years after the victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan food was rationed and for those of my generation born in the first half of the last century 1953 would be the final year of sweet rationing.

And to cope with those shortages war time governments issued recipe books and leaflets designed to help people adapt to the meagre supplies that were available, offering up imaginative substitutions to popular dishes as well as suggestions on how to avoid food waste.

I have a collection dating from 1946, and many are available to be viewed at the National Library of Scotland. *

Over the years I have experimented with some of the recipes with varying success, and it struck me looking through the leaflets there is a distinct absence of processed foods.

And given the rising concern with such foods I looked again at what I cook and my own efforts to go back to basics and cook from scratch.  

Now I am veggie and often fell back on veggie burgers and sausages, not because I wanted fake meat, but just because it was easy and as a friend once said “why should the meat eaters have all the convenience foods?" 

But fired on by trying to only use seasonal food and mindful of waste I have returned to the cooking of my mum and grandparents who were not averse to substituting different vegetables to make well tried and loved dishes.

And along the way using a heap of imagination to turn leftovers into something.

So today in advance of the big shop, it is left over day, which meant using up two small potatoes and a carrot with the last of the onions, green beans and tomatoes. 

This became a pan of fried onions and a tomato, along with the cooked potatoes and carrots and accompanied by the end of the salad leaves and mint.

It isn’t rocket science, but it worked, and while I may never be able to exactly replicate it again it worked.

Pictures; Ministry of Food leaflets, 1946, and leftover Friday, 2026, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Ministry of Food, National Library of Scotland, https://digital.nls.uk/ministry-of-food/archive/247518044