Could the Modern Us do Rationing Again?

The modern us ... in 2015, we have SO MUCH variety in what we eat. How many of us eat the same dinner every day of the week, for weeks on end?  Many autistic people do (just ask my son) but for the most part, we don't. 

Breakfast, maybe.  I could eat oats for several days in a row, but I still like to mix it up with different add ins, like raisins, or diced apples, or powdered bananas.

Lunch?  I don't think so.  Dinner? Heck no.  Look at your refrigerator.  How many leftover take-out containers are in there? Partial tin cans of green beans or peaches? That last two slices of lunchmeat in a container, that has green mold because you just couldn't face another bologna sandwich. Baggies of that last piece of pizza.

We are soooo spoiled.  We don't HAVE to eat the same thing over and over. We can afford to eat something different each meal. Many times, we don't even have the same dinner twice in one month.

Look in your linen closet.  You have giant bottles of shampoo, extra tubes of toothpaste, bars and bars of soap, and cleaning supplies up the ying yang.

SPOILED.

Recently I watched this video, made by the BBC in around 2000, about living in the 1939-1940's London War Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jOxdUF6vcw and it got me thinking.

See, this family of 5 (mom and dad, daughter, and daughter's two young boys) were "transported" from close to the year 2000 into 1939/1940's London.  They lived in an appropriate house. They wore appropriate clothes.  They had time-period appropriate toys, furniture, appliances, and so forth. During the course of the 9-week experiment, they build an Anderson bomb shelter, struggled with rationing, dealt with overworn feet, simulated air raids, volunteering, working on planes and the struggles that day-to-day life back then brought.

It was eye-opening for me, as the viewer.  Can you imagine how it affected the participants?  The mother appeared to be completely transformed.

Thus, I urge you to watch it.  Even if it's only from the prepping standpoint.

Let's talk about the rationing.

They did get, at least, one loaf of "National" bread, regularly.  It was fortified with calcium and other nutrients.  But it got old, when that's the only thing you have to eat.  COULD YOU do it? 

They got a small amount of fat (bacon, lard, butter) per WEEK.

Flour?  A tiny bit.

Sugar? Rarely.

Jam? Yeah, right.

Vegetables?  Only if you had a garden. Or "points".

Fruit?  Same.

During the entire course of the video, I never heard about rice or potatoes. Spam was mentioned but only if you had the "points" necessary to buy it.  Chicken, beef, pork (other than bacon) were non-existent.  The children had two eggs, the adults none (unless they didn't mention it).

As rationing got tighter, parents rarely ate more than the dry bread.  The parents suffered so that the children could eat.

I would do that too.  Would you?

Right now, assuming your cupboards are bare and you had to get your food daily from a ration shop. Imagine that you only have rations... day in and day out?  And maybe one egg a week.  Maybe a few bits of lettuce from your garden.

Could you do it? 

Could you live on what 1940's London did?

Now, replace that daily "National" bread with what you stored as a prepper, like the beans everyone says is a must.  Okay, add in a little rice.  COULD you really, truly, serve that to your family, day in and day out?  Very little variety. Maybe even no spices or herbs.  Just rice and beans.

Just something to think about.

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