"Rationing probably constitutes the most vivid single folk memory of the war years." Peter Hennessy, Never Again.
The British government’s rationing policies, a response to widespread shortages, stirred public resentment in the aftermath of World War II. Rationing continued for nine years after the end of the war, peaking in 1947.
The government rationed everything from fruit and cheese to clothing and petrol. The bread ration of 1946, which the official historian of the Ministry of Foods later conceded was entirely unnecessary, dealt a stinging psychological blow to British families.
Rationing was the central talking point of the 1951 general election, in which the Conservative Party, campaigning on a promise to roll back the unpopular laws, wrested power from Labour.
The government rationed everything from fruit and cheese to clothing and petrol. The bread ration of 1946, which the official historian of the Ministry of Foods later conceded was entirely unnecessary, dealt a stinging psychological blow to British families.
Rationing was the central talking point of the 1951 general election, in which the Conservative Party, campaigning on a promise to roll back the unpopular laws, wrested power from Labour.
In his diary, Dennis Bird, a British teenager in the 1940s, described chicken as a “rare delicacy” and called bananas “one of the things I missed most.”
In March 1947, Dr. Magnus Pyke, an officer in the Ministry of Food, submitted a report to the Cabinet explaining that rationing had caused nutritional standards to fall so steeply that British children weren’t growing properly.
In March 1947, Dr. Magnus Pyke, an officer in the Ministry of Food, submitted a report to the Cabinet explaining that rationing had caused nutritional standards to fall so steeply that British children weren’t growing properly.
The legacy of post-war rationing survives to this day: Expressions like “waste not, want not” and “a penny saved is a penny earned” are imbedded in the British vernacular.