Speaker 1: Wartime America faces the greatest demand for food in our history. Food for our Army and Navy. Food for the invasion front. Food for ourselves on the home front. Food to help our fighting allies and the people of the allied countries. It takes pounds of food a day to keep a soldier on the fighting front. Millions of pounds of food each day. The best way to supply our men overseas and are fighting allies with most of the foods they need is in dried form and in cans. In addition to the military, other factors affect our canned food supply. Take tin, for example. Our major peacetime sources have been cut off by the enemy. Our railroads and other transportation facilities are being taxed to their utmost carrying munitions, armaments, war supplies and troops. That leaves less shipping space for civilian food stuffs. And then there's the farm labor shortage. All this means that we at home will have less canned fruits, vegetables, soups, and other processed foods for our use. Without rationing of these foods, some people would get more than their fair share. Others would not even get what they need. But rationing assures every one of his fair share. That is why your government is rationing canned fruits and vegetables and other processed foods. Until now, we have been rationing one item at a time like sugar and coffee. But processed fruits and vegetables are not one product. They are hundreds of products in hundreds of different brands, grade, sizes, varieties. In cans, bottles, packages, in dried and frozen form. One cannot say, as in the case of sugar, each citizen will be allowed two cans of peaches a week or four cans of spinach. It may be true that some people don't like spinach. Some of you may want to buy canned corn. Others of you may want to buy canned peas or spinach. So, the question arises, what method of rationing can be used so that each citizen may get his fair share of canned fruits and vegetables and other commercially packed foods, and that will still allow freedom of choice? The system which has been adopted and has worked successfully in England for over a year is called point rationing. In the point rationing system, all these foods are grouped together and your ration book is used to buy those you like. Those items which are not so scarce will take fewer points. Items which are more scarce will take more points. Point stamps to buy these ration goods are in War Ration Book Two. This book contains blue and red stamps. Blue stamps are to be used for canned fruits, vegetables, soups, juices, and other processed foods. Red stamps will be used for meat. This is a typical page of blue stamps in War Ration Book Two. Notice that the stamps are given point numbers: eight, five, two, one. Everyone will get 48 points each period. That means you'll use blue stamps A, B, C for the first period, D, E, F for the second and so forth. Point values will be the same in all stores. Every store in which you shop must post the official table of point values of all point rationed items in all sizes. From time to time, point values may change and stores will post the new point values. Here's an example of how point rationing works. This lady all decked out with her family's brand new ration books starts out to do some shopping. First of all, she wants to buy a can of peas [writes 8 on her list]. She wants to buy a can of chicken soup [writes 5 on her list]. And she wants some dried prunes [writes 1 on her list]. Well, there's our list complete, and all that remains to be done is to tear out 14 points in stamps and pay the grocer. But wait just a minute, just for fun, let's take another look at that point ration table. Hey, slow down there. What about those string beans? Why, they're only three points in the size we want. If we buy those instead of peas, we can save five points. And what's this? Fresh apples don't require any points. Well, why not buy those instead of dried prunes and save another point. So there we are, our shopping list complete, with the same amount of goods and with six points saved for future use. Smart girl. She's smart in more ways than one too, because she used her large stamps first, wisely saving her small ones for low point purchases later on, because she shops early in the day and so helps her grocer. Because wherever possible, she substitutes unrationed fresh fruits and vegetables for canned or processed ones. This is point rationing. This is the way to assure everyone here at home an equal opportunity to get the same fair share. This is the way to assure food for our fighting men and for are fighting allies. Share and share alike is the American way to victory.
FAQs
Food Rationing on the World War II Home Front (U.S. National Park Service)? ›
The blue stamps in Ration Books 2, 3, and 4 were used for processed foods. Each person was allocated 48 blue points per month, giving a family of four a total of 192 points for processed food. Consumers could also grow and preserve their own produce in Victory Gardens to avoid spending ration points.
What was rationed in ww2 home front? ›The OPA rationed automobiles, tires, gasoline, fuel oil, coal, firewood, nylon, silk, and shoes. Americans used their ration cards and stamps to take their meager share of household staples including meat, dairy, coffee, dried fruits, jams, jellies, lard, shortening, and oils.
Did the U.S. have food rationing during ww2? ›Every American was issued a series of ration books during the war. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items, like sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods.
Is a war ration book worth anything? ›A: Millions of ration books were issued during World War II. They were intended to prevent the hoarding of such goods as coffee, sugar, meat and other items in short supply due to the war. Ration books generally sell in the $5 to $25 range, but unlike savings bonds, you can't cash them in as you wish.
What food rations did soldiers get in ww2? ›Also known as the 14-Man Ration, the 'compo' ration came in a wooden crate and contained tinned and packaged food. A typical crate might include tins of bully beef, spam, steak and kidney pudding, beans, cheese, jam, biscuits, soup, sausages, and margarine.
What food was available during rationing in ww2? ›Rationed Foods. The categories of rationed foods during the war were sugar, coffee, processed foods (canned, frozen, etc.), meats and canned fish, and cheese, canned milk, and fats.
What were 3 items that were rationed during ww2? ›Even though thousands of items became scarce during the war, only those most critical to the war effort were rationed. Key goods such as sugar, tires, gasoline, meat, coffee, butter, canned goods and shoes came under rationing regulations. Some important items escaped rationing, including fresh fruit and vegetables.
What was the last thing to be rationed? ›Rationing remained in effect until the early 1950s. Meat was the last item to be derationed and rationing ended completely in 1954, nine years after the war ended.
What did the stamps mean in war ration book 4? ›WAR RATION BOOK FOUR
The book had four colored stamps. Green and blue stamps were used for processed foods such as canned and bottled fruits, juice, vegetables, soup, baby food, frozen food, spreads and dried foods. Red stamps continued to be used for meat. Black "spare" stamps were set up for future changes.
Every person in the country, including children, received a ration book and each home had to register with a local butcher, grocer and milkman who had to ensure they had enough food for their customers. The ration books contained coupons which had to be presented when items were bought.
Why did WWII soldiers eat chocolate? ›
Milton Hershey, fighting off attempts to ration sugar, corn syrup, and cocoa, claimed to Congress that chocolate was a vital source of nutrition for the nation's troops. During the war years, the bulk of the Hershey Food Corporation's chocolate production was for the military.
What does the C stand for in C-Rations? ›*I do want to point out that the nomenclature “C” is the follow-up letter after the “A” and “B” type Field Rations and does not stand for “Canned” or “Combat” ration. The post-war canned ration, evolved out of the ww2 C Ration, is the “Ration, Combat, Individual”, but are commonly called C ration as well.
What was the most widely used food for soldiers? ›The most common food given to soldiers was bread, coffee, and salt pork. The typical ration for every Union soldier was about a pound of meat and a pound of bread or flour.
What was the homefront like in WWII? ›The country needed to adapt in order to support the war effort. Food and clothing were rationed. People planted Victory Gardens to grow their own produce and stretch rations. Towns held scrap drives to collect household goods made of rubber and aluminum to provide materials for the defense industry.
What was rationed in the timeline of ww2? ›March 1940 – Tea and margarine were rationed. March 1941 – Jam was rationed. 1942 – Rice and dried fruit were rationed. February 1942 – Soap was rationed so oil could be saved for food March 1942 – coal, gas and electricity were rationed.
What was rationed in ww2 except food? ›Certain key commodities were also rationed – petrol in 1939, clothes in June 1941 and soap in February 1942. The end of the war saw additional cuts.
What was the homefront of the British in ww2? ›World War 2 - The Home Front
Britain's Home Front is remembered for many things including: Air Raid Shelters, Gas Masks, ARP Wardens, the Women's Voluntary Service, Rationing, The Black Out, Evacuation, The Blitz, Winston Churchill plus morale boosting films such as 'Went The Day Well? '.