Food groups & Extending shortages

1943

Dear Friend,

Today was a very trying day as we are trying to put up the vegetables from our "Victory Garden." We are very fortunate this year because our tomatoes have produced in abundance even with this drought. Putting up vegetables and making jams, pickles, sauces, jellies, conserves, and simply canning really helps with the war effort. Many people grew Victory Gardens to supplement their nutrition and to help with rationing. Rationing began in 1942. With the war raging on overseas, more items were added to the list of rationed things this year. Of course, our American allotment of rationed items were only a minor inconvenience compared to those in Britain. It took a great effort from everyone on the Homefront. Even though rationing is not around now I am still trying to find ways to save in our economy today. I am very thankful for my Your Share booklet as it is full of inspiration for the frugal homemaker.

Here is the back of the book which talks about the 7 basic food groups one should be taking in each day. Below is a larger image of the circle chart. This image is hard to see so I made a larger image below.

 This good group wheel shows which foods we should be eating everyday to keep healthy. This wheel differs greatly from the modern food pyramid or chart that is used today.  Below is an explanation of each wedge in the wheel.

It is strange to me how there really was no high amounts of overweight people here in the '40s. One reason could be that there are not very many processed foods to be bought. I do know one major reason is rationing but people still ate good and very healthy. I have many menus from this period and the menus are large. There are many dishes to be served.

These two excerpts below show how to extend foods when times get tough.

"It is very important that we save our fats to be returned to the butcher shop. Many butcher shops will give back points for the amount of fats returned. Below is an excerpt from Betty Crocker All-Purpose Baking cookbook which will help all to ration fats easier." Many on the Homefront found ways to be frugal and also did whatever it took to get by. I think it was very wise to return fats to the butcher to get extra ration points. Many ideas from these passages can still be used today.

I started out wanting to post as if I were actually "living" in the era but I couldn't make up my mind on what my readers would want to read/hear. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks for stopping by.

Mrs. Homemaker