General Chat

'Yes We Have Bananas'
31/12/1945

The first shipment of bananas since the beginning of the war arrives at Bristol docks. It is greeted with much excitement and filmed by newsreel companies. Bananas are rationed and only available to children under 18 and expectant mothers.
Light Programme
29/7/1945

Thought I hadn't just imagined them!! ;O)

I was just doing some looking up in books for Angie (we got them when my husband did this with his class some years ago). I then did a search on the web and found several good sites with recipes plus a good inexpensive book. This might be worth getting if anyone knows a school doing this project
http://www.glosters.org.uk/Second_World_War/Wartime_Recipes/69/450
It's only £3.99

Sue

I have nudged this cos I was talking about this thread to my 83 year old mum last night and she told me the following ....
In the 1930,s her Mum and another lady used to walk into the local town once a week as they lived in a village . It was only 6 miles each way ! no cars ....anyway Mum stayed with another family in their street who had loads an loads of kids . They had pie for their dinner which was delicious .....
Turned out to be Starling Pie !!!! Kim x

Starling pie-mmmmmmmmmmm!
think I'll give that one a miss thanks Kim!
Angie xx

Pidgeon Pie, Brawn, Snook aka ( Whale meat ) Spam with everything,home made fruitpies and jam, Hazelet, things like that,and if you worked on the Docks or had someone in the Merchant Navy " Bananas"and "Oranges".Sometimes there used to be Parcels from Canada sent to Schools with "Frys Chocolate bars,The ones with the creamy type insides. .M.

Hi Merlin , also the cherry on the top of little cakes ... Made with powdered eggs ... was replaced with a little square of sweet beet

PIGS TROTTERS
TOMATO SOUP CUBES
DRIED EGG (Lovely)
DRIPPING
CONDENSED MILK
We had plenty of veg as we had a allotment

June

Hi all

I remember frys chocolate cream,is it still around?Was hazelet a sort of sliced meat mixture-seems to ring a bell.Mum remembers her stepfather coming home from sea and being passed from trawler to trawler to see all the fish being unloaded and then having to eat fish for days afterwards because all the crew were given a box each,they used to give it away to the neighbours in the end cos they were so fed up with it,she doesnt eat much fish now at all!
Angie
xx

Angelina, you can still buy it, .M.

I know from my mother that the sweet ration for children was 1/4 of boiled sweets per week or a small bar of black chocolate. They didn't see exotic fruits until well after the war (she remains passionate about oranges to this day - and she's 73!) so the only types they knew were home grown.

Everything which was eaten was the typical working man's diet of the time, although the shortage of sugar meant that puddings had to be unsweetened or stretched.

We are from Northewrn Ireland so there were some welcome additions of butter, sugar and meat from the [then] Irish Free State which, although it had rationing during what they called the "Emergency", had more of the rationed foodstuffs than the families in the north. I'm told that train drivers' familes in particular were quite well off, particularly if the man of the house was on a regular, cross-border, run.

Wish I could get some of the now

And Boo yet again