Ration books. How did it work ?

[Leekbrookgull]

One show showed abit on fashion during the war. In it was newswheel of items of food in the shops all showing 'points needed' not £s. So how did it work ? If you were a miner did you get more points than say a shop-keeper ?

 

[gullshark]

from what I know you got a book full of vouchers and you tore them off to buy stuff.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Did they ration books too?

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

No you still had to pay as well, bit like an FA Cup final voucher.

I.e. once you'd handed over your coupons that was the maximum you could buy during that week / month. You were only eligable to use one supplier who you were registered with.

If you wanted more than the coupon allowed you to buy you had to find a tout (black market) and pay over the odds.

 

[BensGrandad]

Meat was the last thing to be rationed and that finished in 1954.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

What made a supplier ? I mean if you seen Dads Army,in those days you could NOT get everything from one shop. How were you given a ration book ?

 

[Gwylan]

What made a supplier ? I mean if you seen Dads Army,in those days you could NOT get everything from one shop. How were you given a ration book ?

You had to register with one shop for your groceries, one butcher for your meat etc. The shopkeeper could only supply customers on his register and you could only shop at your designated shop. Ration books were sent to every home - I've no idea how the government got that information, the previous census was 1931 so that would have been a bit out of date. And, yes, different people got different amounts - pregnant women got more, miners were allowed more cheese.

And to answer the question about books - yes, paper was rationed - George Orwell mentions it in some of his columns. I remember paper being collected for 'salvage' when I was young so old habits died hard.

It's sobering to think that food rationing only ended a couple of years before I was born (and I was born more than 10 years after the end of the war).

 

[cuthbert]

I remember the day sweets "came off the ration" and I went to school with an extra 1d so I could buy some on the way home.

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Weren't there some items that came on to the ration after the war?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

When clothes rationing was introduced in 1941, you had to have unused margarine coupons if you wanted to buy clothes.

 

[Gwylan]

Weren't there some items that came on to the ration after the war?

Before my time, but I think bread did.

I do know that petrol rationing was in place when I was born (November 1956) but that's because it had been reintroduced during the Suez crisis rather than being a fallout from the war.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Before my time, but I think bread did.

I do know that petrol rationing was in place when I was born (November 1956) but that's because it had been reintroduced during the Suez crisis rather than being a fallout from the war.

There were plans to reintroduce petrol rationing during the 1970s as well. Petrol coupons from 1956 were re-issued. I've still got mine somewhere.

 

[SUIYHP]

Im a bit curious about ration books too, if anyone is that old or well educated, how often did new tokens get supplied to you? was it a annual resupply?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Im a bit curious about ration books too, if anyone is that old or well educated, how often did new tokens get supplied to you? was it a annual resupply?

The clothing coupons seem to be based on an annual allowance - 66 coupons per year.

In 1956, the petrol ration was designed to allow each private vehicle to be driven for about 200 miles a month. They were issued from local vehicle licensing offices (which there were, of course, before the DVLA was invented).

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

I imagine ration books would have been distributed over the counter at Post Offices, like Green Shield Stamps.

But what would you do if you wanted to make a pair of trousers out of magarine ?

 

[cuthbert]

Meat was the last thing to be rationed and that finished in 1954.

As children we used to eat quite a lot of rabbit, as I believe that could be bought without using coupons, do you know if this was official or a bonus of living in a rural area?

 

[pasty]

You could always have had a word with this bloke. Pound of sausages love? Pair of stockings?

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Rabbit was eaten about as often as chicken is today, when i was young.

I'd love to have one of my dad's rabbit casaroles again.

 

[BensGrandad]

The clothing coupons seem to be based on an annual allowance - 66 coupons per year.

In 1956, the petrol ration was designed to allow each private vehicle to be driven for about 200 miles a month. They were issued from local vehicle licensing offices (which there were, of course, before the DVLA was invented).

General rationing including petrol had stopped by then but petrol was put back onto rationing due to the Suez crisis and finished again about 1957.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Was your actual food ration enough to live on during the war ? Was there a 'black' market in ration books ? Did you have to buy a ration book ?