United Kingdom WWII
...petrol was the first commodity to be controlled. On 8 January 1940, bacon, butter, and sugar were rationed. Meat, tea, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, cheese, eggs, lard, milk, canned and dried fruit were rationed subsequently...
Game meat was not rationed.
For the most part, locally grown fruits and vegetables were not rationed.
Germany
...bananas, chocolate, coffee, sugar were difficult to obtain early in the war.
NAZI occupation policies were brutal...NAZI occupation policies involved looting the conquered countries by shipping food and other products back to Germany...the NAZIs planned to colonize large areas of the East and reduce the Slavic population, food shortages and starvation was a matter of state policy. The result was terrible food shortages and actual starvation. The NAZI looting led to a famine in Greece.
Items rationed included bread, cheese, fats (butter, margarine and oil), eggs, jam, meat, and sugar as well as canned goods. Coffee and tobacco were in short supply.
For the most part, locally grown fruits and vegetables were not rationed.
(as) the War progressed items were increasingly unavailable. Meat in particular became increasingly difficult to obtain, even with the necessary ration tokens. Many families depending on where they lived began keeping rabbits as a meat source. Commonly the children were assigned the job of caring for them.
US
Tires, cars, bicycles, gasoline, fuel oil and kerosene, solid fuels (mine worker strike), stoves, rubber footwear, shoes (leather shortage), sugar, coffee, processed foods, meat, canned fish, cheese, canned milk, fats, typewriters, antibiotics.
Fuel was originally rationed to curtail driving and to conserve RUBBER. Rubber was at the end of a thin and shaky supply-chain and the war effort ran on rubber tires.
All types of metal were in high demand as well as rubber and leather. Fats were in short supply because they added caloric density to meals on the battlefield and because they were used industrially for paint, grease and nitroglycerine used in propellants and construction explosives.
"No game meet rationing" I am told that the reason we have deer in Georgia is a fellow rounding up half a dozen in Pennsylvania and transportin them down here in the late 40's or early 50's. They were hunted to extinction during the depression. Something to keep in mind. Roger
ReplyDeleteTrapping got my family though the great depression. Trapping first to protect the gardens and chickens from predators and trading a fat groundhog for stuff or services from neighbors.
ReplyDeleteGrandmother had tales about folks getting violent during the great depression "Because YOU SHOT MY DEER" and so on.
And THAT was when respect for the Law was much higher than today.
Fuel and electricity I see as at risk when things get crazy. Driving when others are unable too is making yourself a "rich man target" IMHO. Showing lights when others are in the dark isn't very clever, like BBQing before hungry folks.
Those "BARN FINDS" you hear about in the Pickers show was Because RICH Folks in the great depression found it wise to hide their wealth and put those Deunenburgs and such in a barn for better times, fire the chauffer and drive a cheaper Ford.
Bicycles and spare tires seem prudent. Used NOW gets you in shape to use them when it's important. E-bikes if you have solar recharge might be useful but rich man syndrome is a concern.
After all folks get stabbed for their fancy shoes now a days, and that "city" problem will spread as shortages and chaos spreads.
I had relatives of that generation. They had mentioned tires and shoes (clothing in general you wore until it wore out, was what they said). Yaknow ChinaMart sells sneakers for 20-bucks a pair? They don't last forever, but you can put a new set on the shoerack pretty miserly.
ReplyDeleteIf the situation were replayed circa now, what items do you think would be rationed? How would that list look different from 1940?
ReplyDeleteWindow screen and frames as power grid is attacked and people cannot live in air-tight houses. Deck screws (more reusable than nails), batteries, tarps, plastic film, cooking oil, garden seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, bandwidth, anything made of aluminum or fiberglass. High performance electric motors.
DeleteAll petroleum products. Electricity.
DeleteGovernments/churches are not totally incompetent at distributing calories if they are available. That means grain and potatoes. Beyond that, you and your tribe are on their own.
Nearly all pharma will be blocked or diverted to active military or "critical personnel".
Firearms will likely be confiscated on sight and ammo will be needed "for the war-effort" for the materials. So, snare wire will be a wonderful item to have.
Bike tires and inner tubes will be better than money. So will tobacco seeds and a still to make "tractor fuel".