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Food Rationing In The 1940's

Decent Essays

World War II was a devastating event that happened in history, especially when people had to face food rationing as well. Food rationing was an issue in the 1940’s which caused people to starve or to use the black market. The black market was an illegal trade system that some people turned to. Food rationing started in 1940 and ended in 1946. There were so many aspects of food rationing such as: ration books, stamps, and the ways it affected people. Food rationing was when the government found it necessary to conserve and limit the peoples food supply. Other things that had been rationed were oil, gas, clothing, tires, automobiles, and other resources. Food rationing was introduced to avoid public anger, which could have been triggered if they …show more content…

A ration book is a book full of stamps that are used to buy resources like food. Every month you got a ration book and all the stamps you would get for the month to buy food. In the books there are special rules you had to follow like: When you’re at the store going to buy food, and getting your stamps to buy something, you want to make sure and tear the stamps out in front of the employee or storekeeper. If you get your ration book stolen or it gets destroyed, you would go to the local ration board immediately. After you used all of your stamps or all the stamps in the book were expired, you do not want to throw away your ration book, because you may need it for your next ration book you get. The people had to keep their old ration book, because the government could go off their old ration book and decide how big or how much of something they could get in their new ration book. Also a guided rule from the ration book is “If you don’t need it, DON’T BUY IT” ("How to Use Your War Ration Book [One] “). When you are going to buy something with your ration book, it had to be the person whose name is in it to use it. In the families, the parents are usually responsible for their childrens books. There were so many rules in the ration books that people had to follow and only so much that they could buy with them ("How to …show more content…

The amount of stamps given were based on the size of their family. There was a “Red Stamp” which covered all the food products that were meat, butter, fat, oil, and sometimes cheese. “Blue Stamp” was the stamp that covered canned and bottled fruits and vegetables, juices, dry beans, soups, baby food, and also ketchup. With the stamps or coupons in the ration books they had a point system also. Somethings may need to have points to buy them or somethings don’t need points at all. If the ration book would get lost with all the stamps, it would be a really bad thing, because the families relied on the stamps for

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