Why was rationing brought into WWI and what kind of impact did it have?
As a result of the experience of 1917-18, ration books were issued when food rationing came into force in January 1940. Items such as imported meats, sugar, tea, coffee, tobacco, chocolate and fruit which arrived by merchant ship and would become scarce if the Germans initiated another submarine blockade (which they did) were to be divided equally between all adults and children. Imported non-food items such as textiles, soap and petrol were rationed, too You were entitled to buy basic foodstuffs to a weekly limit, whilst price controls, covering everything from wages and rents to food, tobacco and clothing, also came into force. The degree of restriction over an individual’s freedom seems incredible to us today, the more so as each familiy has to register at a shop where these items could be purchased and could not shop elsewhere. Schoolboy David Howell recalled the effect of rationing on his school meals: ‘… which went from mediocre to unspeakable. We had mincemeat, potato or cabba
