Thursday, January 28, 2021

An Interesting Little Find

 

When my mom passed away back in 2011, I packed up a bunch of her things and put the boxes in the closet. This month I looked in the last box and found some paperwork as well as this interesting find. It's a War Ration Book with 2 stamps still attached from 1942. It was my great grandmothers ration book. 


There were some strict penalties and fines for anyone caught breaking the rules. 10 years in prison and $10,000 fine.


When I saw the date this was issued, I just thought it was such a great find.


I can't even imagine being alive back then and having to be on rations and use a book like this.


I even still have the cover that it came in to protect it. 

If you don't know what a War Ration book and stamps are, here's a brief explanation. 

During the war, some foods became scarce and hard to find for a variety of reasons. The US government’s Office of Price Administration established a system of rationing that would more fairly distribute foods that were in short supply.  Every American was issued a series of ration books during the war. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items, like sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods. A person could not buy a rationed item without also giving the grocer the right ration stamp.  Once a person’s ration stamps were used up for a month, they couldn’t buy any more of that type of food.  This meant planning meals carefully, being creative with menus, and not wasting food. 

38 comments:

  1. Lots of countries instituted strict food rationing during that time.
    When my mother and her family came out to Australia in the early 50s my brothers saw unrationed fruit on display for the very first time. I am told that they gorged on it.

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  2. Interesting, indeed. 👌🏻 History can be so fascinating. 🙂

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  3. Well, we could've used that last March!

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  4. Let's hope history won't repeat itself; there's a lot of talk recently regarding possible food shortage in the world.

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  5. We could have used those for toilet paper last year! That’s a great find. My Dad was old enough to remember those and did not have fond memories.

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    1. Oh I bet. Yeah we could have used them.

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  6. How cool thanks for sharing Mary

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  7. What an awesome find! I came across a blog recently where the person was challenging herself to live for this year by the war rations back then. I can't even imagine!

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  8. Rationing sugar is a horriblle thought!

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  9. That is pretty cool, Mary. I've never seen one outside a museum or online picture. What a wonderful hidden gem in your closet. :)

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  10. That is very cool and there is once around here somewhere, but we can't use it for cat food.

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  11. I had never seen one of those! Fascinating...and a scary memento of an era we should know better than bring back.

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    1. It is scary and sad to think about.

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  12. That is so cool! I love family history stuff like this. It's like a window into the past. Thanks for sharing! :)

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    1. You're very welcome. I like this kind of stuff too.

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  13. What a nice historical find. I've heard of them but never saw one. Thanks for sharing.

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  14. Yeah the whole war rationing was kinda crazy right? This is such a neat find though of family history documents to treasure. (I am a genealogist so I truly know how precious this is)

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  15. That is an interesting find

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  16. This is so cool! It is really amazing how they learned to make things with fewer staples.

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    1. I know. I can't imagine what people would do today if they had to live like that.

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  17. During the wars people had 'victory gardens'. Grow your own food so more food could be sent to the troops.

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    1. That's true. I would have a garden here but there's no room for one by my apartment.

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  18. It's always fascinating to find a bit of history like that. I have some documents from my grandfather's era about war service. I'd love to have the time and money to research my family history. That'll be a task for me if I ever become a vampire...

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    1. Yeah, I would have to be a vampire too in order to do that.

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