Review: Of Veg and Cheese...and Java Dilemma

In the original "Of Veg and Cheese" post I outlined how, in accordance with life in the early 1940's, we would be limited to seasonably available produce during the rationing year, with the exception of canned and frozen produce which would be subject to ration points and market fluctuations.

So how did it go?

Well, last winter was tough - no bones about it. With just one pound of frozen vegetables setting us back one quarter of our weekly blue/green points, we were forced to work with seasonally available produce. This meant mostly carrots, potatoes and cabbage. And trust me, with all other green, leafy vegetables unavailable you start to appreciate cabbage on a whole new level.

Going without fresh salad for a few months definitely helped us understand how much we really love salad, even if it's as basic as a few green leaves and a simple dressing. Luckily, growing lettuce and mesclun indoors (or in a hoop frame or cold frame) is so easy we were able to get a jump start on our spring greens.

Once early summer came around we had locally grown produce available from our gardens, the farmer's market and our CSA bag. As you know, we had a hard time maintaining our Victory Gardens, and my new work schedule made visiting the farmer's market logistically tricky. And for a second year the CSA bags were a bit of a disappointment (some of the produce was actually of poor quality); I don't believe we'll do CSA bags in the future.

On the other hand, you just can't beat locally grown fruit. This past year we consumed our share of local strawberries, blackberries, apples and pears. Nothing can beat a fruit that was allowed to ripen fully before picking...and then immediately eating it. Really, I cannot downplay the physical and sensual joy of experiencing a local "u-pick" establishment.

As far as cheese goes...well, it's a staple we never want missing from the fridge. The versatility of hard cheese (snack, recipe ingredient, sandwich topper) make it a very useful, albeit rationed, resource. And thank goodness sour cream and cottage cheese weren't rationed - they have frequently been used to bulk up a sauce or soup (the former) or add protein to an otherwise light meal (the latter).

And finally, coffee. As outlined in the post "Java Dilemma," during rationing each adult received one pound of coffee every five weeks, assuming shortages didn't throw a kink into your coffee purchasing week. Both TMOTH and I increased our coffee consumption during the past year, in exchange for shrinking our soda intake. Even with that change, though, we were never in danger of running out of coffee supplies before the next ration amount could be purchased. We even had enough of a coffee surplus to, umm, be creative.

So, what of veg and cheese and coffee after rationing? We plan to continue focusing on seasonably available produce in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of the fruits and vegetables we eat. And we'll continue to drink coffee at our current rates and avoid heavily-sugared sodas.

And cabbage...dear, sweet cabbage. You will always have a special place in our hearts...even if you're not as frequent a visitor at the table.

--Rational Mama

Rational Ritual

This past Wednesday night we sat around the table, rolled the die and pulled scenarios from Mr. Bowles' Marketplace Scenario Randomizer...for the last time.

So interesting how doing something once a week for a year becomes such a habit, such a ritual.

Over the past year we've both cheered and boo-ed the die roll, rearranged menus to suit the scenarios and listen to the girls quarrel countless times over whose turn it is to roll the die.

In the end the last scenario of the rationing year was a dud...only half the usual amount of flour was available, but we have plenty in the pantry anyway.

The week before was a doozy, though. Eowyn wanted from-scratch macaroni and cheese for dinner when a gaggle of family was to be visiting to celebrate her birthday. But when we pulled scenarios for that week Mr. Bowles' informed us that only half the amount of cheese was available at the store. The cheese supply in the fridge was not bountiful, so there was no way we could acquire enough cheese to make macaroni and cheese for a crowd of sixteen.

As a friend said, Mr. Bowles' giveth and Mr. Bowles' taketh away.

So, we had to go to Plan B: roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and Brussels sprouts (you gotta love an eight-year-old that asks for Brussels sprouts).

It will be strange, if not liberating, to be able to make a shopping list without consulting the Randomizer. There are several aisles that I think I haven't even stepped a foot in during the rationing year. Everything in the store will be available for purchase. Everything.

And I know that I originally said that I would compost the Randomizer when the rationing project was complete, but now I am (based on a reader's advice) considering holding on to it for a while.

Some habits die hard.

--Rational Mama

Of Pie, Hunger and Nachos

There is so much I want to tell you about living on 1945 U.K. rations.

I want to tell you that with all the limitations and restrictions menu planning gets tricky fast. Our weekly menu for the first week of U.K. rations included:

Friday: Vegetable-Garbanzo Soup with Dumplings
Saturday: Dinner at Friends' House (previous engagement)
Sunday: Roasted Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Fresh Green Beans, Grilled Zucchini and Gravy
Monday: Woolton Pie
Tuesday: Spaghetti Noodles and Homemade Cheese Sauce
Wednesday: Chicken and Dumplings (using the chicken carcass from Sunday)
Thursday: Stir-fried Vegetables and Eggs with Rice

I want to tell you how all these restrictions make for very brief and focused shopping excursions.

I want to tell you that for breakfasts we've been eating yogurt (not rationed but available) and toasted oats and/or oatmeal. On Monday morning I made a batch of (reduced butter and sugar) cinnamon rolls for a special treat, and to literally butter up the girls for the Woolton Pie that evening. For lunches TMOTH and I have been eating leftovers and skimpy chicken sandwiches using leftover meat from Sunday and our very modest mayonnaise rations. We've been keeping the girls' lunches solid (peanut butter and honey sandwiches, crackers, local fruit) since during the War they would have had additional lunch options at school.

I want to tell you that snacking is severely limited on U.K. rations. The general rule is that if you didn't make it then it's not available, and your supplies are almost too tight to make anything. On Sunday I made a homemade granola bar type concoction that was snacked on for several days. Otherwise, snacking has been mostly limited to carrots and the local apples/pears we picked last month.

I want to tell you that I wouldn't want to be on these rations in the dead of winter, with few fresh vegetables available.

I want to tell you that I was finding the transition from one cup of coffee per day to one cup of tea per day very difficult.

I want to tell you that the results of the Woolton Pie were very predictable (Eowyn loved it, Sissy loathed it).

I want to tell you that the soap rations haven't been too terrible and that we managed to stay under our 157 allotted miles for the week.

I want to tell you how hungry we've been. Nearly every night we've needed an evening snack for the girls, and usually for the adults as well. One night we popped popcorn, but had to use lard since the butter and margarine were reserved for other purposes. Another night we made carrot cookies (surprisingly good).

I want to tell you that I was looking forward to making bangers and mash and sharing with you next week's menu and how I "spent" our points...but I don't have to.

Last night, after a very busy day AND night, TMOTH and I found ourselves driving home alone.

"I'm hungry," TMOTH said quietly.

"Me, too." I replied.

I thought about how many times the four of us had said those words over the past six days. I'd heard it from the girls more than once each day we'd been on U.K. rations. I thought about hearing it for another eight days.

And then I said, "Maybe six days is enough."

We had learned our lesson. What the civilians of the United Kingdom dealt with was far beyond the situation handed to the Americans. As Sissy put it, "They [in the U.K.] had only what was needed, but in the U.S. we could also get things we wanted." And that doesn't even include the air raids.

So I want to tell you how last evening we picked the girls up from their grandparents and told them that we were done with U.K. rations. They cheered. They were actually happy to be back on U.S. rations.

And then they told us they were hungry. We all agreed that we wanted cheese. Lots of cheese.

So we went home and had nachos for a bedtime snack.

--Rational Mama

Roasted Garlic

One of my favorite ways to use our homegrown garlic (besides adding it to pesto) is to roast it. But rather than roasting whole heads of garlic, I roast garlic cloves in oil. By roasting them in olive oil you end up with not only roasted garlic, but a good supply of roasted garlic oil, too!

To accomplish this, peel a dozen or more garlic cloves and place them in a shallow, oven-proof dish (I usually use the glass pie plate for this). I then pour enough olive oil in the dish to cover the garlic cloves.Place the dish into a 370 degree oven for 25-30 minutes and you'll end up with a wonderful aroma in your house and this:

Slightly browned and roasted garlic cloves in bubbling oil. Yum!

Place the garlic cloves in a blender or food processor with a few tablespoons of their cooking oil and puree. This puree will keep in the refrigerator for a few weeks, as will the garlic oil.

The roasted garlic puree and roasted garlic oil can be used in recipes requiring either fresh garlic or regular olive oil.

One of my most favorite things to make with roasted garlic and roasted garlic oil is to use them in a feta cheese spread.

Ingredients
6 oz feta cheese (preferably NOT the low-fat variety)
2 TB roasted garlic oil
2 TB roasted garlic puree
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB minced fresh mint leaves (or 1 tsp dried mint leaves)

Puree all items in food processor or blender. A bit more oil can be added if the texture isn't quite creamy enough.
This spread is amazing on bread (regular or toasted), as a pasta topper or as a sandwich spread.

But I never make too many plans for one batch, because it never seems to last long in our house!

--Rational Mama

How to Lose 1 Pound of Fat Per Month

Greetings, readers! Today's topic is that much-hated scourge of middle age: fat. But I'm not talking about a spare tire or love handles. I'm talking about...well...fat! Cooking fat!

In the 1940's it was not unusual for the dutiful housewife to keep reusing her cooking fats until there was nothing but sludgy grit and granules left. Then, down the drain or out with the trash the remaining gloop went. While this may sound especially reasonable during WWII rationing restrictions this practice actually caused a dilemma during the war: the U.S. government needed those fats to extract the glycerin necessary for making bullets and bombs!

Thus, in the middle of all the rationing hype you find plenty of reminders (such as this one from the March 30, 1943 Topeka Daily Capital) for women to not dispose of their waste fats but instead to set aside an amount for Uncle Sam.

With cooking oils being high-point items on the rationing list and consumers inclined to keep the waste fats for their own use (plenty of WWII recipes include a tablespoon of bacon or meat grease in place of shortening and/or oil), how was this campaign ever going to be successful?

In typical American fashion, the answer was bribery! Yes, for one pound of grease per month you could earn an additional two red ration points. Aha! Now we're talking! Civilians could bring their jars or cans of stored waste fats in to their butcher for the bonus two points.
Just by setting aside one tablespoon of waste fats per day the average household would have their one pound donation by the end of the month.

It takes our household much longer to come up with that much waste fat since we do not fry as much food as was typical in the 1940's. In fact, most of our waste fat has come from the two times I've made fried chicken. As such, we have been able to turn in two one-pound containers of fat so far. I don't see that number increasing dramatically as one of the things that rationing has taught me is that I'm absolutely repulsed by shortening. Ugh.

Oh, and one final thought here: anyone who touts U.S. WWII rationing guidelines as a weight-loss scheme isn't being honest with you. While certain things like fats, cheeses, butter and meats were rationed, most grain-based items were not. So, while you might not be allowed your thick-cut steak you can fill that void with crackers, bread, potatoes and a heaping handful of sweets if you portion out your sugar ration just right. Civilian rations in the U.K., however, were quite Spartan and more than one example exists of that type of system leading to weight loss.

In the meantime, I'm happy to stick to our U.S. civilian rations, especially with the prospect of fresh fruits and vegetables just around the corner. Summer will clearly be the golden age of the rationing year.

--Rational Mama

Historic Recipe: Sausage Loaf

This sausage loaf recipe was on the menu last Sunday and I used the recipe available in Joanne Lamb Hayes' Grandma's Wartime Kitchen: World War II and the Way We Cooked.

The description above the recipe states: "This whimsical loaf is reminiscent of the crown roasts of lamb and pork that were almost impossible to get during the war."

Whimsical?

Do I want my food to be whimsical? Why hadn't I noticed that word in the description before I committed to cooking the recipe?

It's actually a very simple recipe. Basically, you line the edges of a loaf pan with the sausages "standing up."


Then you fill the middle with a from-scratch macaroni and cheese concoction and bake the whole thing for around an hour.

After an hour it looks like this:


Whimsical? Yes.

Problem? Yes.

See how nice and browned the little sausage heads look? Crispy and thoroughly cooked? Lovely. The sausage bottoms, however, were limp and undercooked. I had to pull them out of the pan and finish cooking them on the stove top to ensure no food poisoning in the Rational Living household. And I also drained out the sausage grease that was pooling in the bottom of the loaf pan. Eww...

In the end we ate our dinner, but it seemed like too much sausage, or not enough macaroni and cheese. In fact, I pulled out several sausages and placed them in the freezer for some future use - it was just too many, especially considering the recipe called for 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of sausages and I only used 1 1/4 pound.

In all, the recipe seems like a rationing odd-ball - lots of red points and an almost gluttonous amount of protein. Maybe this is a confrontation between modern lower-fat cooking and the reality of 1940's menus?

Either way, I think our household macaroni and cheese will continue to stay sausage free!

--Rational Mama

This Week's Scenarios and Menu

Mr. Bowles' Amazing Marketplace Scenario Randomizer has spoken! Our scenarios for this week are:

Processed Meats - no new purchases available

Coffee - limited availability, only 1/2 the normal purchase amount available

Whew! I am so thankful that cheese and butter were not restricted, since we're saving them up for Sissy's birthday party on the 15th!

We'll be fine with the processed meat we have on hand (leftover pepperoni from last week's purchase) and since we're not big coffee drinkers we're doing quite fine with the 2 pounds I purchased at the beginning of rationing.

We have a few left-over anachronisms in the refrigerator and cupboard that we'll get rid of this week to put us on the up and up. Hence, the tortillas and wonton wrappers mentioned in the menu below:

Saturday: Homemade pizza (pepperoni, olive, onion and pineapple for the girls)
Sunday: Homemade tacos and (canned) corn
Monday: Mushroom and barley soup with fresh-baked bread
Tuesday: Out for Rational Mama's birthday!
Wednesday: Egg puffs and (frozen) mixed vegetables
Thursday: Turkey wontons and (frozen) broccoli
Friday: French toast casserole and (frozen) blueberries


For this week's menu we used 62 of our 64 red points on ground beef for the tacos, canola oil, turkey for the wontons and cheese and butter for Sissy's birthday menu.

We used 125 of our allotted 192 blue/green points on canned pineapple and other fruit, canned corn, spaghetti sauce and beef broth. Mostly, though, our blue/green points were used for frozen produce; we are desparately missing the variety of fresh produce normally available to us. Everyone in the household agrees that this is the hardest part of rationing so far.

I also purchased an additional 2 pounds of sugar.

Tuesday night's dinner out with family will be the first time we've eaten out since at least December 26th. Not a new world record, I know, but a good change. We have a no-rules policy towards eating out during the rationing year, since we will be doing it so rarely. This gives our modern souls a little break and is still in line with the historical example. Early in the rationing period purchases at restaurants were not included, but the government quickly decided that wasn't in the best interest of the general food supply. Folks still ate out in restaurants during the war although selections were often, but not always, limited and ration points were usually recorded.

As for the gasoline ration, last week we used 73 of our allotted 193 miles. Pretty impressive, but the horrible weather we've had has made us more home-bound than usual. I expect that number to increase significantly once warmer weather is the norm.

It will be interesting to see exactly how lunch and dessert for 17 people will work out on the 15th. I've got one more week to prepare and plan and calculate ration points.

Oh, and there's at least two more historical recipe posts on the way! One was nice and comforting, the other was...well...you'll see. If points allow then next week we will try our first SPAM recipe!

--Rational Mama

Rationing Points: Week #1

So, wondering how we did on using our ration points this week? Here's a quick break down !

RED POINTS (Meats, Cheeses, Fats and Oils) -
TOTAL AVAILABLE: 64 pts
Turkey 5 lbs (bone in) - 15 pts
Macaroni and Cheese (2 boxes) - 1 pt
Butter (1 lb) - 16 pts
Canola Oil (32 oz) - 10 pts
Cheddar Cheese (1 lb) - 8 pts
Cream Cheese (8 oz) - 3 pts
Bologna (10 oz) - 3 pts
Bacon (1 lb) - 8 pts
TOTAL USED: 64 pts.

Whew! Barely scraped by, but if we weren't also rationing poultry we would have had much more wiggle room. That bacon was a last minute addition for Wednesday's dinner once I saw that we could afford the points. It's bacon!


BLUE/GREEN POINTS (Canned/Frozen/Dried Produce) -
TOTAL AVAILABLE: 192 pts.
Green Beans (2 cans) - 12 pts
Cream of Mushroom Soup (1 can) - 4 pts
Frozen Snap Peas (1 lb) - 12 pts
Fruit (2 cans) - 32 pts
Spaghetti Sauce (1 can) - 8 pts
Carrots (1 can) - 6 pts
Dried Black Beans (1 lb) - 2 pts
Chicken Broth (5 cans) - 20 pts
Raisins (3/4 lb) - 3 pts
Applesauce (25 oz) - 21 pts
Juice (48 oz) - 9 pts
Spinach (1 can) - 8 pts
TOTAL USED: 137 pts

Hmm...we still have 55 blue/green points to play with...which may come in handy (I'll 'splain later). We're really feeling the lack of fresh produce, especially fruit, since we are subject to seasonal availability just like our WWII civilian counterparts. I did splurge and by some clementines, though.

We also purchased our allotted two pounds of sugar and one adult's five-week coffee rations.

Here's our plans for all these rationed items, plus their non-rationed compadres:
Saturday: Roast turkey with gravy, green bean casserole, and stuffing (using day-old bread that had been stored in the freezer)
Sunday: Turkey and homemade noodle soup with cabbage salad
Monday: Sweet potato and (frozen) butternut squash soup with fresh-baked bread
Tuesday: Baked potatoes with cheese and sour cream and (frozen) snap peas
Wednesday: Pancakes, bacon and canned fruit
Thursday: Spaghetti marinara with carrots
Friday: Black bean soup with corn bread

Lunches this week consist mostly of left-overs, peanut butter and honey sandwiches and non-rationed dried soup mixes. Speaking of soup, the soup on Monday night was not that great. Really. Not good. Orange mush with too much pepper. But we ate it and I rewarded the family by baking our first historically-accurate treat: Lafayette Gingerbread (historical recipes will get their own blog post shortly). And I will fully disclose that we also finished off the last of the ice cream that was hibernating in the freezer since Eowyn's birthday party a few weeks ago. But that is gone now...long gone. Adios. Sigh.

Anyhoo, back to those extra blue/green points...we're getting together with a few friends on New Year's Eve and we need to bring some party noshings, so I imagine we'll be dipping into that surplus, plus providing some baked goods. No traditional little smokies or sweet and sour meatballs or cheese ball. But I also promise to not bring cans of cooked spinach and navy beans, either. I'll let you know what I come up with for that occasion.

Tomorrow night is our first experience with Mr. Bowles' Amazing Marketplace Scenario Randomizer. As challenging as it was to make a menu this week just keeping to basic points my mind already cramps a bit when I think about meal planning with key ingredients either missing or worth more points. Of course, they could also be worth less points...gotta keep the optimism going. Needless to say we'll keep you posted on what restrictions we'll be working with next week!

Be safe - there's a war on, you know!

--Rational Mama

Of Veg and Cheese

There's less than two weeks until rationing begins and I'm starting to feel the crunch of getting prepared. In the midst of the holidays and multiple family birthdays I know in the back of my mind that I've got to get our ducks in a row, so to speak, for December 26th. I've already covered gasoline (and rubber) rations, and sugar, meat and coffee rations. As far as edibles go, that leaves fruits/vegetables and oils/fats and cheeses.

Fresh fruits and vegetables were never rationed during WWII (thank goodness), but the market was very much effected by transportation limitations caused by the war. As a result, most produce was available on a local-level only. So, no Mexican strawberries in February or New Zealand kiwis in...well...ever during the war. In our part of the central plains this means virtually no "exotic" fruits and vegetables and extremely limited amounts of citrus fruits during the rationing year. Banana availability was sporadic, which is how we will handle that particular issue with our younger daughter who, if given her druthers, would consider making bananas half her diet.

U.S. fresh produce production sky-rocketed during the war, both commercially and in private "victory gardens." Victory gardens will be covered (repeatedly) at Rational Living during the growing season, but to get a sense of how much was produced consider this: in 1943 3/5ths of the U.S. population tilled and weeded and harvested in non-commercial gardens, producing over 8 million tons of food that accounted for 40% of the fresh produce consumed that year. Wow. Make no mistake, the pressure will be on for this avid vegetable gardener during the rationing year. We'll be able to supplement our fresh produce through the farmer's market and conventional grocery stores as long as the produce is seasonable. Here's a great list of locally seasonable produce we'll be following during the rationing program.

If we want to eat "outside the chart" then it will have to be either canned, frozen or dried produce. We'll use the green (or blue, depending on the period) points following a system similar to the red point/meat rationing program previously described. For our family of four we'll have 192 green/blue points to use each week (or 768 per month), and we'll be using the same handy-dandy chart as with the red point program. One note: our family is way more reliant on frozen produce than the typical 1940s family. In the 40's having a freezer was a bit of a luxury, hence limited availability of frozen foods and their inherently high point value. Sigh. But make no mistake, I'm willing to pay (the extra points) for that luxury.

The same chart outlines point values for fats/oils and "soft" cheeses - part of the red point ration program which we will have to split with meat purchases. Traditional hard cheeses such as cheddar and mozzarella will be rationed at eight points per pound, per historic example. Of course, there were some lower-point alternatives, such as Velveeta, available - and to be honest, Velveeta will always have a place at the Rational Living household. Fresh milk and (uncreamed) cottage cheese served as readily available un-rationed sources of protein.

One last food for thought (or is that thought for food?): grains were never rationed in the U.S. so we will typically have rice and pasta and plenty of flour for bread, pancakes, etc. That is, unless we experience a sudden shortage via our Marketplace Scenario Randomizer which we'll be using on a weekly basis...but more on that later!

--Rational Mama