Rations and Health

From Home Notes, May 25th 1918. 

RATIONS AND HEALTH.

Some people talk is if keeping fit on the rations were a very difficult job, but this contributor insists that it's really quite easy if a little common sense is brought to bear on the subject. 

ONCE upon a time a very rich man, worried about his health, went to consult a famous doctor. The doctor's prescription was a very simple one, but I much doubt whether the patient carried it out.  It was, "Live on sixpence a day and earn it!"

People who grumble at the amount allowed them under the rationing system should remember this and take heart.  The great majority of people ate too much rather than too little before the war, and some manage to do so still.  There is absolutely no necessity for anybody's health to suffer, provided a little common sense is used by the housewife when planning out the daily menus —in fact, I believe that many folks are feeling better than they have ever done before under the new régime.

Finding Substitutes. 
Many mothers are finding that the sugar ration doesn't go far with several hungry children about, and worry a great deal because they think that the kiddies must have plenty of sugar if they are to keep fit.  Well, it is a moot point just how necessary sugar is, but in any case children who are particularly fond of it can be given it in other ways.  Carrots, turnips, and beetroot all contain a plentiful supply, and if they are well cooked they are excellent for the little people.

So, of course, are apples, either cooked or raw, but these, alas, are very expensive, as are dates and dried fruits.  If you can get them, though, they are well worth paying for, as the juice can be kept and eaten as a syrup with unsweetened milk puddings or porridge.

Many anaemic people bemoan the milk shortage, and wonder how they are going to exist without their customary pint or quart a day.  These folk, though, really need iron, and as this is not to be found in milk, they can manage quite well without it and should turn their attention to oatmeal porridge and lentils, both excellent articles of diet and still quite moderately cheap.

With a little management the fat ration should be made to do quite well.  Remember to rub the margarine or butter well into the bread — it is much more nourishing this way and goes further.  Let the kiddies have fried bread or bread soaked in bacon fat for their breakfast, it is splendidly nourishing, and will help to save the margarine.

Get Suet Sometimes.
Cocoa-butter is another fat which helps to eke out the rations.  Used as it is for chocolate puddings it is delicious, while clarified it does excellently for frying and many other purposes.

It is well worth while, too, to spend a meat coupon on suet occasionally— suet puddings are very nourishing, and, better still, they’re filling, which is a great thing these days.

And, above all, remember whenever you feel inclined to grumble at the shortages and difficulties of present-day existence, that we are far better off than the German and Austrian people have been for a very long time, and that civilians can do their bit to win the war by keeping smiling.

[Sugar was an important part of most people's diet at that time, and felt to be essential, especially dfor children.]