The Victory Home: 
Food--Rationing

Poster image is courtesy of the Northwestern University Library poster database .

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Updated 11/12/04.
Page created by Midge Coates
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“Token, Token, Who Has a Token?”

Grocery Shopping, the Wartime Pastime
 

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Photos

These photos are in the collection of the Museum of Tolerance .

Rationing
 

These photos are in the National Archives ARC Digital Copies collection.

Mrs. Catherine Herbster budgets herself carefully. She buys those vegetables and foods which are plentiful and cheap.

Facts the younger generation of marketers should know are taught this class in the Murch Elementary School, Washington, D.C. Catherine M. Rooney, 6th grade teacher instructs her alert pupils on the way and how of War Ration Book Two.

Never too young to learn, these future homemakers receive first-hand experience in looking for point values as well as prices and information on labels when buying canned and bottled foods with War Ration Book Two.

A customer can use the ration books of the whole family. But the first thing she will want to know when she buys pork chops, pond of butter or a half pound of cheese is--"How many points will it take?"

When the customer wants to have a cut of meat specially prepared, points must be given for the full cut as it is listed on the Point Table before it is boned, trimmed or ground.

"To learn how to shop with point stamps, these youngsters in a Fairfax County, Virginia, grade school have set up a play store, complete with point value table and informational material on point rationing.".

"An eager school boy gets his first experience in using War Ration Book Two. With many parents engaged in war work, children are being taught the facts of point rationing for helping out in family marketing." Alfred Palmer, February 1943.
 

These photos are found at various sites on the World Wide Web.

Horse meat exempt

Food ration book, 1

Food ration book, 2

Food ration book, 3

Ration book/stamps, 1

Ration book/stamps, 2

Ration book/stamps, 3

Ration book/stamps, 4

Ration book/stamps, 5

Ration book/stamps, 6

Ration token
 

These photos are in the American Memory collection, America from the Great Depression to World War II:  Photographs from the FSA/OWI, 1935-1945 . Click on the small image to see a larger one.

Detroit, MI. Filling out rationing blanks.
Photo 1 , 2

Madison, WI. University of Wisconsin students waiting in line to register for ration book number two.
Photo 1 , 2

Madison, WI. University of Wisconsin students registering for ration book number two.
Photo 1 , 2 , 3 , 4

Washington, D.C. Customers getting out their sugar ration cards in the Giant Food shopping center on Wisconsin Avenue.

Residents of one of Washington's best residential sections apply for sugar ration cards at Adams School.

Washington, D.C. Waiting in line at lunch hour to register for the second ration book at a public school on the corner of Tenth and F Streets.
Photo 1 , 2

Washington, D.C. Registering for the second ration book at a public school on the corner of Tenth and F Streets.

Washington, D.C. High school students helping to issue number four ration books at Woodrow Wilson High School.

Apparently prosperous gentleman gives his name and address to school teacher who fills out his ration card--one pound every two weeks.

Washington, D.C. Explaining point rationing to a registrant for the second ration book at a public school on the corner of Tenth and F Streets.

Escambia Farms, FL. Farmers came in from all directions to get their sugar ration cards for canning.

Escambia Farms, FL. Mrs. McLelland talks over her canning problem with a FSA (Farm Security Administration) representative at the sugar ration board.

Escambia Farms, FL. A Florida "cracker" tries to "argue it out" with the sugar ration board.

Taos, NM. First week of wartime food rationing.
Photo 1 , 2 , 3

Buffalo, NY. At the wedding of Cedelia Wrazen and Bronislaus Nowak, who are of Polish descent. They are employed at Ross Heater, makers of condensers for the Navy. He is temporarily deferred from the Army due to essential work. They apologized for the smallness of the wedding, blamed it on rationing of food, talked of how their parents' weddings had lasted for four days of feasting.

Buffalo, NY. Beverly Ann Grimm, eleven, leaving the store after making the family purchases from a list left that morning by her twenty-six year old widowed mother who is a crane operator at Pratt and Letchworth. Here she submits ration coupons to the grocer for what she has purchased.

Washington, D.C. By constructing three partitions in a cheese box this retailer has made a simple container for red stamps, which must be surrendered by customers under the point rationing system.

Washington, D.C. Blue and red point stamps are kept in cheese boxes containing paper cups. Mason jars are used for sugar and coffee stamps, which must be surrendered by customers under the point rationing system.

Washington, D.C. These metal and glass containers are commercially made. One is used for blue stamps, the other for red stamps which must be surrendered by customers under the point rationing system.

Washington, D.C. This grocer used paper bags for each denomination for his stamps, which must be surrendered by customers under the point rationing system.

Washington, D.C. Victory food special.

Washington, D.C. Children with rabbits which were formerly kept as pets, but now are being raised for food.
 

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Posters

These posters are in the Northwestern University Library collection.  Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image.

Share the meat

Do with less

Fair share for all

Your share

Our food is fighting

Sugar is scarce
 

This poster is in the National Archives ARC Digital Copies collection.

"How to Shop With Ration Book Two"
 

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Pamphlets

The pamphlets I had in this section are no longer available, but I'm looking for replacements.

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Video

You'll need to download the RealPlayer (the free "basic" version is in the upper corner on the far right) or the QuickTime software to view this video material.

These videos are in the collection of Internet Moving Pictures Archive (at archive.org). To view, under "Stream", click "Real" for the RealPlayer version or "QT" for the QuickTime version.

Wartime Nutrition
(This movie showed people why they were rationing at home. Only half of this video is online.)

Food for Fighters

White Ammunition (only the QuickTime version is available)

Making Ends Meet (only the QuickTime version is available)

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