During the war, there were many shortages of essential foodstuffs, not just luxuries. Many imported goods such as tea, bananas, oranges, and grapes were in short supply. It was to be six or seven years before any of those fruits were seen again. Butter, lard, sweets, cakes, flour and sugar became hard to get too, followed by meat and fish.

Rationing was introduced as a way of ensuring that everybody got a fair share of what was available, and to try to prevent stockpiling.

There were different kinds of ration books. The most common was the buff-coloured one. These were issued to adults and school-age children. Green books were issued to expectant mothers as they had extra tokens. The tokens were for food, and later, also for clothing

• Butter or lard: 4 ounces (113.4 grammes)
• Sugar: 12 ounces (340.2 grammes)
• Raw bacon or Ham: 4 ounces (113.4 grammes)
• Eggs x2
• Cooked bacon or Ham: 3.5 ounces (99.3 grammes)

These rations varied as products became scarce. Meat rationing started 11 March, 1940. But it was decided by the government not to ration some goods such as bread, alcohol and tobacco to keep up morale.

Special cookery books with recipes were produced to help people prepare healthy meals with the rations available.

Patches were sewn on the elbows to make jumpers, cardigans and jackets last longer. These became quite fashionable and popular. Special clothing, such as a bridal gown and bridesmaids' dresses, would be passed around a family, to be worn again, rather than using up the precious clothes coupons.