Advent Calendar Day 16: Christmas on Rations
The ad by the Ministry of Food suggested various Christmas recipes using the available ingredients.
The 1944 Christmas edition of Radio Times magazine included the usual Food Facts ad by the Ministry of Food about how to make the best out of what was available at the time to make "Christmas Fancies."
More advice was available on radio thanks to The Kitchen Front, a daily programme devised by the BBC and the Ministry of Food to "talk about what to eat and where to get it" - the idea was to give wartime housewives hints and tips on the best and most resourceful ways of using their rations.
Browsing through the episodes provides a good glimpse into wartime daily life - suggestions on how to make mincemeat without suet, talks from women writers, guest appearances by "men in the kitchen" and, of course, some comedy to take the mind away from it all.
Frederick Grisewood on The Kitchen Front, March 1941.
