Dig for Victory

If governments really cared for their people they would be using their resources to put together a modern day “Dig for Victory” campaign…

During WWII public information films encouraged individuals and communities to be ingenious, creative and to take responsibility in growing extra food for the table to balance food shortages.

The “Dig for Victory” campaign was launched in 1939 by the British government. Before the war Britain imported 55 million tons of food annually (over 2/3rds) . During the war that reduced to only 1/3rd and the dig for victory campaign helped alleviate some of the vegetable and fruit shortages.

People were encouraged to use any spare land like gardens, Anderson shelter roofs, parks etc to create productive wartime gardens that would be able to put food on the table for their families, most of the year.

The “Victory Garden” and the “Dig for Victory” campaign provides a model for todays society. 70 years ago, victory gardening was setting an example promoting recycling and sustainable land management (using companion planting, growing plants side by side to repel or attract insects) and fresh seasonal local produce straight from the earth (no air miles) high in nutritional value.

It’s time to return….

C xxxx

Will eating a diet based on wartime rations save you money?

I took a look at my pre-1940s diet… I was not only shocked to see how many calories I was consuming as well as the high fat content but also the amount of processed foods too. As if that wasn’t enough I couldn’t believe that I was spending over $15 a day on food JUST FOR ME!  I struggle financially like any other single Mom out there with children at home and one wage coming in, so my budget is a very important part of me being able to get by. When I made changes to the way I ate it not only helped me to lose weight and feel a lot healthier but there is now more money in my purse which helps pay the bills… on average I am nearly $10 better off per day which is a $5000 saving per year and over half my food is now organic and mostly wholefoods…

This summer I will strive to finally plant my Victory Garden – how awesome would it be to pick homegrown fresh organic vegetables on my way to work every morning…

My average day before the 1940s Experiment =  $15.75 (3600 cals)

Breakfast: 3 slices toast with butter and some slices of cheese $1.00 (700 cals)

Snack: Extra large coffee from Tim Hortons with double cream $1.75 (100 cals)

Lunch: Buy a packet of sandwiches- tuna and mayonnaise $3.50 (500 cals)

Snack: Extra large coffee from Tim Hortons + small bag of chips + chocolate bars $4.00 (700 cals)

Dinner: Large beef lasagna with extra cheese + a salad with dressing $4.00 (1200 cals)

Supper: Milk and cookies x 4 $1.50 (400 cals)

My average day during the 1940s Experiment =  $6.00 (2025 cals)

Breakfast: 1 dry cup of organic oatmeal 25 c (300 cals)

Snack: Piece of organic fruit and a few raw organic nuts if available 75c (150 cals)

Lunch: Large semi-organic salad with leaf greens + various raw veggies and some organic kidney beans + a baked potato $2.00 (500 cals)

Snack: Piece of organic fruit 50 c (75 cals)

Dinner: A veggie based meal from wartime recipe book or a veggie stew inc a little pastry or potatoes or rice $1.50 (600 cals)

Supper: Glass of almond milk and a couple of slices of toast with a vegan organic margarine and marmite $1.00 (400 cals)

How do you economize?

C xxxx

My favourite wartime recipes revisited- pt 1

I’ve had lots of recent comments left or sent regarding the wartime recipes so far re-created during the 1940s Experiment. Many people have expressed delight in finding out that wartime food was actually rather yummy! Here are some of my favourite ones I have re-created to date

 

Wartime Vegetable Turnovers: I am not sure whether there was a typo in the cook book for this one- it said serves 4 so I made 4 veggie turnovers out of the ingredients …they were each the size of 1/2 a dinner plate! BUT if Marguerite Patten tells me it feeds 4 then I will eat a whole one… click for recipe 

Wartime Pumpkin Soup: ALWAYS make pumpkin soup with the smaller, non carving variety! I had stocked up on some honey crisp apples (for pies) and some sugar pie pumpkins and butternut squash for soups from www.indiangardenfarms.ca  The pumpkin soup I made today nearly stopped me following through with our thanksgiving meal it was so delicious.. click for recipe

Glory Buns: This is a recipe for simple currant spiced buns that turned out so absolutely tasty and yummy and easy to make that I simply called them GLORIOUS.. They are not only economical but taste sooo good! …click for recipe

C xxxx

1940s Experiment on Facebook

Are you on Facebook?

Are you interested in the home front during WWII especially the recipes and living frugally? Are you trying to lose weight or are you trying out some of the recipes?

If so, please sign up on the 1940s Experiment Facebook page for a good old fashioned gossip!

Look forward to chatting

C xxx

See this smile…

Monday has been such a good day that I may just need pinching..

My weekly weigh-in showed a 4 lb weight-loss which means on my home scales I now weigh 259 lbs (18 st 5 lbs).

Hell thats 40 lbs in the last 3.5 months, 56 lbs from the weight I started this blog at and down 86 lbs from my heaviest weight ever. Do you know how good that feels? It feels so good I want to cry pathetically …

And then as if that wasn’t enough good news in one day, I had a terribly exciting e-mail to do with my blog which at the moment I just cannot share for fear of jinxing this little ember that could ignite or could just simply fizzle out. But getting the e-mail was enough to bring smiles and some hope to this little Green Cottage full of Hobbits in the woods…

C xxxxxxxxxx

Eggless Pancakes

Being vegan and immersing myself in the 1940s Experiment (to live on wartime rations for 1 year, recreate 100 authentic recipes and lose 100 lbs) is not without it’s challenges. Tonight I will recreate a 1940s recipe with meat in for my youngest daughter (Em) but I won’t be able to taste it… instead I will smell it and closely observe my youngest Hobbits face as she takes the first mouthful. Hopefully there will be no wrinkled up noses or horrified expressions..

But the real challenge is finding or adapting recipes from the 1940s to suit my new vegan lifestyle. Luckily many of the authentic recipes I am finding were eggless or meatless..

For lunch today I made 4 very tasty eggless pancakes and both Em and I gobbled them down. I totally recommend you try these!

• 4 tablespoons of flour (UK)- 5 tbls (US) – 60 ml (Europe)
• pinch of sugar and salt
• milk and water to bind (vegans use almond milk)
• lard or dripping to fry (vegans use Earth Balance shortening)

Method

1. Mix the flour with the salt and sugar and add the water/milk to make a nice thick batter
2. Heat the lard/dripping until smoking hot in the pan then lower the heat a little
3. Pour in 1/4 of the mixture to make a medium sized pancake
4. Cook until browned and then turn over and repeat
5. Eat with jam, golden syrup or lemon juice (if being authentic)

Makes 4 pancakes

 

PS If you have a Kindle you can now take out a subscription for the 1940s Experiment on Amazon. This means the latest postings including all the photos etc are delivered automatically, as soon as they are available, to your Kindle, ready for you to read. Click here..

A message that will keep me going..

I went out last night. It was the first proper sit down meal and dance I’d been to for many, many years… to mark the occasion I wore a skirt (apart from when I’ve dressed as a pirate I haven’t worn a skirt for 15 years).

The Best Western Plus served an awesome meal. My meat eating colleagues had plates laden with their festive main course (it was a late Christmas party) and the chef had prepared a separate vegan dish for me….pasta and fresh vegetables in a thin curry/fresh herb sauce (not exactly 1940s but it would not have been fair to send that challenge to the kitchen- I’m not that evil!!). It was moist-makingly delicious …

The conversation for two hours over dinner was such fun.

But then I came home, and that insidious thing called loneliness crept up on me. I wished there was someone who would put their arm around me and listen to my stories. That can be difficult..

But this morning I found this in my inbox…it had come from a far and distant land…

“At the innermost core of all loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one’s lost self.”

- Brendan Francis Behan

“Aren’t you mid way through that journey Carolyn?  Getting the old you back”…?

It resonated with me… and in one simple moment turned around the self-destructive thoughts. It is amazing how a few words of wisdom and the kindliness of one single person can make such a difference.

Today I bake…

Keeping motivated…

345 lbs - my heaviest

I have never been so determined as I am right now to lose this hundred pounds…

As anyone who has struggled with their weight knows, especially if it is a significant amount, the struggle and the task to complete, can sometimes become overwhelming. I get moments like these…… moments when I am so very scared that I’ll wake up and that will be the day I no longer have that fire inside me that keeps me striding towards my goal.

If you have already lost weight, old photos can provide the necessary wake-up call to shock your wavering commitment into behaving itself.

I have some photos that are extremely painful to look at not because I hardly recognize the face looking back at me but because I remember the emotions that were part of my daily existence at this time. When your eating is out of control you really don’t like yourself very much.

Today I’m over 80 lbs less than I was at my heaviest weight ever and I’m beginning to like myself a little bit….

How do you keep motivated?

C xxxxxxxxxxx

312 lbs, 299 lbs and 280 lbs (work scales fully clothed)

The 1940s Experiment – Kindle Edition

This is kind of exciting! The 1940s Experiment blog is now a “Kindle Blog” and can now be downloaded through Amazon.com. The 1940s Experiment Blog app is just 99c and ensures that all the latest updates come to your Kindle.

Gotta love technology whatever century it happens to be in!

Click here for the Kindle Edition of the 1940s Experiment

C xxxx

Where there’s a woman there’s a way…

It was my birthday last Sunday….I was 46. I’m kinda noticing the obvious signs of aging and thinking ‘why does life pass by so quickly?’..it’s rather scary don’t you think?

I was very lucky on my birthday. I got an iPod touch from a wonderful, special friend who I totally adore, some money from my parents and simply delightful 1940s gifts from my husbands (we have been separated for 3 years and he lives with a lovely lady called Deborah) parents Dorothy and Simon..

The gifts included tea bags from the UK (yay!), a gorgeous card, some dollars, a ration book coaster and an amazing tea-towel with a 1940s poster image that says “where there’s a woman there’s a way…”

And today I am thinking about those women on the Home Front during WWII who kept their families cared for and bravely “kept calm and carried on” , the Land Army Girls who supplied extra manual labour on our farms to ensure the population continued to be fed and that farms could remain productive, the women who took over from the men and learned skills and trades to fill those gaps in the work force ensuring that the economy thrived as best as it could.

So here’s to women god bless ‘em. If there is a way a woman will find it…

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PS Jan left this comment which I wasn’t aware of… thanks Jan

“And please don’t forget the women who had to carry on looking after the family when the bread winner lost his life for the cause. There was no family allowance in those days. The only money they were entittled to was a small widows pension. I’ll drink to these brave women any day….”