On the 8 January 1940, Britain's wartime government introduced rationing of bacon, butter and sugar. This was soon followed by meat, canned fruit, milk, eggs, cheese, breakfast cereals, tea, preserves, sweets and biscuits, and also other commodities like clothing and petrol.

Rationing was a response to the difficulties of importing goods during the war, induced by the campaign by Germany to blockade Britain and effectively starve the country into submission. The effects of the war meant that rationing actually continued for some years after the fighting had ceased. Rationing was gradually phased out during the 1950s, with all food rationing coming to an end in 1954 (though it was briefly reintroduced in 1956-1957).

The legacy of rationing was not all bad however. Several recipes were revived or invented during World War Two in response to the lack of usual ingredients, and remain popular to this day – apple crumble and carrot cake being notable examples.

There are numerous examples of ration books in our collections. The documents shown here come from the personal papers of the Burden and Young families (refs: D.1052 and D.509), and date from the 1940s and 1950s. They include ration books for food, clothing and petrol.