Pigs of World War 2

This was the official way to feed a pig!!

Rationing was pretty dire during  and for a time after the war, as a youngster I was unaware of a lot of it. Though I do remember that 64 Smarties was a weeks sweet ration but Horlicks and Ovaltine tablets weren’t subject to rationing so I always had a packet handy. The amount of butter I put on a slice of toast now a days would have been a weeks ration back then but I believe it is a fact that we were a lot healthier in those days.

Naturally as a family we had to eeck out our rations in any way we could and there was a strong black market for ration coupons for everything. One of the legal ways neighbours could help out the meat ration was to club together and buy a pig give it to a friendly farmer to look after and send all the scraps of food you had to feed it. Then in due course it would be slaughtered and divided up amongest all the contributors.

One of the good things about the war was it brought communities together, people were less selfish and helped each other. Sadly that state of affairs only lasted until Margret Thatcher brought in the monetarism.