what was rationing in the second world war?

Question

for food & clothing

Answer 1

not only food and clothing, but everything.
all production was converted for military use, and all resources were diverted for the same purpose. Milions of tons of supplies were lost in transit (eg the U-boat war) or used to feed, clothe and arm allied forces (eg Chinese troops, Russians, etc)
which means that civilians had to do without these items. to make things fair, each person was allotted a certain amount of goods and food. that is rationing.
same scheme in Nazi occupied lands and in the USSR- but far more drastic

Answer 2

This is what it meant in the UK, for example. It varied from country to country, but this one's a good illustration. You can find other facts at
http://www.timewitnesses.org

During the war, and also for several years afterwards, there were many food shortages. People were only allowed so much of some particularly scarce foods. This was partly because it made things fairer for everyone, but it was also because the rationing was a lot better for us.

Every member of every family would have had a ration book and it gave precise details of the amounts of certain types of food that you were allowed during one week


All schoolchildren had to have a weekly dose of VIROL, a sweet and sticky extract of malt, in order to make sure they got the proper ration of vitamins; (and you weren't allowed much time to suck the spoon to get all the sticky off it!)

Answer 3

Nylon & silk were rationed in the USA so that those materials could be made into parachutes for the troops.
Without nylons, some women would draw a line on the back of each leg to make it look like they were wearing them.
For some "unnecessary" items like sugar, there were booklets in the USA much like the recent food stamps. When all of the pages were used, that family had to do without what they had used up their coupons for.

Answer 4

Food, Gasoline, Metal, Automobiles were rationed during World War II. People were issued rationing stamps and they could only buy those items if they had rationing stamps.

Answer 5

In Britain and Canada, food was rationed. Families were given books in Britain from which coupons could be clipped. The same for clothing. You can get books in your local library in Britain and probably in Canada too that will give you all the details.

Answer 6

My mother and father told me that butter and meat were rationed during the war years (WWII). Americans went hungry to help feed the troops. Meatless Tuesdays. Also there were metal drives were families donated all their pots & pans and iron skillets. They also had 'Victory Gardens' were families grew tomatoes and other vegetables on roofs and backyards to feed themselves.
History has shown the Soviets to be the biggest monsters in the 20th century.

My mother said she went without butter for three years because they sent all the butter to the Soviet Union because they were fighting the Nazis. She was so angry when newsreel footage showed the Soviet Troops greasing their boots with butter instead of eating it.

Answer 7

Clothing was not rationed, there just wasn't a whole lot of it. Food, gasoline, tires, soap, I can't remember what else was rationed.

Answer 8

they mostly rationed food and gas I saw a picture of a poster from the 40's it said if you ride alone you ride with hitler at one point they made it illegal for a person to ride alone you had to car pool

Answer 9

Things like meat, sugar, butter, rubber, gas, all to be given to the war effort

Answer 10

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