How did the common person put food on the table during the World War 2 era?

Answer 1

I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for here, but I will give it a shot. My answers apply to the United States; if you want more post and I'll try that too.

During World War II, people still went to work, earned money, and bought food, or they grew it on the farm. Food came from many different sources then; people visited a grocer, a butcher, and a greengrocer or farm stand. The average grocery store then contained about 2,000 items (by comparison today's grocery stores carry about 50,000 different items).

In the United States, as in most of the rest of the world, certain items were reserved for military use or they were rationed. Non-food items such as rubber, silk, and metals were used for the military (since bathtubs were at the time made of cast iron with a porcelain coating, you couldn't buy a bathtub during the war). Food items including sugar, meat, butter, fats, some cheeses, and lots of processed and frozen foods were covered by stamp books of various types and colors.

People were also encouraged to grow "victory gardens." This was so that various foods would be more readily available to the troops at the front and later for refugee assistance.

Answer 2

In the UK everyone was issued a Ration book where they could go and get set amounts of food per week and their book was stamped. Rationing stayed in force in the UK till quite a few years after the war.

To supplement this people grew their own food in their gardens.

Answer 3

Most food was rationed and prices were controlled although there was a thriving black market for the rich.

Answer 4

everything was 10 times cheaper and the black market where they bought stuff illegally used everything they had sparingly too