Food rationing ended 50 years ago this month, but was it really that tough? MAXINE GORDON finds out by living off rations for a week.

WHEN I studied the list of an adult's weekly rations, I felt my stomach shrink. I'm sure I had eaten most of the weekly entitlement in the jumbo cheese and ham sandwich I'd just had for lunch. How on earth would I make so little last so long?

But a browse on the internet buoyed me up when I realised I could supplement my rations with seasonal fruit and veg, plus bread.

In the 1940s and 1950s, people were encouraged to grow their own veg in allotments or their back yards. So I allowed myself to stock up with seasonal veg such as potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, radish, tomatoes, beetroots as well as strawberries and raspberries.

A rations-era store cupboard would have contained the likes of flour, cornflour, baking powder, Oxo and salt. Goods such as Golden Syrup, Corned Beef and tinned fish, pulses and dried beans would be found there too, so I afforded myself these as well.

Invaluable was Marguerite Patten's cook book full of wartime recipes, We'll Eat Again (republished by Hamlyn Food & Drink this year). Among some of the recipes I tried were Syrup Loaf (made with flour and Golden Syrup and without egg or fat), Beetroot Cake (with flour, beetroot, sugar and a teaspoon of fat), potato cakes, oat cakes and Corned Beef hash.

Here's my food diary for the week...

DAY 1

Breakfast: Toast and jam and cup of tea made with one spoonful of loose tea in the teapot.

Lunch: Lentil and vegetable soup with bread. Strawberries. Slice of Syrup Loaf (which was almost flat, but surprisingly edible). Tea.

Dinner: Minced beef with potatoes and onions in gravy and peas. More strawberries. More tea.

Snacks: Raw carrot. Piece of chocolate.

Verdict: I've had a lot to eat, but feel miserable. Keep thinking about all the things I can't have: crisps, biscuits, caffe latte...

DAY 2

Breakfast: Toast, jam and tea.

Lunch: Carrot-top salad, featuring warm potatoes with lettuce, radish, grated carrot and tinned sardines. Beetroot on the side. Delicious and filling.

Dinner: Cold vegetable pasty made from mashed potatoes and flour and filled with carrot, potato and beetroot. Bit stodgy. Have warm beetroot cake with custard made from egg powder. More stodge. The custard tastes like icing sugar mixed with water and flour. Yuck!

Snacks: Home-made oat cakes.

Verdict: Dinner was made worse by watching my other half tuck into cod and parsley sauce and a few glasses of wine. Have two-hour bath to take my mind off it all followed by toast and honey with a cuppa.

DAY 3

Breakfast: I hate porridge, but force myself to eat some. Sorry, but two spoonfuls are enough to confirm my dislike. Toast two potato cakes instead and have an oat cake, which is now stale. Grim.

Lunch: Carrot, potato and cauliflower soup with sandwich filled with cucumber and cress. Tasty and filling.

Dinner: Baked potato and salad.

Snacks: Strawberries, chocolate.

Verdict: Feel I have more energy. Still crave caffe latte.

DAY 4

Breakfast: Toast and honey and tea.

Lunch: At neighbour's, who gets in the spirit and makes soup with lettuce and mint from her allotment, followed by raspberries. We tuck into the beetroot cake, which tastes better today.

Dinner: Stovies: onions and potatoes in gravy with a chopped sausage and boiled cabbage. Meat again! Delicious! Bowl of strawberries and raspberries. Savoured it all.

Snacks: Half slice of toast with tiny piece of melted cheese. Sends my tastebuds into a frenzy. Small piece of chocolate.

Verdict: Most of my cravings have gone as has that after-dinner sluggish feeling.

DAY 5

Breakfast: Toast, honey and tea.

Lunch: Two rashers of bacon on brown bread with fried tomatoes. Sensational.

Dinner: Baked potato with salad.

Snacks: Strawberries, slice of Syrup Loaf.

Verdict: My husband and daughter have melon after dinner and I have to leave the room to stop my mouth watering. Missing fruit and yoghurt.

DAY 6

Breakfast: Toast, jam and tea.

Lunch: Sandwich with grated cheese, ham, cucumber and cress.

Dinner: Minestrone soup and bread.

Snacks: Strawberries, cherries, carrot and celery sticks.

Verdict: Felt hungry at bedtime. But just one day to go.

DAY 7

Breakfast: Bread and jam, tea.

Lunch: Baked potato and salad.

Dinner: Corned beef hash. Crack open my one egg and make pancakes.

Snacks: Strawberries.

Verdict: I've survived. Feel full of energy, despite fighting off a cold, and have lost 3lbs in weight. Could this be the new diet revolution?

I did find living off rations a real challenge, and monotonous - and that was for only seven days. I can't imagine what it must have been like for 14 years, not to mention coping with the added stresses of war, including air raids and the uncertainty of loved ones far from home.

To all our readers who did, I take my apron off to you.

Do you remember life on rations? Send in your stories marked Rations Memories to Maxine Gordon, Features, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN or email maxine.gordon@ycp.co.uk

Updated: 11:12 Saturday, July 17, 2004