Procrastinating

mmmmm

really should just get on with it now, shouldn't I...

Things are moving slowly at the moment, as work and life in general has taken priority. I expect we'll be ready to "go for it" in a week or two though.

In other news, I'm reading "Nella Lasts War" on my daily commute. This amazing book is an edited version of an actual diary kept by housewife Nella Last from September 1939, through the war year and beyond. It was part of the Mass-Observation project. It's a fantastic book and I would recommend it. I believe a tv program "Housewife, 49" has been shown, with Victoria Wood as Nella. I didn't see it, but if the book is something to judge it by it will have been fascinating, and a thought provoking insight into the battle fought on the home front.

Egg Update

It's arrived! I haven't got time to experiment with it until maybe weekend, because we're in the middle of renovating our caravan, but I'm pleased with the service.

Supplier details:

http://www.myprotein.co.uk

Available by the kilogram, or in 100g batches.

The Plan So Far

Ok. I think I'm about there. Apart from waiting for my dried eggs, and having a little experiment with them before the event itself, I have a plan.

Please note: The following plan is for TWO adults for ONE week.

8oz of ham or bacon
8oz of cheese

8oz of margarine
4oz of butter

16oz of sugar
4oz of tea (about 30 teabags), coffee unrationed but less commonly drunk than now.

2 eggs
6 pints of milk
half of a packet of skimmed milk,
half packet of dried eggs

4oz of jam (I have a couple of jars of leftover bramble jam from last autumn, so will include those in my allowance)
6oz of sweets

Bread, not always available, but will allow 1 large loaf for the week.

Vegetables and potatoes were not rationed, am also working on principal that I have a garden and am Digging For Victory… so will allow seasonal veg and herbs

Sausages, game, liver and offal, not rationed, but may be scarce. I will include a rabbit in the weeks rations, and either a little liver or heart. It's the wrong season for duck or venison.

2s/4d worth of meat per week (for 2 adults remember) and for that you could buy -
Shoulder lamb at 1/2per lb.
Minced meat at 10d. per lb.
beef pieces at 1/- per lb.
Breast mutton at 8d. per lb.

I will have to see what is available when I do the experiment, but initially suspect I will invest in a pound of mince at 10d, leaving me 1/6.

Store Cupboard
I will allow myself to have the following in the pantry.
1 pkt oats
1 pkt dried peas
1 pkt dried butter beans
1 pkt dried fruit
flour
baking soda
salt & pepper
1 pkt cornflakes (Him Indoors will miss his Frosties ! )

All stock will be homemade.

I am going to make a cake or some scones or something for the week. I'll let you know which one I decide on. I'll have to remove the ingredients from my weekly allowance. I think it will be a good "dried egg" experiment.

Dried Eggs

I remember seeing dried eggs on a supermarket shelf (in the baking section) a few years ago, so I thought I'd go for a hunt this weekend.

Not a thing!

Off to the internet I toddled....

The first thing I discovered is that dried egg is used in fishing bait. The problem with buying from bait shops seemed to be that they sold in kilograms, a tad more than I need, and I really don't fancy buying something that is destined to be fishing bait.

My next stop was bodybuilding... and I found somewhere that sells whole egg powder in 100g batches. It was a bit of a search, because lots of places just sell powdered egg white, or powdered egg yolk. Anyway, I've got an order in for 100g, the equvilent to 8 whole eggs, which should be plenty for my experiment.

I have since found an ebay seller that does powdered egg for baking, but their 250g is more than I needed, and slightly more expensive than the bodybuilding place.

If my transaction goes smoothly, I'll post up a link to the online shop.

RULES FOR USING DRIED EGSS :-

Store in a cool dry place and
replace the lid of the tin after.
To turn a dried egg into a fresh one,
mix one level tablespoon of the power with two tablespoon of water, this mixture
equals one fresh egg.
Now treat the egg as you would a fresh one. Don’t
make up more egg then is necessary. Beat as usual before adding to other
ingredients

What's it all about?

I actually started working on the background for this experiment a fortnight ago, but as there is quite a bit of interest in my project, I thought I'd set up a blog dedicated to it.



I've always been interested in WW2.

I grew up with stories of my dad (Royal Engineers) in North Africa, Palestine, Italy, my Uncle (Royal Artillery) in France and Germany, and of course my Mum, at home, digging for Victory.

A combination of things have conspired to make me come up with this idea.

1. Food price/wasteage.

I've had many a rant in recent times about how people seem able to waste so much food, at the prices we have. The news recently gave an astonishing figure for food wasteage in Britain.

I had to physically restrain myself last weekend when I saw a friend throw half a perfectly fresh cabbage in the bin, because there was only a bit needed for his fancy "Jamie Oliver" mash. (I think Jamie would have had a fit at the binning of the cabbage too)

2.I have just got Foyles War Series 2 on DVD for my Birthday :) (yippee)

This has been a great series, and rewatching it I got to thinking about food, or the lack of it, again. Even I, who is very careful about wasting food, am wasteful in comparison to the frugality of the Second World War. So I came to a decision about a little project I wanted to try.

I have unilaterally decided, and "him indoors" will have to live with it, that we are going to have a week surviving on WW2 rations. I think I'll go for the rations set in 1942, which was the height of rationing.

I'm in the process of gathering all the information I need, and hunting for obscure things like "dried, reconstituted egg".

Useful reading so far has been "We'll Eat Again", a cracking book I actually bought for my mum years ago, and inherited when we were sorting out her estate. Also some weblinks I've got from some friendly WW2 reenactors online.


Earlier this week, I made veg stock with veg peelings. It's worked very well. I usually compost the bits of veg I cut off/peel, so this was my first attempt at using all the "scraggy" bits for stock. Of course I have the huge advantage that I can freeze it! I'm not going to use 1940s technology, just the rations. :^)

Well, I think that's all for now. I'll post again soon.