I Read Books: Good Housekeeping's Book Of Thrifty Wartime Recipes

Good Housekeeping’s Book Of Thrifty Wartime Recipes Approved By The Ministry Of Food

A 1942 publication, this copy belonged to my Grandmother, (her name in her handwriting is on the cover). There are a lot of vegetables (not rationed), ways of making meat (rationed) go further, soups, fish (not rationed), game (?? but as a source that doesn’t need to be imported presumably being exploited), offal (not rationed). Spices are used, sometimes sparingly, sometimes more liberally, presumably to alleviate the monotony of wartime menus.

Some of the ingredients are not as easily available as they used to be, an amusing situation. With the rise of supermarkets you need to track down a fairly serious butcher to get 2 pigs feet (for the very first recipe, Cottage Soup), and rabbit is fairly specialised, making the liberal use of rabbit stock a rarity. A lot of dishes have their frying done in dripping, which you can buy, but here presumably comes from cooking fatty meat earlier in the week.

The recipes are perfectly feasible, though without temperature guides (the ovens of the time did not have them as a rule). Some might not be palatable – Spaghetti Ring With Fish Filling looks unpleasant. Sadly Lord Woolton’s Pie, perhaps the most famous of wartime dishes, does not appear.

Read This: For a period cook book from a time still within living memory
Don’t Read This: To use as a regular everyday cookbook
I Understand This Is Still In Copyright But Out Of Print: So if you want to know more let me know