8 January 1940: food rationing is introduced in Britain

On this day in 1940, the Ministry of Food introduced rationing in the UK to ensure there was enough food to go round during the war.

When Britain entered the Second World War in 1939 it relied on the rest of the world for a large proportion of its food – 20 million tons of food a year was imported. With almost a fifth of our meat, a quarter of our butter and half our cheese imports coming from New Zealand, for instance, there was clearly great potential for the enemy to cut Britain's food lines and starve the country into submission.

Fruit and vegetables, however, were never rationed. Instead, the government's "Dig for Victory" campaign urged citizens to turn over their gardens and allotments to growing food, while many public parks were also planted with fruit and veg. Fish was also not rationed, but given the perils of catching it, it nonetheless remained in short supply. Vegetarians had their meat allowance substituted with extra cheese and eggs, while those who didn't eat ham or pork for religious reasons could also receive substitutes. It wasn't just at home that the menu was limited. Meals in restaurants were restricted to a maximum of three courses, only one of which could contain meat, fish or poultry. The maximum cost of a meal out was set at five shillings.

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Once the war ended, rationing continued well into peacetime. Indeed, in 1946, bread, which had come off ration during the war, was re-rationed because of a poor harvest. And the long, hard winter of 1946-1947 resulted in potatoes being rationed too. Six years after the end of the war, the issue of rationing was central to the 1950 general election. The Labour government wanted to extend it, while the Conservatives ran an "anti-austerity" campaign. Labour won, but only by a narrow margin, and its majority fell from 180 seats to just 35. In the election of 1951, the Conservatives were returned to power (despite gaining a smaller proportion of the popular vote).

Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.


Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 


As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.