1944 diet: Eggs

I promised in yesterday’s post to write about eggs. I had intended this morning to treat myself with my weekly egg for breakfast but have saved it for later in the week.

The ration for an adult in 1944 was one fresh egg per week. Alternatively, one packet of dried egg powder, equivalent to 12 fresh eggs, was allowed per month. Thus, by foregoing the luxury of an actual egg (boiled, poached or fried), one could enjoy three eggs a week scrambled or otherwise used in cookery. I have ordered a pack of dried egg.

I have used the dried egg before, starting with a weekend camping at the “We Have Ways” ¹ festival in 2021, where I lived on grub available in the 1940s.

However, this morning I breakfasted on one cup of tea using one of my 22 teabags available for the week and a bowl of muesli from the larder. The muesli is largely oat based, and as far as I can discover oats were not rationed. This would explain the prodigious amounts of porridge I was served as a child. When the muesli is finished it will be replaced by porridge oats. During transition I am using up current stocks of more modern foods.

The milk in the tea and the cereal used 4% of my weekly ration. The teabag will probably serve for a second cuppa shortly.

For lunch I am planning a jacket potato (off ration), with the meat extracted from half a pork pie found in the fridge. The meat is an extravagance because it represents 19% of my weekly allowance, but it needs to be used. This evening I will forego meat to compensate.

Note 1. This is a weekend of immersion in the Second World War, with lectures, demonstrations and preserved vehicles, organised by Al Murray and James Holland as an offshoot of their podcast “We Have Ways of Making You Talk”.