Prepping nothing new - even THIS side of the pond!

hoggie · #1 07/08/10, 04:17 PM

It has been said many times that prepping is just living as our (particularly for Americans) ancestors did. That in earlier times people always had a full pantry/root cellar etc etc etc.

I have always felt somehow that this must be true here too, but you never hear anything about it. People coped somehow, but there was never talk about fll larders etc.

And then I heard this. It is an extract from one of my DD's "Famous Five" (children's adventure) books. The children in the story are trying to find a way to run away from the housekeeper who is supposed to be looking after them but is in fact using the job as cover for a kidnapping. They are discussing their plans........

""If we go for a week or ten days, we must take plenty of stores," said Julian.

"The thing is - can we possibly find food enough for so long? Even if we entirely empty the larder I doubt if that would be enough for a week or so. We all seem such hungry people, somehow."

'Julian,' said George, suddenly remembering something, "I know what we'll do! Mother has a store-cupboard in her room. She keeps dozens and dozens of tins of food there, in case we ever get snowed u pin the winter, and can't go to the village"!!!!!!!!

This was written in 1944!! Here in the UK!! Now that isn't to say it was totally commonplace, but it must have at least been in the author's experience to have that storecupboard full of tins (cans).

Somehow this made me feel so happy - it probably sounds a little daft, but this little extract seemed so important to me

hope you guys understand

hoggie

unregistered29228 · #2 07/08/10, 04:45 PM

That is exciting, knowing that the UK also has secret preppers, haha! I wonder if the "dozens and dozens of tins" were wartime rations? I know my grandmother was a young wife during WWII and used to trade her rations with neighbors.

Prickle · #3 07/08/10, 06:34 PM

I just got a couple of cookbooks by Marguerite Patton who is famous in Britain for her wartime ration recipes.

She says in one of the books that women were encouraged to bottle the extras from the garden and that the ladies from the Women's Institute were famous for their perfectly preserved jars of food.

So it must have been if not popular at least somewhat common at one time.

Cyngbaeld · #4 07/08/10, 07:17 PM

http://www.gatewaygardenstrust.org/f...&n2=352&n3=370

Hoggie, you might find this interesting.

Idaho · #5 07/08/10, 08:44 PM

Oh....the Famous Five by Enid Blyton!! I totally forgot about them, used to love their books. Thanks for the memory :-)

texican · #6 07/08/10, 09:23 PM

I imagine everyone in Europe and Asia, that survived WWII's hunger and privations, afterwards started keeping 'more' on hand.

**ladycat** · #7 07/08/10, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoggie

hope you guys understand

hoggie

I DO understand! And it IS exciting.

Hoggie, surely farmwives kept stores in the UK. Harvest time would have been in the fall, so I would think they kept at least enough to last through the winter until the kitchen garden was producing in the springtime.

**ladycat** · #8 07/08/10, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

http://www.gatewaygardenstrust.org/f...&n2=352&n3=370

Hoggie, you might find this interesting.

Fascinating webpage!!

Merit · #9 07/08/10, 10:02 PM

Agreed!!! Absolutely fascinating.

NickieL · #10 07/08/10, 10:09 PM

Well that blows my mind, I had no idea canning and preserving were not a big thing over there??? I thought it was just a way of life, haveing canned stuff in the pantry.

jassytoo · #11 07/09/10, 12:09 AM

My mom was a prepper way back in WW11 in England. She'd been married 2 years and had a new baby the year the war started. War time rations were very small even with a baby. They had a big garden, rabbits, chickens and ducks in their small town backyard. My dad ran a lumber company and he and some other man raised a dozen pigs there every year. They got food scraps from the air bases nearby delivered for free and they had to give half of the pigs to the war effort. My dad got 1/2 a pig which my mom put up. She made head cheese, rendered lard got bacon etc. She also dried fruit, made jam and put up pickles in crocks. I remember she told me about making curtains from a parachute she found and bleaching old camoflage netting for net curtains. Most folks foraged for wild food too. They were very resourceful. They had to be. That went on for several years even after the war. Food was rationed more right after the war than it was while the war was on. I remember that and I wasn't born until the year the war ended. Rationing for some things went on until the early 50s.

hoggie · #12 07/09/10, 10:43 AM

Hi folks. Yes, certainly during the war a lot more people turned to home preserving etc. But interestingly - if I remember correctly Marguerite Patten's job during the war was travelling round the country, teaching people how to cope with their rations, and how to make jam etc (apparently some of the WI ladies were not impressed at beign told they had been doing it "wrong" LOL). So I guess the inference would be that, until then, people hadn't been doing a great deal of home preserving. I am not sure what the regular thing out in the country would have been. My knowledge of the war years comes mostly from my mum who grew up in London and was a child during the war years - her memories of the blitz are funny because it is surprising what a child remembers - but she remembers seeing london burn!! Some thing sweren't rationed until the war ended - bread I believe was one of them

And also from my knowledge of what the islanders went through which was different again - they lived under enemy occupation, had far worse rationing that in the UK, and even producing their own food was limited - they really did have to fall back on survival type stuff. I remember my Dad telling me how, in Jersey, the Germans knew exactly how many pigs were on the island. A license had to be obtained before a pig could be slaughtered. And if a pig died, the German army vet had to see the animal to certify it dead and struck off th elist. So, if a pig died, the vet would come and see it, and oncec he had seen it it would be quicky ferried across country to the next farm where it would be produced again to be declared dead again and so on. This way the farms that took part had a pig that they were free to slaughter on the quiet LOL

But, I digress again, canning is a big mystery over here. You can buy Kilner canning jars, but mostly people use the for dry storage or pickling. I don't know anyone that cans food - everyone tends to freeze it.

Cyngbaeld - thank you, that is a great link. I have bookmarked it for a "proper" look through it later on

But I can see lots of info there to stow in the back of my tiny mind

I think the thing about the war years, is that it took a bunch of people who really weren't preppers - and made them into very resourceful people. Let's face it, if they had been preppers before the war, then things wouldn't have got so short IN the war LOL. Each year I try to do a week, either in May Liberation week, or once I did it in December for Homecoming week but that was a bt too close to Christmas for comfort. And for that week, I measure out what our rations for the week would have been. I don't get it quit eright - some things I follow the CI rations, other stuff which would have been reasonably plentiful I allow us full quantity.

But either way - it is nice to know that at least some people did prepare even if just for being snowed in

**ladycat** · #13 07/09/10, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoggie

in Jersey, the Germans knew exactly how many pigs were on the island. A license had to be obtained before a pig could be slaughtered. And if a pig died, the German army vet had to see the animal to certify it dead and struck off th elist. So, if a pig died, the vet would come and see it, and oncec he had seen it it would be quicky ferried across country to the next farm where it would be produced again to be declared dead again and so on. This way the farms that took part had a pig that they were free to slaughter on the quiet LOL

Wow, that's an interesting piece of trivia!

fetch33 · #14 07/09/10, 11:41 AM

I still have my set of Five books... I received them back in the 70's and was facinated by them.

SLD Farm · #15 07/09/10, 12:32 PM

Great site. Should be read by everyone to understand just how hard it was during that time.

Ann-NWIowa · #16 07/09/10, 01:03 PM

In the USA canning was a way of life in the country and small towns along with root cellaring. The number of food items available in grocery stores wasn't that large until the 1950's and super markets came into being. Before that you had neighborhood stores and there just wasn't all that much available. I was born in 1943 and know until the late 1950's a huge percent of our food was home grown and home canned.

Txsteader · #17 07/09/10, 01:03 PM

The Brits were, back during the war, an amazingly resilient people. I mean, good heavens, the daily bombings, the shortages, everything they had to endure and yet they never seemed to get discouraged. They just kept plodding on, doing what had to be done.

Surfing around the 'net, I'm noticing more & more people blogging about food preservation/storage. Most appear to be in their 20s & 30s and it's heartening to see young people learning how to prepare for hard times, even if that's not their intended goal (most just seem to get a kick out of preserving food, lol). There is a growing movement and a lot of interest in prepping/storage right now. And that's a good thing!!

**ladycat** · #18 07/09/10, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Txsteader

The Brits were, back during the war, an amazingly resilient people. I mean, good heavens, the daily bombings, the shortages, everything they had to endure and yet they never seemed to get discouraged. They just kept plodding on, doing what had to be done.

I have a huge amount of admiration for the Brits.

Napolean tried to invade them. He failed.

Hitler tried to invade them. He failed.

Such a small group of isles, but their toughness, ingenuity, and determination makes up for small numbers and geographic vulnerability.

Cyngbaeld · #19 07/09/10, 03:15 PM

We've had the advantage of ag colleges and extension services encouraging canning and doing research into the safety of food storage. During the GD of the 20th century, there were some communities that had canning kitchens. I think the main reasons both countries have got away from it is the departure from the family farm so that people didn't have excess produce to preserve, and the advent of electric freezers. It is so much easier to freeze the food than to dry or can it. However the food doesn't usually last as long in the freezer before quality begins to degrade.

Txsteader · #20 07/09/10, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

It is so much easier to freeze the food than to dry or can it. However the food doesn't usually last as long in the freezer before quality begins to degrade.

And, as many of us have learned the hard way, freezing also isn't a reliable method when the power goes out.

I've learned to use my freezer only as a pit-stop for food on it's way to more long-term methods such as canning & dehydrating. By the time hurricane season rolls around here, I know that my freezer should be near empty.