Menu: (with Bryn’s scores)
Breakfast: war time toast with jam (4.5/5 “I liked that”.)
Lunch: Packed lunch – Sandwiches wrapped in paper and string, cucumber, strawberries, dried fruit and a pear. (3/5)
Dinner: Veggie stew with dumplings (2/5 “It went a bit gloopy!”) Freshly baked War Time Loaf (5/5)
Pudding: Rhubarb crumble and birds custard (Yummy!)
Bryn has saved his last red sweet until the end of the week. He has also got an orange! Oranges were in extremely short supply during WW2 and were only available for children. I like the fact that an orange was a real treat and that food was valued so much more by everyone.
My thoughts:
I’m very surprised at how sad I am to be ending this week of rations. It’s been a really special time for me and Bryn. We have learned so much and I think that living off rations has given us both a much deeper understanding of the lives of families in WW2. It’s also been lovely that our family and neighbours have joined in with us.
I’m also sad because today was our last day of home schooling. Bryn has chosen to go back to school and we have found a fabulous place, and I am so relieved that he’s going to be able to continue to enjoy his education, but still a bit sad. We’ve got plenty to keep us busy over the holidays though!
So apart from being an emotional wreck today, I have been in the kitchen once more. I’ve baked my third loaf of bread as well as some rolls for my mum. There’s something very therapeutic about baking bread, and its smells amazing! There was nearly a disaster when I covered the bowl with a tea towel and put the dough in the greenhouse to rise. I heard a commotion when I was in the kitchen and went to investigate. There was a blackbird flapping about in the greenhouse! OH NO! I think it was after my bread!
I managed to remove the dough to the safety of the kitchen and the blackbird was able to leave the greenhouse unscathed. Again food had become extremely precious to me.
I have learned so much in this past week about myself, my family, nutrition and how society views food. I have many thoughts swimming around my head.
I think I will carry on eating much of the food we’ve had this week. I’ve lost 3lb in five days! This is the slimmest I’ve been since I had my second child in 2013. I will also be much more careful about the amount of sugar that is in our diet. I’m appalled at how much is piled into our everyday food by the manufacturers. We have only used half our sugar rations this week and I feel much better.
Bryn’s thoughts:
I went to Dover Castle today with Nanny. We went round all of the WW2 sites there and also saw the new WW1 gun emplacement. I got to sit on the gunning seats on lots of the big guns at the castle.
We went down the WW2 tunnels which were used in Dunkirk and we went Morse coding where the officers used to look out over the English Channel.
Nanny bought me two new gliders to play with. Here’s a tip: When you buy gliders make sure it comes with a propeller, it helps to keep the glider more stable even if it’s windy.
I’m a bit happy and a bit sad that we are at the end of our rations week. I’ve still got my red sweet – I’m saving it for another day!
#thedotrythisathomeschool #blog #history #ww2 #food #cooking #cookingwithkids #homeeducation #dovercastle
This blog post was first published on 22nd July 2017 on our old website.