Ration book issued to Betty Jenkins

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Europe was in ruins and its people lacked food, fuel and housing. Survival strategies were desperately needed and war rationing continued. Rationing cards such as these were an everyday reality in almost all of post-war Europe. The UK was the last combatant country to stop rationing food. Meat was the last item to be derationed and rationing ended completely only in 1954, nine years after the war ended. The UK Ministry of Food was first created during the First World War and then again during the Second World War, after which it persisted until 1955. Its responsibilities did not include the production of food, but instead the controlled distribution of it. The Ministry of Food also researched methods of preparing, marketing and preserving foodstuffs and issued advice to the public on cooking available foodstuffs. This ration book is part of a group donation to the House of European History collection comprised of four ration books and three identity cards from the same family and time period, documenting the final years of food rationing in post-war Europe.