Ration Book Porridge (2024)

Ration Book Porridge is a plain porridge made with oatmeal, salt and water. This breakfast was a staple in wartime Britain as the oats were homegrown, cheap and plentiful. And porridge is a filling and nutritious breakfast to help everyone get through the hard work needed for the war effort.

You may have noticed that I’ve been eating porridge for breakfast on most days of my Ration Book Cooking challenge. This would be a real challenge for me if it wasn’t that I’d been sent some Flahavan’s Irish Course Cut Oatmeal.

It is probably closer to the porridge that was eaten during the war, the kind that had to be soaked overnight and then cooked for some time to soften it. That isn’t the case with this as the Irish Coarse Cut Oatmeal is made by kilning and steam cooking the oats and cutting them into smaller pieces, resulting in a textured porridge.

Perfect Scottish Porridge for the modern age

If you prefer a more modern version of porridge then try my Perfect Scottish Porridge. It can be cooked in 3 minutes in the microwave or a little longer in a pan on the hob.

I am really not a huge fan of porridge made with rolled oats, it is too slimy for my taste, but porridge made with this coarse (steel) cut oatmeal, has real texture and a good taste as well as being good for you.

My father always had his porridge made with salt and this oatmeal is great served this way, a great savoury breakfast. It also works well with sweet flavours, but you’ll have to wait till after the Ration week to find out about that!

Ministry of Food Leaflet No. 22

Ministry of Food Leaflet No. 22 is all about Oats and Barley and features, not only porridge but also a ‘Swiss Breakfast Dish’ which appears to be a version of Bircher Muesli.

Swiss Breakfast Dish

• 4oz rolled oats or barley flakes or kernels
• 4 tbsp milk
• 1/2 – 3/4lb grated raw apple
• 1-2 tbsp sugar

Soak the rolled oats or barley flakes or kernels overnight in barely enough water to cover. In the morning beat up well with the other ingredients. This is a delicious alternative to porridge on summer mornings.

Wartime Kitchen Menu for Thursday 8th November

Breakfast

Ration Book Porridge

Lunch

A sandwich made two slices of The National Loaf and 75g cheese and a tsp of homemade chutney

Dinner

Parsnips with Cheese (from Vegetables for Victory)

WW2 Rations 1940 for 3 people

Butter 150g (6oz) 75g Butter

Bacon or ham: 300g (12oz) bacon in the Haricot Bean dish

Margarine: 300g (12oz)

Cooking fat/lard: 300g (12oz) 200g lard 190g lard (tsp of veg oil)

Sugar: 675g (1lb 10oz) 650g (25g black treacle used)

Meat: 1350g (3lb)

Milk: 9 pints occasionally dropping to 8 pints 8 3/4 pints

Cheese: 150g (6oz) rising to 675g (1lb 10oz)? 75g cheese

Eggs: 3 fresh eggs per week 0 fresh eggs

Tea: 150g (6oz) 130g 110g 70g

Jam: 150g (6oz) per week 125g

Dried Eggs 3 packets
(36 eggs every four weeks) 9
eggs for one week

Sweets: 262g (3oz) per week.

More porridge recipes

More WW2 Ration Book Recipes