Going Green 1941

By Richard Reeve

I was unpacking the contents of an box of old magazines I had purchased at auction several days ago preparing the content for listing on one of my websites, the trouble with old magazines is they are extremely interesting as they report on events that have past long ago and with hindsight we can view how naive we our parents and grandparents were and what we could have done better.

What I really found interesting were the advertisements. In comparison to today’s slick magazine and television adverts that convince us to purchase products we do not really need, the old fashioned advertising was an invitation to try rather than something we should buy to keep abreast if not in advance of the Joneses.

The Ovaltine advertisement in November 1941 spoke of the need to cultivate the land in the interest of the nations food supply and depicted the traditional Ovaltine girl standing shoulder to shoulder with the Land Girl and the message that drinking Ovaltine gives us the strength and energy to fight on.

Interspersed with the advertising were propaganda message from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Food that in these times of food quality concerns and the damage we are doing to the environment appear to be extremely good advice; “Digging For Victory” encouraged mothers’ to get themselves and their offspring out into the fresh air to plant vegetables for the following year. Today this advice would not only provide a good supply of vegetables, we would have a greater knowledge of the quality of the food we ate and involving our children would strengthen the family unit.

Saving energy was of prime importance in war time Britain in 1941 and the advertisement from the Ministry of Food encouraged housewives to make better use of fuel not only by turning off the lights and restricting the heating but also using the stove more economically.

In today’s insular world some of the suggestions on saving fuel would be difficult to follow as many of us have little knowledge of our neighbours other than the occasional nod of good morning and hello. The Minister for Food suggested that if you are going to use the oven, make sure it is used in a manner that saves energy.

Pop round to your neighbours and let them know you are about to cook a roast and cook theirs as well. When you use the oven to cook the vegetables, cut vegetables into small cubes to save energy as they cook faster, cook stale bread to provide croutons, breadcrumbs and rusks.

If you are going to bake cakes or puddings make several small servings rather than one large pudding or cake. If you are cooking for one, place the food in jars, place a stone or other non flammable items in the base of the pan and using a small amount of water cook all the ingredients of your meal in the one pan.

If you are going to use the hotplate use only one ring, cut down on the amount of water you use, use a steamer and cook more than one vegetable on the hotplate. Cook stews or braise rather than roast as it uses less energy.

You might argue that today we have microwave ovens that save energy as they cook so fast, you could save even more energy by using a microwave steamer cooking vegetables and fish etc in one hit.

Britain’s near starvation war time diet of few fats and little meat was probably the healthiest diet we have ever had, there were no fast food shops and few luxuries like chocolate or shop made cakes. The driving force behind the wartime effort was the war and the desire to survive perhaps we should realise that there is a war today and a need to survive the damage we are doing to the environment by our cavalier waste of natural resources.

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I have been selling antiques and collectibles online since 1999 having taken early retirement from working in the merchant banking industry. I had been collecting antique silver for several years, silver being my first love. My second loves is a tossup between books and postcards and have provided advice on postcards to several TV collecting programmes and have also written several articles on collecting and business banking for national newspapers. I am also asked by local auction houses to research unusual ceramics and marks.

My website sells almost anything that is collectibles, regrettably, there is insufficient time in the day to upload all the items I buy and could also be accused of hording as my home is also full of the junk I buy and many of the mistakes.

http://www.collectable-postcards.com

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