#Rations

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Customers waiting in line to buy coffee, October 28, 1942. They were sold one pound each. Similar lines formed at other stores where coffee was being sold on a rationed basis.

Photo: Tom Sande for the AP

[vikkicomics]

Otto's weakness is food.

[thesilicontribesman]

A Roman lead bread stamp and impression which reads:-

CL.AVG.VIC.

'(made by) Victor, of the century of Claudius Augustanus'

Stamps like this were used on bread. The Romans did not have a catering corps for their army. Rations were issued 'in the raw' to the soldiers, and they had to prepare and cook their food themselves.

Grosvenor Museum, Chester

[smackedwithamace]

rations in urinetown

okay, so the idea of the ugc rationing food won’t get out of my head. like ww2 grocery shopping style. 

so may i propose: scummy rich people overprice basic necessities (again)

URINE GOOD COMPANY

OFFICIAL RATION NOTICE

for immediate distribution

in accordance with the ongoing resource preservation mandates and to ensure equitable distribution during these trying times, the following rations are hereby allocated per individual per week. for detailed pricing in your district, please consult a friendly local officer of the law.

weekly rations (subject to change)

one small loaf of bread (note: may stale or mixed with fillers)

powdered milk, three servings

rice or oats, seven-hundred fifty grams

vegetables, two cans

dehydrated soup packets, three

as our company is both generous and blessed with a very lenient head of staff, when available, certain exclusive items will be available when stock permits (for an extra fee):

canned or dried fruit

salt

beef jerky

root vegetables

jam

canned mushrooms

pickled vegetables

dried or canned fish

canned meat

sugar

we thank you for your continued cooperation and resilience during these unprecedented times. remember, compliance ensures community stability and fairness for all.

URINE GOOD COMPANY

preserving life, preserving order.

[16woodsequ]

Sunday Steve - Day Eleven

Things that would be new or unfamiliar to Steve in the 21st century, either due to the time period he grew up in, or his social-economic status and other such factors.

Day Eleven: Toilet Paper

People used many things as toilet paper before commercial toilet paper was available. As indoor plumbing became more common toilet paper became more necessary because pipes were not designed for almanac pages or newspapers.

In the late 1800s toilet paper was still a luxury but it was being developed. "In 1890, toilet paper started to look a lot more like stuff we’re used to seeing today. It came on a roll in perforated sheets. It was a tough sell though because no one wanted to admit to buying it. In Germany, a company called ‘ Hakle’ overcame the problem with the slogan “ask for a roll of Hakle if you don’t want to say toilet paper.” (Link)

Late 1800s toilet paper. 2500 sheets.

Charmin began marketing its toilet paper around its softness in 1928, as well as selling economy-sized packs of four rolls in 1932 (Link).

There were two types of toilet paper. Soft and hard. "The hard paper was more affordable and was very shiny on one side of it" (Link). Hard paper often had printed text on it (most of the examples I've found are British).

Every source I've found says that toilet paper began to be advertised as "splinter free" in the 1935. Most casual articles don't dig into what this actually means, but I found some ads for the infamous splinter free toilet paper.

Splinters resulted from the manufacturing process, and as you can see in the below images the splinters were usually very small. I haven't been able to find out how genuinely inconvenient this splinters were.

1930s toilet paper ad (Link) (Link)

You can see the various marketing methods for soft toilet paper, treating it like a medical issue and appealing to women.

You can also see 3 rolls being sold for 20-25 cents. I think that is very expensive for toilet paper in the 30s. I've found a source showing 2 rolls of Clifton toilet paper being sold for 9 cents in 1932. (Link) And this link shows 4 rolls of crepe toilet paper being sold for 19 cents in 1930 (Link is behind a pay wall but I managed to download the price list). I'm guessing the rolls in the splinter-free ads are soft toilet paper, and the cheaper examples I found are hard toilet paper.

1930 grocery price list. Toilet paper is the third item, listing four crepe rolls for 19 cents.

In 1940 one roll is being sold for 15 cents (Link), but it's not clear if this is soft or hard toilet paper. I'm guessing soft since it's almost the price of four rolls in 1930.

My guess is Steve paid around 9 cents for 2 (19 cents for 4) rolls of hard toilet paper. I doubt he bought soft toilet paper since it cost about 20-25 cents for 2-3 rolls. But I can't know the prices for sure.

One thing for sure is modern toilet paper is softer than the paper Steve would have bought. Britain didn't even start manufacturing 2-ply toilet paper until 1942. Over the years soft toilet paper become the norm (although institutions like schools often have thinner, harder paper).

Given this information, Steve would probably be used to buying harder, cheaper toilet paper for about 9 cents for 2 rolls/19 cents for 4 rolls. Soft 'expensive' toilet paper would be surprising as the norm, and I think he'd find our massive packs of toilet paper shocking. Although as we'll see, soldiers were provided Waldorf paper, which seems to be a more softer, expensive brand.

Army Toilet Paper

Soldiers were provided toilet paper with K-rations and later with C-rations. A soldier would get one accessory packet a day with either ration and it came with twelve sheets of Waldorf toilet paper.

(Link) Accessory packet with Waldorf toilet paper.

You may have seen the factoid that British soldiers were rationed 3 sheets of toilet paper per day compared to American soldiers having 22 sheets. I believe this is a misinterpretation of this book discussing the resources available to American soldiers on base in Britain (pg. 288). But after further research I think the actual number of sheets British soldiers got a day on the front was 4 sheets. (Link) American soldiers got 12 sheets included in their K-ration. (Link)

If a soldier ran out of toilet paper they most likely had to make do. I've seen stories of pages from books being used, or even paper bills. (Link)

Bonus

First paper towels sold 1931 (Link).

1936 paper towel ad

Facial tissue paper originated from gas mask filters in World War One. Kleenex were marketed as a cold cream and makeup remover in the 20s and began being marketed for colds in the 30s. (Link)

1930 ad for Kleenex for 25 cents.

Personally, I don't think Steve would have spent money on either of these things, but they did exist.

[spencersmarsproject]

I heard some people were complaining about the food. What do you want me to do about it? Do you want a plate of sushi? A steak? I DON'T HAVE ANY OF THESE THINGS WE ARE STUCK ON MARS YOU CAN STARVE IF YOU WANT TO NOT MY PROBLEM

[warsofasoiaf]

What kind of food would merchants eat on a looong voyage?

Above all, cracker bread, whether that be the biskit, hardtack, rusk, whatever you want to call it. It's a twice-baked bread meant to be hard and dry so it wouldn't spoil for long periods of time. You could crumble it and cook it with meat fat for a hot meal. Salted pork and fish also kept for a while, you had to soak it to remove extra salt of course.

Of course, on a long voyage, there are regular stops to take on provisions (particularly fresh water), so there would be resupply with fresher foods. After a long stop between ports, any merchant would be eager for fresh food, whatever would be sold at the local markets.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[clove-pinks]

[Oatmeal] was mainly used to make porridge or 'burgoo' and eaten for breakfast with some form of sweetening, either sugar or molasses. Nelson got into a terrible tizzy about this sweetening in the Mediterranean when Victory's captain, Hardy, wrote him a formal letter in September 1804 stating that there had been no molasses in the ship since the previous June, and requesting that since there had not been an additional issue of oatmeal to make up for this, the men should be paid for the missing molasses as 'savings of provisions'. Nelson sent a copy of this letter to the Admiralty with his own covering letter [...] Could there not be a supply of cocoa or tea sent in lieu of molasses, as had been the case when he was in the West Indies, or at least sugar, he asked.

— Horatio Nelson pressed about feeding the Navy in Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era, by Janet Macdonald.

[monkeyssalad-blog]

1941 Board Of Trade ad by totallymystified

[todaysdocument]

Stocking the Fallout Shelter, Villa Augustina Academy, Goffstown, New Hampshire, on January 22, 1963. 

Record Group 77: Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers

Series: Construction Project Photographs

Image description: Two serious men in suits and eyeglasses hold up a box labeled “SURVIVAL SUPPLIES FURNISHED BY OFFICE OF CIVIL DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE / CIVIL DEFENSE SURVIVAL RATION CRACKER CONTENTS 28.5 POUNDS NO. OF FRACKERS PER POUND 89 MINIMUM DATE OF PACK 17 OCT 1962”. There are half a dozen similar boxes stacked in the foreground. Next to the men, two nuns hold a sign with the three-triangles-in-a-circle fallout shelter sign.

[documentary-surrealist]

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Americans at home had it easy during World War II. This display of foodstuffs, rationed and unrationed, in the United States as compared with several European countries, was an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry at Rockefeller Plaza, March 8, 1943. It shows basic rations for one day in the U.S., Britain, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Sugar, tea, and coffee were the only rationed U.S. products at that time (meat and other food items had been rationed earlier) on this chart. In all other countries, every item displayed was rationed.

Charles Kenneth Lucas for the AP via Flashbak

[mereinkling]

Chocolate Fuels Armies

“An army marches on its stomach.”* Military leaders have long recognized that it is difficult to arouse soldiers weakened by deprivation. Sadly, though, even a king of Israel could be foolish enough to ignore that and order his soldiers to fast before a battle. While logisticians rarely receive the accolades of their peers who serve directly in combat, they have always been vital members of…

[official-knight-posts]

Every knight needs an occasional snack while on duty! Huzzah! Officiated!

Jøshua Zerø photographed by Nicole Ngai

[inbabylontheywept]

so once me and my wife were watching a documentary where a snake ate like a million eggs. that snake just went to fucking town on eggs. and the snake made the eggs look so good that i kept thinking about it, and thinking about it, and thinking about it, and eventually it was 11pm and i ran out of willpower and decided to eat one (1) singular raw egg just to prove to myself that the snake was surely a liar.

the snake was not a liar. texture is like, super important to me and raw eggs are very Texture so i had another one, and then another one, and then another one, and eventually i ran out of eggs.

i had like, fifteen raw eggs.

i didnt really know how to explain this momentary madness to my wife, so my Plan was to put all the eggshells into a grocey bag, and then throw that grocery bag in the dumpster, and if she never noticed that would be Excellent and if she noticed immediately i could lie and say that the eggs went bad.

except i cant lie very good, and of course with murphys law being such, i got salmonella.

so i threw up a lot and my wife asked me what poisoned me so and i tried very hard to dodge the question but i was oozing shame like oil from a room temperature cheese and eventaully i gave in and told her everything and to her enormous credit she was more flabbergasted than actually upset. she did make me promise to not eat any more raw eggs, which i have stuck to, and she gives me weird looks during nature documentaries now as if desire was the only thing keeping me from eating thousands of pounds of krill anyway i made a joke earlier about being able to eat my age in eggs and my sister in law in law made a drawing to comemorate the moment and also because it was my birthday. she's excellent. thank you 10000000% @cintailed. you should all visit her page and admire her work.

[cthulhubert]

A news site called WindowsCentral just posted a headline: "57% of all content on the web is AI-generated."

They're misquoting a Forbes article that said, "57% of all text-based content on the web is AI-generated."

Which itself was also a misquote of a study saying "57% of all text translations on the web are machine generated."

Figured I should give everyone a heads up

for all the "OMG dead Internet theory is real!" posting coming up.