To help people cope with the shortages, the Ministry of Food published 'Food Facts' in newspapers and magazines, which also featured weekly advice columns. One could also obtain advice leaflets from local food offices, which introduced a bewildered league of young women to the range of cheap cuts of meat. A lot of these tough and gristly cuts were from the slaughter of old, uneconomic cattle, so the leaflets suggested pounding, mincing and marinating. Slow cooking was also a good idea, though what you saved on the meat you used on the fuel!

A whole range of recipes were invented using substitute ingredients. Peppermint lumps were made from dried milk, sugar syrup, peppermint essence and butter or margarine. Toffee could be made from golden syrup, sugar, cocoa and dried milk powder, which could be replaced with dried egg to make wartime chocolate.

Rationing produced important social effects such as the introduction of free school meals for the children of poorer families, free cod liver oil and orange juice for the under twos, and extra milk and eggs for expectant mothers. All of which resulted in a fall in the infant mortality rate and a sharp drop in cases of TB.

Familiar brands were not always available thanks to lack of transport. The loss of rubber producing countries to Japan meant that tyres were scarce, so a zoning scheme was introduced. The country was split into nine sections and retailers could only get supplies from their local sector. Only the residents of Slough for example could get Mars Bars.

Lack of choice and variety were noticeable; 350 varieties of biscuit became 20. This was part of a pattern throughout the food manufacturing industry as many factories were taken over to make munitions. Pickles, sauces, and sweet and savoury spreads were made available to relieve the monotony of bread and potatoes.

Shopping often became difficult for women who were working full-time and when they could get to the shops they had to be aware of 'bomb damaged' goods — green butter, addled eggs, or glass shards in the packaging.

Rationing produced unusual fare in some restaurants; the Granada cinema chain's Scottish restaurants' menus often boasted of gulls' eggs, venison sausages, rooks, lobster and on one occasion, "roasted eagle and two veg". Restaurants were allowed 1d worth of meat per meal, and colliers canteens 2d.

Beer, like cigarettes was scarce but never rationed, much to the annoyance of one House of Lords member. Lord Arnold argued that if consumption was halved, the barley saved would feed 18 million hens and provide 4 eggs per family per week. But the government saw beer as a morale booster and so the scarcity of eggs remained, and people were encouraged to keep hens.

In the first 12 months, supplies to breweries and distilleries were drastically cut, so beer production was down by a twentieth, and whiskey by two thirds. Wines were cut off after the fall of France, and from October 1941, most imports of alcohol ceased. The 'No Beer' sign outside pubs was a familiar sight and many imposed their own restrictions, perhaps not opening until the evening, or only on alternate days. Drinkers were often limited to one or half a pint of watered down beer, and they might even be refused service unless they brought their own glass. Bottles were also short, and there was a campaign to encourage people to return milk bottles.

Food wrapping in general became scarce and shoppers had to remember to take their own with them to the shops. Decorative packaging was replaced with plain wrappings of thin paper and board.

Fish merchants would swap fish with families who could exchange it for apples and vegetables from their gardens. Doctors would sometimes accept fruit and eggs in exchange for visits. Pub keepers might swap pints of beer or tots of whisky for portions of meat.

Fish was not rationed but was very difficult to get hold of. Unfamiliar types of fish were introduced but much of it was terrible. Whale meat was particularly unpopular.

Cat and dog food was rationed along with human food. It was not forbidden to feed pets fresh meat from your own ration but you could be prosecuted for giving them too much. One solution was to use offal, which was un-rationed and some recipe books even included meals for cats and dogs. At the beginning of the war, many owners had their pets put down for fear of not being able to feed them, or the possibility of stray animals roaming streets after raids. Piles of corpses lay outside vets' practices.