What is a ration book?

Answer 1

A coupon book that buys you necessities.

During the Second World War, the Allied nations implemented "Rationing" of many items, to control the use and price of things that would be important to help win the war.

Examples of things that were rationed.

• Food of all kinds, especially meat, sugar, and eggs.
• Cloth and finished clothing.
• Leather goods, especially shoes, and belts.
• Gasoline, oil, and rubber tires, as well as auto parts and gaskets.

The reasons for rationing? To make sure that the Armed Forces had the needed materials to feed, clothe, and equip their manpower. Every serviceman or woman had to be fed every day, clothed, and provided with several uniforms for different uses and seasons of the year.

Ration books were issued to the civilian population by wartime control commissions from local offices. Different books for different types of materials. Each page held a number of detachable stamps/coupons for a certain item. Once you had used up your stamps for that month you were out of luck, until the next month began. This was so people would go carefully and eke out what they were allowed. Food, clothing, gasoline, travel and paper were all controlled under the wartime regulations. Only those who had a priority job could get gas and most people stored their cars "for the duration of the war". The three big American car makers stopped making civilian cars in 1942, and made only military vehicles until after the war had ended, 1946.

People were also urged to join local scrap drives, that gathered metal, glass bottles, or newspaper to be recycled. Used grease from cooking was also needed, to be made into lubricants, as was scrap food and even bones.

In America, the effect of rationing was not that severe, but in Great Britain, the generation of kids that were born between 1940 and 1950 were under-sized and sickly, because of severe protein deficiency. In 1956, I and my Mum visited relatives in London and some things were still being rationed ten years after the end of the war! The fact that most of the food that was consumed during the war in Britain had to be imported by ship convoys, which were subject to loses due to U-boat attacks, resulted in severe food shortages there.

In Canada, rationing was intended to not only control consumption at home but also to send excess food to Britain. Canadian butter and bacon were shipped in huge amounts, as well as liquid eggs and flour by the ton. Fruit jams made from Canadian peaches and strawberries were sent too.

Another Answer:

The government was worried that shortages would make prices on the home front rise higher and higher -- with scarce goods going to the highest bidder. To prevent rising prices, the federal Office of Price Administration (OPA) began to ration (restrict purchases of) essential goods such as sugar, coffee, and gas.

Ration books were coupons you used to buy certain products. Each red or blue coupon was worth a certain number of "points." The OPA allowed every American 64 red points (for meat, butter, and fats) and 48 blue points (for processed foods like ketchup) every month. The food store grocers tagged food by price and point. So you not only had to pay for your goods but you could only pay for it if you had enough points left out of your monthly allowance. Times were hard for families during rationing.

Answer 2

A book of stamps or coupons issued by governments in times of war (or other national emergency) to regulate sales of critical war materials also needed by the public so that the military has priority or to prevent hoarding by the public and unnecessary shortages.