Initially, the purchase of bacon, butter and sugar was limited and distributed via the ration book. Rationing was then extended to include meat, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, dairy products ...

Because of this, and to ensure fair distribution of supplies, the Ministry of Food issued ration books to every person, and families had to register at one shop. Official rationing began on 8 ...

Each person was given a ration book. A 'point' scheme was introduced for unrationed foods. Each person was allocated a number of points and a selected range of foods was given a point value.