Day 2 - Return of the Vegetable Turnover

Tea for two and two for tea!

OK.  First, I have to admit that I was incredibly hungry last night.  I generally keep rather odd hours and eat one of my meals very late at night so it came as no surprise to me that I found I was hungry somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 p.m.  I didn’t want to prepare anything that took a lot of effort.  I ended up grating a small potato and tossing it in a pan with the drippings left from the Spam I had for dinner last night.  It wasn’t a lot but it got me past that hunger.

The vegetable turnover recipe that I made yesterday made four turnovers.  I ended up having my second turnover for breakfast today and I have to say that I thought it tasted much better the second day than it did on the first day.  I am not going to lie, I ate around the parsnips.  This is something that a person in the 1940s probably never would have done.  I simply could not stomach them, though, and I did not want to waste the turnovers.  Fortunately, there was not a lot of parsnip in each turnover so I did not have to waste much.  And worry not, none of the parsnip went into the garbage.

My husband and I normally dine out once a week and even though I have decided to undertake my WWII rationing experiment, I did not want to put an end to that.  I know that in the US, during WWII, people were urged to eat fish and save other meat for.  I also know that in the United Kingdom, fish and chip shops were still open.  Therefore, when we went out for dinner tonight, I opted for a lovely order of fish and chips.  It was delicious and I felt like I was staying true to my experiment.

The following is a list of what I ate on day 2 of rationing.

Lunch:  Two slices of Spam browned in the pan, one vegetable turnover with a bit of leftover Bisto gravy and water to drink.

Snack:  Apple.

Dinner:  Dined out – Fish and chips with tea to drink.

Evening:  One slice of toast with a smear of jam.

Supper:  One potato shredded and browned in Spam drippings and water to drink.


After dining out tonight, my husband and I stopped by one of our local thrift shops.  Now I know that I said before that I do not like shopping in any way, shape or form.  I guess that was a little bit of a lie since I do like to make an occasional stop by the local thrift shop to see if I can get a good deal on a hidden treasure.  My mission tonight was to find a breadbox that I could clean up and refurbish but that was not to be.  What I did find was a couple of nice little teacups and saucers.  I don’t believe that they are worth anything but I thought they were pretty.

When my sisters got married, my mother bought them china as wedding gifts.  Some of them also ended up getting antique china which had been in the family for years.  I, on the other hand, never got any china – new or antique.  (Not a surprise since my mother and I have never been on good terms.)  For a long time, I was offended that my sisters got china as wedding gifts and I never did.  In recent years, however, I have changed my mind about that.  I am the kind of person who likes to color outside the likes.  I do not like things in perfect sets.  I would rather buy my china in ones and twos when pieces catch my eye and build a wonderfully eclectic set that is pure me than pick a boring matching set.  (Plus, it is much easier to find something that works with my china should I accidentally break a piece than it is for my sisters to find a perfect replacement piece if they break one of theirs.)

All in all, it was a lovely day.  At the end, I don’t find myself hungry and though I have eaten Spam and potatoes as well as fish and chips today, I feel like my homemade fare is better for me than if I was drinking soda and eating potato chips, fast food, frozen meals and Spaghetti-O’s.

Tomorrow I am going to try to make a steamed “sausage” roll.  I did not buy any sausage but I do have some ground beef so I will use that instead and I will just season it with some spices I already have in my cupboard. It should be interesting as I have never made or consumed any sort of steamed meat.  I did make plum pudding one Christmas, though, and the method can’t be too different from making that.  Wish me luck!


Are you a fan of your local thrift or antique shops?