Rationing Ending
Fourteen years of coupons, finished on a Sunday in July.
Meat was the last thing to come off ration in July 1954, ending a system that had outlasted the war by nine years.
Rationing started in 1940 and did not finish until 1954, longer after the war than during it. Sweets had come off in 1953 and children had emptied the shops in a week.
People burned their ration books in the street. A generation grew up knowing exactly how much butter a person was entitled to, and never quite lost the habit of finishing the plate.
Cost back then
Two ounces of butter a week
Goes for now
Original ration books sell for £10–£30
