Just How Tough Was World War II Rationing? Very

President Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration in August 1941. Its main responsibility was to place a ceiling on prices of most goods to prevent wartime price gouging, and to limit consumption by rationing.

Everyone, including children, was issued a ration book, each of which had a certain number of rationing points per week. Meat and processed foods, vital for soldiers abroad, had high points. Fresh fruit and vegetables had no points. It was a complex system that the U.S. drafted cartoonist Chuck Jones to explain on film.  Here, this schoolboy had his first experience using War Ration Book Two.

Supplies such as gasoline, butter, canned milk and sugar were rationed so they could be provided for the war effort. Many people got three gallons of gas a week. The people here were standing in line for sugar, the first and last commodity that was rationed. The allocation was half a pound a week, half of what Americans typically consumed.

Just as the Twitter hashtag #stayhome is designed to encourage people to practice social distancing — and feel good about doing it —rationing posters provided a sense of patriotism and a link to efforts at home for those serving overseas.

Armies travel on their bellies. Although the federal government was promoting increased production of food, it also encouraged curtailing food waste. Citizens were told to eat their leftovers and “lick their plate clean."

Mechanized warfare requires plenty of gasoline and oil. Civilians were asked to dress warmly in order to preserve oil and fuel for military transportation purposes.

Rationing gasoline and other fuels kept energy-hungry tanks and battleships running. The government urged people to cut down on anything that strained fuel resources — even taking long showers.

Scrap drives were a common way people could provide for the war effort. Contributing rags, rubber, paper or metal could help the government build airplanes and other equipment needed to fight the war.

The first nonfood item rationed was rubber, because many of Asia’s rubber plantations were under Japanese control. President Roosevelt asked citizens to help by contributing old tires, rubber raincoats, garden hoses, shoes and bathing caps. Millions of discarded tires covered over 100 acres at this Midwest recovery plant.

To extend the life of rationed goods, wartime recipes included suitable replacements for limited ingredients. These wives of war workers, in Alexandria, Virginia, learned wartime cooking methods during a food demonstration meeting.

To fill the insufficient ranks of military nurses, posters and pamphlets urged young women to become a nurse. Once a woman was determined eligible, she had to be trained for wartime and combat nursing. This included exercises in medicine, map-reading, physical endurance and Army procedures.

The U.S. Treasury offered a series of war bonds citizens could purchase to invest in the country and, ideally, one’s own financial future. A $25 war bond could be purchased for $18.75. The government would use the money to pay for military equipment. After about 10 years the bond could be redeemed for $25, a nearly 3 percent average annual return.

Public school children in Chicago purchased $263,148.83 in war bonds and stamps. The campaign concluded with a rally in Washington Park. The large check represented enough money for 125 jeeps, two pursuit (fighter) planes and a motorcycle.