6 VE Day recipes using wartime rations – cake, pie and more

Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) commemorates the formal end of WW2 in Europe. It was on May 8, 1945, that the Allied Forces announced the surrender of Nazi Germany, but it wasn’t until July 4, 1954 that food rationing in Britain came to an end. Many foods were rationed to ensure a fair distribution and conserve resources for the war effort.

Bacon and ham, butter, cheese, eggs, milk, sugar, jam, tea, meat, and cooking fats were among them. According to the Imperial War Museums, other items like canned goods, dried fruit, cereals, and biscuits were also rationed using a points system. It meant that resourceful home cooks had to make staples like Spam, carrots, and potatoes go that bit further to feed hungry families over 14 years of rationing. Express.co.uk tried and tested some of the most iconic WW2 rationing recipes – all of them surprised us.

Carrot biscuits

Today, most people have heard of carrot cake, but adding grated carrot to biscuits is less common. These biscuits are a fitting tribute to wartime cooking, given that the humble carrot became a staple ingredient.

Carrots’ subtle sweet flavour made them the perfect natural sweetener, and they were often used in place of exotic, imported fruits. In fact, carrots were promoted during WW2 for their health benefits, and ‘Doctor Carrot’ was invented to encourage people to consume and grow the humble vegetable.

Millie Bull notes that the recipe called for just a few tablespoons of sugar and heaps of grated carrot for sweetness, but the result was surprisingly sweet.

Ingredients:

• One tablespoon of margarine
• Two tablespoons of sugar
• A few drops of vanilla or almond for flavouring
• Four tablespoons of grated raw carrot
• Six tablespoons of self-raising flour or plain flour mixed
• Half a teaspoon of baking powder
• Sugar, for sprinkling

Woolton pie

Wartime rationing recipes don’t get more authentic than a hearty Woolton pie. Frederick James Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton, was an English businessman and politician who served as chairman of the Conservative Party from 1946 to 1955. In April 1940, he was appointed Minister of Food and established the rationing system.

The aptly named Woolton pie was a popular, vegetable-based pastry dish widely consumed in Britain during WW2. Created by chef Francis Latry at the Savoy Hotel, it was a simple and nutritious way to use available vegetables during rationing.

Having made the pie herself, Rebecca Koncienzcy notes that “the addition of the rolled oats helped thicken the water to form a sort of gravy, but it wasn’t hugely appetising. ” Otherwise, it did make for a well-rounded, healthy meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb cauliflower
• 1 lb swede
• 1 lb carrots
• 1 lb potatoes
• A bunch of spring onions chopped
• Two teaspoons of yeast extract (or a stock cube)
• A tablespoon of rolled oats
• Salt and pepper to taste once cooked.
• Parsley (fresh or dried)
• 8 oz wholemeal/wholewheat flour
• 4 oz mashed potatoes
• 3 oz margarine or lard
• Two tsp of baking powder
• Pinches of salt
• Dash of water if needed

Potato-wrapped sardines

Tasty and nostalgic, these fish parcels surprised me with buckets of flavour and a frugal ingredients list. Just one 49p can of sardines and three spuds made for seven portions—and served with gherkins, they could be likened to fish and chips.

Sardines remain a cupboard staple in households to this day, and it likely stems from wartime habits. As historian Mark Riddaway notes, “rations of tinned products were generally more liberal than those of fresh meat and fish”, – meaning canned sardines were far easier to come by than a steak or fillet of cod. Their versatility and strong flavour make them ideal for pairing with plain potatoes, which were encouraged in British diets via cartoons like “Potato Pete”.

Ingredients:

• 450g potatoes
• Flour
• One tin of sardines
• Two teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice
• Cayenne and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Eggless chocolate cake

A no-egg chocolate cake with lard instead of butter and vinegar in place of eggs is a masterclass in wartime ingenuity.

The method was vague, and I ended up with a thick, doughy batter that poured into the tin like brownie mix. But out of the oven came a rich, surprisingly moist cake with a light, crumbly top—almost soufflé-like. It’s easy to make with no fancy ingredients, and still holds up today—proof that a robust recipe never goes out of style.

Ingredients:

• 100g margarine or fat
• 200g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 100g sugar
• ¼ pint of warm milk mixed with water
• One teaspoon of baking powder
• Half a teaspoon of salt
• One teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• One tablespoon of vinegar
• Half a teaspoon of vanilla essence

Onion, haricot and tomato pie

The Dig For Victory movement promoted home growing of haricot beans, and Heinz Baked Beans were even classified as “essential” by the Ministry of Food in Britain during the war years.

Sophie Law attempted an onion, haricot, and tomato pie recipe created by resourceful WW2 housewives.

The simple formula was found in the wartime book The Kitchen Front, which was compiled of recipes read out on radio broadcasts. Airing most mornings during rationing after the 8 o’clock news, the show provided practical information on surviving healthily on rations.

Ingredients:

• Four oz haricot beans
• One lb of onions
• Two oz of flour
• ½ pint of milk
• ½ pint of onion water
• Two oz grated cheese
• Two level teaspoons of salt
• ½ level teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
• Eight oz sliced or bottled tomatoes

Jam and carrot sponge

To mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day, Ellen Jenne recreated one of Dan Lepard’s wartime dishes – a sponge pudding packed with carrots and jam.

While items like eggs, milk, and bacon are typically thought of as rations during WW2, it was possible to receive a ration of preserves, too. This included jams and marmalade.

Ellen noted that while the texture was slightly different, it reminded her of a staple steamed jam sponge pudding her mum makes for almost every family gathering. “A dish like this would be coveted, you just have to have the creativity to make something out of almost nothing”, she said.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ tbsp butter
• 1 ½ tsp sugar
• Three tbsp carrot, grated
• Six tbsp plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• Dash of milk
• Jam