The front page of the paper carried this photograph and a related article detailing the efforts being made by the British government to secure as much frozen and chilled beef from Argentina as possible. Post-war, stories about food shortages were constantly in the news.
At the end of the Second World War, a typical weekly food ration for an adult looked like this:
Bacon & Ham, 4 oz
Other meat, value of 1 shilling and 2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops)
Butter, 2 oz
Cheese, 2 oz (Vegetarians were allowed an extra 3 oz after surrendering their meat and bacon coupons)
Margarine, 4 oz
Cooking fat, 4 oz
Milk, 3 pints
Sugar, 8 oz
Preserves, 1 lb every 2 months
Loose Tea, 2 oz
Eggs, 1 fresh egg (vegetarians were allowed one extra per week)
Sweets, 12 oz every 4 weeks
After 1945, things were to get worse before they got better. Some aspects of rationing became stricter: the bacon ration was cut to 3 ounces per week. Post-war austerity, lack of manpower, and frequent strikes by key workers, meant food production and imports recovered at a very slow rate.
When Jane Bown took this photograph, the Conservative Party were already tapping into the public anger at, and frustration with, the Labour government, and the Tories used that dissatisfaction as part of their successful 1951 general election campaign.
Meat and all other food rationing ended in Britain on 4 July 1954.
