It's not back to ration books, "victory gardens" or squirrel-tail soup yet

Rising Food Prices Prompt British Government To Urge Frugality
DAVID STRINGER | July 11, 2008

LONDON — Waste not, want not.

Evoking an era of World War II austerity, British families are being urged to cut food waste and use leftovers in a nationwide effort to fight sharply rising global food prices.

It's not back to ration books, "victory gardens" or squirrel-tail soup yet, but warning bells are being rung by experts at all levels of Britain's government as well as from the World Food Program.

With food and energy prices soaring around the world, a constant supply of high-quality, affordable food is no longer guaranteed, the officials are warning Britons. That could mean an era of scarcity like Britain's 1940-54 food rationing, during the war and its aftermath.

"Well, of course, in the war years it was not only immoral to waste food _ this was one of our slogans then _ it also was illegal," said Marguerite Patten, 92, who worked at the Ministry of Food during World War II and urges a return to those more thrifty days.

"I know it's old fashioned, but some old fashioned things are worth doing," she said.

Family food shopping bill goes up by £50 in a month
Gráinne Gilmore
Food prices rose at the fastest pace for 18 months in June, pushing up the cost of shopping for families by more than £50 in one month alone.

The cost of groceries rose by 1 per cent last month and is now 7 per cent higher than in June last year, figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show.

The average yearly food bill for a family of four is now £360 more than this time last year.