WWI Rations

Americans during WWI helped win the war by rationing their food and fuel. Public education campaigns encouraged Americans, even young children, do to their part in conservation.

This rhyme was distributed by the Education Division of the United States Food Administration during the end of World War I. Children did their part, along with other Americans on the home front to ration their food so it could be used in the war effort.

No American was too small to help with the war effort.

This ad was part of the Food Administration's campaign to encourage Americans to replace their meat consumptions with fish, beans, and cheese.

This WWI poster was placed on a Clark Street streetcar line in Chicago. Here, Coca-Cola is stating their compliance with the WWI food regulations.

This WWI advertisement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture encourages Americans to kill rats, which are destroying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food needed for the war effort.

Apple Brown Betty Recipe

Adapted from the “Sweets Without Sugar” pamphlet distributed by the Federal Food Board of New York in 1918.

Start to finish: Approximately 1 hour
Servings: 10

5 medium apples
1 ¼ cups bread crumbs
4 tablespoons of melted butter or cooking fat
¼ cup hot water
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons dark corn syrup
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Grease a glass or ceramic baking dish and preheat oven to 350° F.

Pare the apples and cut them into thin slices. Toss the bread crumbs with the melted fat in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the hot water, lemon juice, corn syrup, salt and cinnamon together.

Distribute a third of the bread crumb mixture into the bottom of the greased dish and top with half of the sliced apples and half of the liquid. Repeat with another layer of bread crumbs, apples and liquid and top with the remaining bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.