When I started hearing stories about shortages of baking staples like flour and yeast due to high demand, I couldn’t help thinking about all of the WWII rationing recipes I’ve read as part of my research. Rationing serious restricted the ability of people in Britain to get access to certain basic ingredients like white flour, butter, and sugar.

I’ve done a little dive into my research files, and found a gem of a pamphlet from the Stork Margarine Cookery Service called “Tea-Time in War-Time” from March 1943. The company writes, “We are giving you various tea-time, high-tea savouries and salad recipes, all of which are very easy on your rationed ingredients and will help you save bread.” It goes on to say that cooked potatoes are used in most of these recipes as a base.

Here are just a few recipes if you’re feeling particularly ambitious during your self-isolation.

An RAF and WAAF cook. (Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum.)

Potato Pastry Savoury Tarts

6oz mashed potatoes

3oz self-rising flour

1 1/2oz margarine or cooking fat

Pinch of salt

Sieve flour and salt into a bowl. Rub in the margarine. Add the potato and rub in. Press together until the mixture forms a ball and leaves the sides of the basin clean. No water for mixing needed. Roll out thinly on a floured board. Cut into rounds and put into well-greased patty tins as for jam tarts. Put about a teaspoonful and a half of salmon and anchovy filling in each and bake 30 to 40 minutes in a moderately hot oven.

Salmon and Anchovy Filling

4 tblsps mashed potato

4 tblsps salmon and anchovy filling

A little household milk

Seasoning if needed

Mix the fish paste and potato well together with a little household milk until the mixture is smooth and free from lumps and is of a spreading consistency. Add seasoning if required.