Wartime Meal Placemat

Today you will get a 'taste' of what life was like on the home front during the war years. This lunch has dishes made from recipes popular during the Second World War...

'Coke Bottle' Bread

So how would you send a glass bottle of soda to a Canadian in uniform serving overseas during the Second World War? Bake a big loaf of bread, make a hole in it then stick the bottle inside, of course! The bread made a great cushioning 'shipping container'... and was good to eat, too!

Pea Soup

Simple dishes made from foods grown in their own gardens were a staple of home meals during the wartime years. Pea soup is a great example of this kind of basic, home-cooked cuisine.

Meat Loaf

Meals from the war eras were generally uncomplicated - and meatloaf is the kind of simple dish that characterized the type of foods eaten at home to allow more to be sent to those serving overseas.

Bread Pudding (with brown sugar sauce)

Even during the war years, people were still people and liked to have dessert with their meals! Bread pudding is an example of a simple dessert of the day made from readily-available ingredients. Brown sugar was used because white sugar was tightly rationed.

During the war years, Canadians on the home front had to make great contributions and sacrifices to support those who were fighting overseas. One way they did this was by 'rationing' (restricting their consumption of scarce resources like rubber, gasoline and metal - as well as certain foods like meat, eggs, sugar, chocolate and coffee). By limiting the kinds of things eaten at home, more food could be sent to the Canadian men and women serving overseas who needed all the support they could get in order to help the Allies win the war...