Diary of Anne Frank and Food Rationing

Anne Frank's diary entry, dated March 14, 1944: "The people from whom we obtained food coupons have been caught, so we just have our five ration cards and no extra coupons, and no fats...so the atmosphere is dreary and dejected, and so is the food."

In order to give students a better understanding of the food rationing system, we spent a couple of days learning about the point values of certain foods. (See this article for details about the process). Next, students applied the points system by planning a week's worth of meals --calculating the number of blue and red points used each day. (Click on the picture below to enlarge.) Students realized that meal planning is a complicated process when you have to limit/ration the number of points you use.   As Anne Frank describes, "Our food is miserable.  Dry bread and coffee substitute for breakfast.  Dinner: spinach or lettuce for a fortnight on end" (April 27, 1943).