Britain had not beenself-sufficient in food stuffs since about 1770, and at the outbreak of WW2 about 70% of our food (around 22 million tons a year) together with significant amounts of animal feed, had to be imported, including

• 80% of our fruit
• 75% of our cheese, cereals, tea and sugar
• 50% of our meat.

Planning for the expected and inevitable shortages in the event of war had been instigated in 1936. When war did come the basics of a rationing scheme were ready and 50 million ration books had already been printed.

The Ministry of Food, with around 15,000 employees, had a huge task. It was responsible for

• assessing the needs of the nation
• procuring supplies
• getting shipping for the cargoes
• distributing the food
• the rationing scheme
• subsidies and price controls.

It was not just about rationing and 'fair shares for all'. The scheme was carefully designed to ensure an adequate diet and that the special needs of, for example, expectant mothers, babies, infant children and the sick were catered for.

All this was extremely complicated and had to be done using pen and paper, mail, personal contact and the telephone (which was itself not universal).

No computers, data processing or e-mail then!

The Imperial War Museum has a wonderful set of resources on this subject - here's just an example!