British & German rations.
WWI Document Archive > Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences > British & German rations.
Haythornthwaite, Philip J, The World War One Sourcebook, Arms and Armour Press, A Cassell Imprint, 1992, pps 380-81.
Haythornthwaite gives the following as the rations allocated to British, Indian and
German troops, 1914 and 1916.
British Daily Ration, 1914:
1 1/4 lb fresh or frozen meat, or 1 lb preserved or salt meat; 1 1/4 lb bread, or 1 lb biscuit or flour; 4 oz. bacon; 3 oz. cheese; 5/8 oz. tea; 4 oz. jam; 3 oz. sugar; 1/2 oz salt; 1/36 oz. pepper; 1/20 oz. mustard; 8 oz. fresh or 2 oz. dried vegetables;
1/10 gill lime juice if fresh
vegetables not issued;* 1/2 gill rum;* not exceeding 2 oz. tobacco per week.
(* at discretion of commanding general.)
The following substitutions were permitted if necessary: 4 oz. oatmeal or rice instead of 4 oz. bread or biscuit; 1/30 oz. chocolate instead of 1/6 oz. tea; 1 pint porter instead of 1 ration spirit; 4 oz. dried fruit instead of 4 oz. jam; 4 oz. butter, lar
d or margarine, or 1/2 gill oil, instead of 4 oz. bacon.
British Daily Ration, India:
1 lb fresh meat; 1 lb bread; 3 oz. bacon; 1 lb potatoes; 1 oz. tea; 2 1/2 oz. sugar; 1/2 oz salt; 1/36 oz. pepper.
British daily ration, Indian troops:
1/4 lb fresh meat; 1/8 lb potatoes; 1/3 oz. tea; 1/2 oz salt; 1 1/2 lb atta; 4 oz. dhall; 2 oz. ghee; 1/6 oz. chillies; 1/6 oz turmeric; 1/3 oz. ginger; 1/6 oz. garlic; 1 oz. gur.
British Iron Ration, carried in the field:
1 lb. preserved meat; 12 oz. biscuit; 5/8 oz. tea; 2 oz. sugar; 1/2 oz. salt; 3 oz. cheese; 1 oz. meat extract (2 cubes.)
German Daily Ration, 1914
(measured in grams; ounce equivalent in parentheses):
750g (26 1/2 oz) bread, or 500g (17 1/2 oz) field biscuit, or 400g (14 oz.) egg biscuit; 375g (13 oz.) fresh or frozen meat, or 200g (7 oz) preserved meat; 1,500g (53 oz.) potatoes, or 125-250g (4 1/2-9 oz.) vegetables, or 60g (2 oz.) dried vegetables, or
600g (21 oz.) mixed potatoes and dried vegetables; 25g (9/10 oz.) coffee, or 3g (1/10 oz.) tea; 20g (7/10 oz.)
sugar; 25g (9/10 oz.) salt; two cigars and two cigarettes or 1 oz. pipe tobacco, or 9/10 oz. plug tobacco, or 1/5 oz. snuff; at discretion of commanding officer: 0.17 pint spirits, 0.44 pint wine, 0.88 pint beer.
The meat ration was reduced progressively during the war, and one meatless day per week was introduced from June 1916; by the end of that year it was 250g (8 3/4 oz.) fresh meat or 150g (5 1/4 oz.) preserved, or 200g (7 oz) fresh meat for support and train personnel. At the same time the sugar ration was only 17g (6/10 oz.).
German Iron Ration:
250g (8.8 oz) biscuit; 200g (7 oz.) preserved meat or 170g (6 oz.) bacon; 150g (5.3 oz.) preserved vegetables; 25g (9/10 oz.) coffee; 25g (9/10 oz.) salt.
WWI Document Archive > Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences > British & German rations.