This film is part of Free
Oatmeal Porridge
Learn the benefits of good old porridge, plus the wartime way to cook it - in a hay box under your kitchen table!
Overview
Fuel up for a busy day with good old oatmeal porridge - cooked according the easy-to-follow instructions - in this Ministry of Information film from the early days of WWII. It might not have the most glamorous of subjects, but this meticulous short film drives home the essential point of wartime cookery: finding ingenious ways to make do with less.
The hay box under the kitchen table may seem a labour intensive way to make breakfast, but saving fuel in any way possible was important during wartime. Coal, gas and electricity weren't rationed until 1942, but from the outset government propaganda encouraged people to be thrifty in order to help the war effort. Other instalments in the same Cookery Hints series included Potatoes and How to Bake, also available on BFI Player. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.
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