Rations! Rations! Ration! The one stop thread about German Rations of WWII.

[djpool]

Dirk-Nice picture. The cans pictured were used for a variety of products. We could never find any evidence to show that bread was packed in 400 or 500g cans.

Simon- I love those plain Jane fish cans. We could never quite break the code on them. Some have dates, letter or number codes (we believe they might be factory codes). Most don't have a product code and wartime pictures show they didn't have paper labels, so how do you know whats in the can? We assume the shape was enough info to tell the soldier it was a fish product. We didn't discuss ALU Din and what that meant because we only had part of the story. Alu Din originally meant the percentage of actual aluminum in the can. That works great for numbers below 100. But later in the war you find milk cans marked Alu Din 252 etc. Still a lot of mysteries to be solved.

I've been working on how to display my ration items better. Its slowly coming along.

Jim

[Uno]

Hello!
Sardines and a cream for footwear. It has been found near the city of Mtsensk, the West of Russia.

[HERMSDORF]

Here´s my Camembert Cheese Cardbox..

Best Regards

Andy

[djpool]

Andy and Uno, nice items and thanks for showing them. The sardine can looks to be in great condition.

In the book we didn't provide detailed information on what to look for in determining if an item is pre May 8, 1945 or postwar. Given all the variables I doubt anyone could come up with a definitive guide. We showed several items in the book that were priced in ration stamp equivalents. We didn't specifically point out that feature for all the products shown. Germany started rationing selected groups of food starting in 1939-bread, butter, meat being the most notable. If an item is priced in ration stamp equivalents that is a strong indicator it is wartime. Rationing was not abolished in Germany until July 1947, so there is a possibility postwar products could have been priced in ration stamps. We didn't research the immediate postwar Germany economy so we really can't comment on the pricing system. Here are two products in the book that are priced in ration stamp equivalents, but not captioned as such.Jim

[unorosso]

Hello Jim
very nice display but, what is that Bahlsen red can ?

[djpool]

Its a can of pretzels priced in Brotmark. In the book we show some soldiers with Bahlsen pretzels. The can itself is made from paper stock. Jim

Hello Jim
very nice display but, what is that Bahlsen red can ?

[unorosso]

wow, can you show some pics of it ?

[djpool]

Here you go.These are the pictures shown in the book.Jim

wow, can you show some pics of it ?

[unorosso]

Thank you Jim, very nice can, I would like to have it; keks boxes or cans are not easy to find.

[kevinpre45]

Keks Box

Hello
Beleave it or not I found the keks box on ebay for 6$ .Spent alot of time searching though!
Kevin

[djpool]

Kevin,

Sometimes you get lucky especially if your patient. Heres a 1934 ad from the August Grill courtesy Thomas Salazar.Jim

OMETIMES

Hello
Beleave it or not I found the keks box on ebay for 6$ .Spent alot of time searching though!
Kevin

[unorosso]

Hello
Beleave it or not I found the keks box on ebay for 6$ .Spent alot of time searching though!
Kevin

Hi Kevin,
when you found it on ebay ?
Regards
Pino

[unorosso]

Hey Jim,
nice interestin ad.
Have you ever seen pictures of German soldiers who used large Maggi or Knorr cans for preparing soups?
Pino

[djpool]

Heres a picture from the book. Jim

Hey Jim,
nice interestin ad.
Have you ever seen pictures of German soldiers who used large Maggi or Knorr cans for preparing soups?
Pino

[djpool]

Here is the pre war picture and patent for Perga packaging which unfortunately we couldn't use in the book.