Middlesex, February 1944, 5am: It was dark and pouring with rain, as Connie, an 18-year-old Land Girl, climbed onto her heavy bike and pedalled the two miles to her local farm. She was exhausted.
After a year of being in the Women’s Land Army (WLA), her back constantly ached, and she’d had to work in all weathers, often with bombs exploding in the near distance. But she was proud of what she did.
While the men were away fighting, Connie and thousands of Land Girls were bearing a battle of their own: to keep Britain alive, one muddy potato at a time.
‘I wanted to join the armed forces, but my dad wouldn’t let me,’ Connie, now 100, tells Metro. ‘He knew what the girls in the army got up to and he didn’t want me getting distracted by men. I could have gone to work in an ammunition factory. But I liked the outdoors, so I chose the Land Army instead.’
Despite the mental and physical toll, Connie still holds fond memories from her work in the WLA. As well as being where she met lifelong friend Mary, who has since passed away, she also found a sense of confidence and independence she’d never experienced.
‘There were no men around to ask me out, but I didn’t mind too much,’ she jokes. ‘Women liberated themselves in the war. We did what we wanted. And it gave us a taste of freedom we hadn’t felt before.’
Who were the Land Girls?
Unbeknown to many, the Women’s Land Army was originally formed in World War I. However, it was after its re-introduction in June 1939, just before the outbreak of World War II, that the fondly-named Land Girls are best remembered.
Farmhands were joining up to fight, leaving behind a shortage of agricultural labour, and the Government feared that conflict could lead to major food scarcity.
‘Until then, Britain had imported around 70% of its food,’ leading WLA historian, Dr Cherish Watton-Colbrook, tells Metro. ‘By the end, we were 70% self-sufficient. That shift was extraordinary – and Land Girls made it happen.’
With imports threatened by German blockades and farmland being reclaimed, thousands of women stepped into overalls and onto the fields.
‘They were thrown in at the deep end with little to no training,’ Dr Watton continues. ‘Some, who’d moved from urban cities, hadn’t even seen a cow before, and suddenly they were learning how to drive tractors, milk cows by hand, plant vegetables, and dig for hours in the frozen soil.’
The days were long, up at 5am and often working until dusk. Time off was also a rare occurrence, with most Land Girls only entitled to one week off a year. So how did they keep going?
What powered the women feeding Britain?
‘During World War II, the average British civilian’s diet was heavily shaped by rationing, which was introduced in 1940 to ensure fair distribution of food and other essentials,’ says WWII rationing expert and recipe historian Carolyn Ekin.
As she explains, the Government played a ‘massive and highly organised role’ in the wartime food scheme.
Every person received a ration book to track and manage how much of certain goods they bought, while public education became a key strategy.
Through the Ministry of Food, the Government issued campaigns, recipe booklets and radio cooking shows such as The Kitchen Front, all of which helped families stretch every ounce of leftovers.
‘While food was scarce and portions were small, calorie intake was generally adequate, and nutrition actually improved for many,’ Carolyn tells Metro.
But for Land Girls in particular, rationing wasn’t just survival – it was fuel for the front line of farming. As such, they received ‘special rations’, including extra cheese, bacon and sometimes eggs.
My week on a wartime diet
As a sheltered member of Gen Z, I’ll be the first to admit that I wouldn’t last a day doing what the Land Girls did. I don’t have the strength, stamina, or grit required to wake at 5am, haul buckets in the snow, and carry on with barely a day’s rest. But I am fascinated by food: what we eat, why we eat it, and what it says about us.
So, I decided to experience a slice of the Land Girls’ world through their diet.
To prepare, I tracked down an original wartime ration book on eBay. It once belonged to a woman named Beryl from Wolverhampton, and as I fingered its yellowed pages, the challenge suddenly felt real.
Building a five-day meal plan, I combed through vintage cookbooks, sought expert advice, and immersed myself in the diary of Doreen Peskett (courtesy of West Sussex Record Office), a Land Girl from Horsham who meticulously documented her daily life. Here’s how my week went…
Monday
Breakfast – Doreen’s fry-up
On Monday, April 8, 1940, Doreen writes: ‘Got down to milk the cows by quarter to six with the sun just rising behind the cow shed wall with no clouds in the sky. Did three cows this morning (or was it four?) and the washing up and then went up to breakfast about 9 o’clock. Had porridge, fried bread and sausages and toast and tea.’
Rather than my usual cereal and berries, I made a version of Doreen’s breakfast (minus the porridge), grilling Lincolnshire sausages, black pudding and tomatoes.
It was so filling, made all the richer by the bread, fried in beef dripping.
I could understand why it would have been an ideal breakfast for Doreen and her fellow Land Girls. I was certainly raring to go by the time I’d cleared my plate.
Lunch – Mock banana sandwiches on wholemeal bread
Brits throw away 3.2 billion bananas each year – 115 per household – according to research by Aldi. It’s a shocking figure as it is, but even more so when you consider how far people in the war would have gone to get their hands on the tropical fruit.
Pre WWII, bananas were already seen as a real treat, but on November 9, 1940, UK Minister of Food Lord Woolton ordered a complete ban on banana imports for the duration of the conflict, in order to use the refrigerated ships they were transported on for the war effort.
Soon enough, people were going bananas for the yellow fruit. Plaintive songs were even written about its absence, including Harry Roy’s absolute classic ‘When Can I Have a Banana Again?’. And so, it was down to the genius wartime cooks to come up with a substitute recipe: three teaspoons of caster sugar, two drops banana essence and one mashed up, boiled parsnip.
I was ready to gag as I took a tentative bite of the sandwich. But to my amazement, it wasn’t bad at all. The texture was just like banana, and although the flavour was a little synthetic – like a banana milkshake with subtle undertones of parsnip – I was pretty impressed and finished the whole round of sandwiches.
Tea – Carrot cookies
Remember your nan telling you ‘carrots will help you see in the dark’? Well, she was actually parroting World War II propaganda.
To prevent the Germans from finding out Britain was using radar to intercept bombers on night raids, the Government issued press releases claiming the allied pilots’ improved night vision was all down to eating carrots.
Of course, carrots do contain beta-carotene, which the body converts to Vitamin A – a key nutrient for boosting eye health. However, the Ministry of Food definitely stretched the truth. They also created Dr Carrot, a bright orange cartoon character who encouraged people to eat more vegetables to stay healthy during rationing.
With sugar heavily rationed, parents were told to get creative and give their children raw carrots on sticks, as if they were ice creams or lollipops, alongside substituting the root vegetable as a sweetener for desserts.
Inspired, I dug out an old recipe for cookies by wartime cook Marguerite Patten – and what a find! They were delightfully simple: just a dab of butter and sugar creamed together, with a splash of vanilla, a scoop of flour and baking powder, and then the star ingredient; four tablespoons of grated carrot.
Baked in a brisk oven until golden brown, these little wartime wonders turned out crisp on the outside and soft within. They tasted more like vanilla biscuits than carrot cake – sweet and moist, thanks to the clever veggie addition. My only complaint? Wartime cookies were tiny compared to today’s chunky treats!
Dinner – Homity pie with cabbage
Legend has it the Land Girls whipped up this hearty pie, tossing together what ingredients they had, including a filling of potatoes, onion and cheese, encased in shortcrust pastry.
The exact original recipe has been lost in time. But with the help of my trusty experts, I cobbled together a version that felt true to its roots. It was humble fare at its best, rich with the sweet bite of onion – and so satisfyingly dense, I was bursting out of my jeans!
Tuesday
Breakfast – Porridge made with water and dried fruit (not as tasty as Doreen’s fry-up)
Lunch – Cold homity pie
Tea – Two carrot cookies and an apple
Dinner – Bubble and squeak
Bubble and squeak was a common wartime dish, and a clever way of using up leftover vegetables like potatoes and cabbage. To jazz things up a bit, I topped mine with a fried egg. It was simple but surprisingly tasty.
Wednesday
Breakfast – Dripping on toast and apple
Lunch – Cold homity pie
Tea – Carrot cookies and dried fruit
Dinner – Tomato Veranese
This dish – from The Women’s Land Army Variety in Cooking book (a charity cookbook by the Land Girls themselves) – was the ultimate comfort food: a wholesome pasta bake made by layering beef tomatoes, tender macaroni, and a rich, creamy cheese sauce. After baking in the oven, it came out bubbling and delicious.
Thursday
Breakfast – Porridge and dried fruit
Lunch – Tomato and boiled egg sandwiches
I wasn’t a fan of this sandwich, but I reckon Doreen would have been.
On Wednesday, June 26, 1940, she writes: ‘After a while I went along the main shopping road to Marks and Spencer’s etc and got some tomatoes which make all the difference to the very dull tea of bread and butter. I also had a boiled egg which is a luxury.’
Tea – Ration chocolate
In 1941, the British Government banned fresh milk in chocolate production, forcing manufacturers like Cadbury’s to create ‘ration chocolate’ using skimmed milk powder instead.
Being a chocoholic, I had to try it, so I bought some authentic, wartime-inspired chocolate bar from the RAF Museum. I assumed the milk powder would make it crumbly and not very sweet, but it was surprisingly creamy.
Dinner – Chicken fricassee
During rationing, farmers had to seek permission to slaughter animals for food consumption, but if the animal was injured, it could be put down to end its suffering. Conveniently, many sheep and pigs seem to fall down holes around birthdays and other family celebrations.
On Christmas Eve in 1943, Doreen describes a meat feast, writing: ‘We nearly killed ourselves with laughing. Up to Wednesday there wasn’t anything to have apart from ordinary meat and then Ma got hold of two rabbits and a goose. She said (to me), “now if Doreen comes home with a chicken, it would just cap it all!”‘
I didn’t fancy rabbit or goose, so I made a chicken fricassee instead from the WLA cookbook. The meat was succulent in a smooth, garlicky sauce with mashed potato, spinach, and peas. Yum.
Friday
Breakfast – Porridge and dried fruit
Lunch – Homemade apple jam sandwiches
I absolutely loved this. It wasn’t sweet like the strawberry jam we have today – it was slightly tangy with a hint of cinnamon.
Tea – Chocolate fridge cake
This recipe from the WLA cookbook would have been a real treat to the Land Girls, and certainly was for me after a week of very little sugar. It was divinely rich with dark chocolate, crushed digestive biscuits and golden syrup.
Dinner – Spam hash with spinach
Fun fact: over 100 million pounds of Spam was shipped from America to Great Britain and the other allies during the war. So, channelling wartime grit, I finally tackled making a Spam hash. I was dreading it, but although a bit spongy, the canned meat was bearable.
My verdict
Overall, I enjoyed making all the dishes. While they were a little carb-heavy for my desk-bound lifestyle (it’s a wonder I don’t look like Mrs Potato Head right now) I can see such food was vital fuel for the Land Girls.
Ultimately though, I found it inspiring to step into the shoes of these extraordinary women, and it was an honour to be able to interview former Land Girl Connie.
This article was first published on May 5, 2025.
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