Rationing in the United Kingdom Rationing in the United Kingdom Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and immediately after a war. At the start of the Second World War in 1939, the United Kingdom was importing 20,000,000 long tons of food per year, including about 70% of its cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of fruits and about 70% of cereals and fats. The UK also imported more than half of its meat, and relied on imported feed to support its domestic meat production. The civilian population of the country was about 50 million. It was one
Rationing in Cuba palm fronds. It was estimated in the early 2000s that the rationing covered between one third and one half of a family's needs. President Raul Castro moved to eliminate many products from the rationing system, including potatoes and peas. The "libreta" is not the only means of acquiring goods available to a Cuban citizen, as many of these and other products are freely available on the "mercado libre" (free market) and "mercado paralelo" (parallel market), and in the numerous supermarkets and stores that sell goods in convertible pesos. (Such stores were originally set up taking United States Dollars and were