Rationing was necessary so countries could provide enough food for soldiers to continue their war efforts. With the entirety of the world at war, most trade was halted and economies were struggling. As a result, countries globally faced a challenging hunger issue, which they attempted to solve by implementing rationing. Each country issued its citizens' coupon books with which they were able to buy groceries. Each family member was given their own amount of coupons, so larger families would end up with more food. Due to the plummeting global economy, many poor people would sell their coupons to those in the upper social classes. This created a black market for rationing coupons. Coupon book dealers would often keep “special products” behind the counter for trade on the black market. Some people would even steal coupon books and turn them in for extra rations. By 1941, only a year after rationing was implemented, the government had prosecuted nearly 2300 people and severely penalized them for fraud and dishonesty.

When families would go to the grocery store, they needed to hand in coupons whenever they wanted to buy sugar, butter, meats, or any item of clothing. This forced families to drastically change their lifestyles and specifically change their diets. Some families resorted to starting gardens and eating a lot of their own vegetables. Other families would use substitute products like powdered milk instead of dairy milk or margarine instead of butter. Most families ended up eating way less meat, fat, eggs, and sugar than they would have before this was implemented. Trying to fill in the lost nutrients was difficult for a lot of families to do. They had to switch up a lot of their recipes and change the way they ate. People with bad diets to begin with benefitted from the rationing because they got the same rations as everyone else. This would increase their intake of proteins and vitamins. Another change was that families could not waste food. This was not a big problem because of the great depression, so a lot of families were already used to this. But for some families, this was a change in their lifestyle.

Poor families were hit the hardest during this time period. As previously stated, the economy plummeted, making it difficult for the lower class to stay on their feet. One way they did so was by selling rationing points to people in higher socio-economic classes who would pay top dollar for extra points. Despite the lower class losing their points, in a way, it was a win for both classes. The lower class found a way to make money, something previously they were unable to do, and the upper class got more food to eat so they didn't have to go hungry. The only real losers were people in the middle class who couldn't afford to buy the rationing points the way the higher class was able to. However, a lot of people in the middle class were able to grow their own gardens so they could sort of sustain themselves. Many public parks turned into large gardens for citizens who didn't have enough land to grow enough food for themselves. The government actually encouraged this, and created a scheme known as “Dig for Victory”.

Some foods were never rationed but commonly ended up in short supply due to the high demand and very limited supply. Fruits and vegetables were never rationed because they could easily be grown locally. Tomatoes, onions, and fruits that are grown overseas especially were in high demand often because they could not be harvested in America. Rationing finally ended in the early 1950s. It happened slowly, as certain products over time kept becoming unrationed. While different items became more readily available at their own respective rates, meat was the last food article to become more widespread again, becoming an everyday commodity in 1954.