A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
SECTION V
BOUGHT CAKES AND BISCUITS
In this section information is given on the following points:-
(1) The extent to which housewives buy cakes and biscuits.
(2) The increase and decrease in these purchases during the last few years.
(3) The difficulties which would be caused by a cut in the supplies of cakes.
Summary of results
92% of the housewives in the sample had bought either cakes or biscuits or both during the week before the interview.
Of the three kinds of baked products under investigation, biscuits were bought by the greatest number of housewives, but this might have been due to the fact that interviewing was carried out during the first two weeks of a points ration period.
The smaller cakes were those bought more frequently.
A little more than a third (37%) of the sample buy any one of these commodities more often than they did a few years ago. Of this 37%, two-thirds do so because they cannot do so much baking as they used to.
58% of those who serve cakes say it would cause them serious inconvenience if supplies were cut down. The others feel that cakes and biscuits are, more or less, a luxury which should be given up if it would help to win the war. Those who say they would experience hardship give as their main reason the fact that bought cakes are in themselves only substitutes for home-made cakes and biscuits.
No statistically significant group difference could be found.
1. The extent to which housewives buy cakes and biscuits
1.1 The great majority of housewives (92%) buy these foods.
1.2 Two-thirds of the sample had bought either large or small cakes or both during the previous week, and 86% had bought biscuits. Small cakes were bought more frequently than large ones.
Table 2
How often last week did you buy large cakes, small cakes, or biscuits?
| Large Cakes | Small Cakes | Biscuits | |
| % | % | % | |
| None | 32 | 33 | 14 |
| Once | 39 | 23 | 54 |
| 2 - 4 times | 15 | 25 | 19 |
| More than 4 times | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Not answered | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Never serve at all | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| SAMPLE | 4398 | 4398 | 4398 |
2. The decrease and increase in the purchases of cakes and biscuits
2.1 37% of the housewives in the sample buy either large cakes, or small cakes or both now more often than they did before. There is a slightly greater number buying large and small cakes more often, as compared with those who buy them less often now. On the other hand, the number buying fewer biscuits is nearly twice as great as the number who buy them more frequently.
Table 3
Do you buy large cakes, small cakes, biscuits?
| Large Cakes | Small Cakes | Biscuits | |
| % | % | % | |
| More often | 28 | 27 | 18 |
| Less often | 25 | 23 | 33 |
| SAMPLE | 4398 | 4398 | 4398 |
2.2 Of the 37% who buy either more large or small cakes or biscuits or all three now, 31% eat more of these foods than they used to, and the rest buy more because they cannot bake as much as they did before rationing came into force. Thus, roughly a tenth of all housewives considered that their families were eating more cakes than they used to.
3. Inconvenience caused by a cut in supply of cakes
3.1 Slightly more than half of the housewives who buy cakes regularly say it would cause them serious inconvenience if supplies were cut down. (Reactions to a cut in the supplies of biscuits were not investigated here).
Table 4
If fewer cakes were available, would it cause you hardshi p ?
| % of sample | % of those using cakes | |
| Yes | 42 | 58 |
| No | 27 | 37 |
| Not answered | 3 | 5 |
| Never use | 27 | - |
| SAMPLE | 4398 | 3174 |
The main reason given as to why a cut in supplies would cause hardship is that bought cakes replace home-made pastry, baking having to be cut down through lack of ingredients. The following are some of the reasons given:
“Before war made everything at home, now family has to eat bought cakes.”
“Have to buy cakes because of the shortage of fat for home cooking.”
“Sunday is the only time we really have tea, and it would be hard, as my daughter is home then, but if it is going to win the war if we don’t have it, don’t let us have it.”
“If I couldn’t get any buns it would be hard.”
“They are a substitute of other foods we can’t get.”
“Because we don’t need points for cakes and they are cheap,”
“I should miss the cakes very much, I miss that we can’t have the biscuits we used to have.”
“We use a lot to fill in the biscuits we used to have, we can’t spare the points.”
The numerical distribution for the reasons given is shown in the next table.