Many politicians, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson have portrayed our struggle against coronavirus as 'a war' - with the soldiers wearing scrubs and masks this time rather than camouflage and helmets.

What, then, is the role of the folks who have been ordered to stay at home in this conflict?

Similar to the Second World War, we are being asked to change the way we live in order to help those at the front line - staying indoors as much as possible will reduce our contact with people and thus stem the virus' spread.

Food rationing in Britain was introduced in 1940, as Germans tried to cut off supplies, and lasted until 1954.

Among other items, restrictions were placed on the amount of meat, dairy and sweet stuff people could eat, leading many to be inventive and thrifty with their cooking.

In the past few weeks, people have changed how they eat, with supermarkets introducing restrictions on the number of items shoppers can buy, queues to get into stores and families picking up a spade and growing their own veg.

Panic buyers stripping shelves bare also means we have sometimes had to make do with what we can find.

Roping in my partner, Alex, and friend George, I attempted to stick to Second World War rations, while eating lots of fruit and vegetables, which were not rationed. I also tried some creative recipes, with differing levels of success.

Here is what an adult was typically limited to per week, as issued by the Ministry of Food:

Bacon, four slices

Cheese, 2 oz

Other meats, 2 small chops

Butter, 2 oz

Cheese, 2 oz

Cooking fat, 4 oz

Milk, 3 pints,

Plus 1 packet dried milk per month

Sugar 8 oz

Preserves, every two months, 1 lb

Tea, 2 oz

Egg, 1

Plus 1 packet dried egg per month

Sweets 12 oz every four weeks

Monday

Breakfast: Porridge and a handful of strawberries

Lunch: Butternut squash soup with a slice of bread and butter

Dinner: Jacket potato with butter, cheese, lettuce, tomato and cucumber

Pudding: Strawberries with a few pieces of chocolate

Tuesday

Breakfast: Porridge with jam and half a banana (this was before I realised people could not get bananas in the Second World War)

Lunch: Cheese sandwich with lettuce and tomato

Snack: Slice of toast with butter and jam

Dinner: Roasted potatoes, carrots, parsnips, leeks and four rashers of bacon between three

Pudding: Stawberries with a few pieces of chocolate

Wednesday

Breakfast: Porridge with spoonful of sugar and half a banana (see above)

Lunch: Bacon sandwich (two rashers) and cucumber sticks

Snacks: A pear

Dinner: Cottage Pie

Thursday: Pieces of chocolate and cherries

Thursday

Breakfast: Porridge with spoonful of sugar plus two strawberries

Lunch: Oatmeal cheese rarebit on toast with cucumber sticks

Snack: A pear

Dinner: Cottage pie

Pudding: Bread and butter pudding with cherries

Friday

Breakfast: Two slices of toasts with margarine and a scrape of jam

Snack: Piece of toast with margarine and an apple, plus homemade lemonade

Lunch: Cheese toastie, two carrots

Dinner: Mash potato with peas, gravy granules, onions and two carrots wrapped in a piece of bacon

Pudding: Strawberries and pieces of chocolate

Saturday

Breakfast: A piece of toast with margarine

Lunch: Potato scones with butter and jam

Snack: Apple and carrot sticks

Dinner: Potato Jane

Pudding: Strawberries

Sunday

Breakfast: Porridge with an apple

Lunch: Potato scones with butter

Dinner: Potato Jane

Pudding: A few pieces of chocolate

Verdict

Three words defined this week: Potatoes, potatoes and potatoes. I couldn't have done it without them, whether it was mashing them, sneaking pieces into scones or layering slices with carrots and leak to make potato Jane, they were always by my side.

The great failure of the week was the rarebit. Don't let the name fool you, it is really just cheesy porridge thickened with flour and water and it was revolting. Even thinking of the meal now makes me queasy.

My lemonade was also a great disappointment. Unable to purchase fizzy drinks from the shop, I pictured myself sipping homemade lemonade in the garden, decanted from a stylish pitcher, after a tiring run.

The reality was flat lemon water (why was I expecting it to be fizzy?) with floating bits of zest, plopped into a Sainsbury's soup container. A great deal of our allotted sugar was also wasted on the tepid drink, which was shoved into the back of the fridge and promptly forgotten about.

The bread and butter pudding was such a success that we scoffed it all in one sitting, even though I had intended it to last for at least two days.

Potato scones are surprisingly delicious and filling. Even the raw dough was nice, according to my housemate who was not taking part in the challenge, and kept sneaking into the kitchen for secret spoonfuls.

I have gained a new respect for the families who lived on rations and also grew their own vegetables on top of that. Used to making a weekday meal in about about 40 minutes or less, I was tired just after cooking the cottage pie and bread and butter pudding from scratch.

Plus it was my day off so all I had done apart from cook was watch a film and some yoga.

Lying awake at night I calculated how much butter and sugar we had left for the next day. I was only doing this for a week, so the stress on parents trying to give their children nourishing food every day must have been relentless.

We were ravenous by dinner time, and on Monday night my stomach felt like an empty pit. That was when I remembered we had only eaten a potato, a carrot and a parsnip, plus some bacon each. The boys, wisely, didn't complain, despite training for a marathon in October.

In the day, the only comforting snacks were cucumber sticks and toast.

During the war, many families ate less sugar, fat and meat than they were used to, which had recognised health benefits.

However, although I was often hungry, I was eating much more butter, milk, flour and potatoes than I usually do. This left me feeling bloated and itching to reach for my one cal oil spray.

The week made me appreciate what we still have. Yes the shops may be out of your favourite kind of Oreo but there is normally a perfectly good substitute in the shelf below. Aisles are still getting restocked every morning with ready meals and pre-prepared veg. There is enough for everyone if we all shop sensibly, as the supermarket giants said in an open letter a few weeks ago.

Thank goodness we are not all eating cheesy porridge - you can take my word for it.

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