What were blue points and red points?

What were blue points and red points?

Individuals wishing to purchase foods under the red points scheme, which included meat, fish and dairy, were issued with 64 points to use per month. For blue points goods, including canned and bottled foods, people were given 48 points per person for each month.

What were blue points and red points ww2?

The OPA allotted a certain amount of points to each food item based on its availability, and customers were allowed to use 48 ‘blue points’ to buy canned, bottled or dried foods, and 64 ‘red points’ to buy meat, fish and dairy each month—that is, if the items were in stock at the market.

What is a red point OPA?

OPA issued rationing stamps at the start of World War Two and issued red and blue OPA tokens to make exact change for people buying food with ration stamps. The red OPA tokens were for things like meats and fats, while the blue tokens were for processed foods.

What were tokens used for during ww2?

Tokens were used with coupons of the same color to pay for rationed items, and were received as change from coupons when purchasing goods. The red tokens were used for meat, the blue tokens were used for non-meat items.

What are red tokens?

These basically were “small change” for stamps from ration books. Some products required red tokens in change while other products required blue tokens as change. These tokens were issued from 1942 to 1945 when rationing ended.

What is an Opa Blue Point coin?

OPA coins (commonly called OPA’s) were used for change for food. OPA’s were used by retailers to give change back for food bought with ration stamps. There are 30 different red tokens and 24 blue ones. They are all vulcanized fiber (celluloid) and 16 mm in size.

How did ration books work in ww2?

The Ministry of Food was responsible for overseeing rationing. Every man, woman and child was given a ration book with coupons. These were required before rationed goods could be purchased. Basic foodstuffs such as sugar, meat, fats, bacon and cheese were directly rationed by an allowance of coupons.