When America entered WWII after Pearl Harbor, the war reached into almost every part of life. In order for the war effort to be successful, people at home had to make changes. One of the biggest was rationing. Rationing limited what people could buy. This allowed more of certain foods, clothing, even tires and gasoline to be used on the battlefield where they were needed more urgently than at home. According to information from the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, “red rationing covered all meats, butter, fat, oils, and most cheese. Blue rationing covered canned, bottled, and frozen fruits and vegetables, plus juices and dry beans.” The amount of rationed goods any family could purchase depended upon their having unused ration tokens like those in the picture. Shoppers also needed ration books and stamps. Some of those will also be on display, along with the pictured tokens, in the Gratiot County Historical Museum’s spring exhibit on WWII.