In the Second World War flour was sold loose and weighed out into bags by the grocer. Manufacturers obviously wanted their brand to be recognised by consumers, so supplied the grocers with empty flour bags with their branding printed on it. Although today we buy flour in 2lb bags, during the Second World War 1lb bags were just as common and today we have an unused bag for ‘Victory’ brand flour:

The front of the bag has the manufacturer’s name ‘Porters’ and depicts a central image of Nelson’s Column with a pair of aircraft overhead:

Flour was very much at the front of the war on waste on the home front. The British were very fond of their white flour for bread and cake making. In order to make the country’s wheat go further it was agreed to increase the level of extraction of flour up to 85% of the grain, equivelant to wholemeal flour today. Today wholemeal flour is very popular and seen as a healthier choice, in World War Two however the British people were less than impressed with this change to the national diet. National flour remained in production until 1956 and was then dropped and normal white flour production resumed. It would be several more decades until the health benefits of wholemeal saw a resurgence in popularity for this brown flour.