---
title: 'Food is a munition of war: don''t waste it'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-is-a-munition-of-war-dont-waste-it-1939/
description: A black flag lettered 'FOOD is a munition of war' flies over the line 'Don't waste it', with the Ministry of Food badge at the staff.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Food is a munition of war: don't waste it](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/food-is-a-munition-of-war-dont-waste-it-1939.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/food-is-a-munition-of-war-dont-waste-it-1939.jpg)

# Food is a munition of war: don't waste it

A black flag lettered 'FOOD is a munition of war' flies over the line 'Don't waste it', with the Ministry of Food badge at the staff. Calling food a 'munition' and giving it a flag lends the standing of the fighting forces to household thrift: the borrowed war symbol is the tell.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
FOOD
IS A MUNITION OF WAR
DON'T WASTE IT
[imprint, lower margin, too small to read: printed for H.M. Stationery Office; issued by the Ministry of Food] [illegible]
```

Read from the committed image.

[← Varokaa! Vakoilija! (Beware! Spy!): Finnish Winter War poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/finland-varokaa-vakoilijaa-1939/) ['My Struggle!' by Adolf Hitler, the sculptor (British poster in Arabic) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hitler-sculptor-swastika-arabic-1939/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)