# Dinner on a card

Autumn 1981: bread, milk, oil, sugar and meat sell only on a ration card —
individual or family, which guaranteed nothing.

- Decree 306/9 October 1981: stockpiling above one family's monthly needs
  (oil, sugar, flour, cornmeal, rice, coffee) = speculation, 6 months–5 years;
  3-day surrender deadline; sugar and oil only at the assigned shop.
- Rational-eating programme: 2,800–3,000 calories/day ceiling (1982–1985).
  A family of 4, one week: 78,400–84,000 calories.
- February 1982: +35% on 220 foods.
- Motru, 19 October 1981, after 4 p.m.: card rationing reaches the mining
  zones (exempted like Bucharest); 11,000 commuters on 87 routes.
- The queue: bag and carrier, “whoever finds it, buys it”, double portions
  with a borrowed child, 46-hour working week.

Sources: Buțea 2014 (STUDIUM), Decree 306, CNSAS Motru, Massino 2003
interviews, Ion Mincu 2018, Library of Congress 1989. Undocumented: per-product
1980s gram rations; 1981 card colours.

https://mariuscomper.uk/cartela-de-paine/en/