Food ration books for every man, woman and child came into use on the 8 January 1940.  Food rationing took five principal forms:

• Simple, ordinary rationing of certain basic foods: sugar, meat, fats, bacon, tea, cheese.
• Points rationing for tinned goods, dried fruit, cereals and pulses, syrup and treacle,  biscuits etc.
• Group rationing, where the total amount could be taken in one of several commodities, e.g. jam and other preserves.
• Distribution of a number of important foods (e.g. milk, dried milk, eggs, dried eggs and oranges) were controlled to ensure that priority allowances were made available for those who needed them most, e.g. babies, expectant mothers, and invalids.
• Rationing of sweets began on 26 July 1942. The general ration book contained two pages of personal points to be used solely for obtaining sweets.

De-Rationing
Clothes were de-rationed in March 1949; bread in July 1948 (this was only rationed on the 21 July 1946); jam in December 1948; petrol in May 1950; tea in October 1952; sweets in February 1953; eggs in March 1953; cream in April 1953; sugar in September 1953; butter, cheese, margarine and cooking fats in May 1954; and finally meat in June 1954.

A much more detailed description of the rationing system and the variations in ration scales during the war is available to purchase from the Department of Printed Books.

Sources:
Food by R.J. Hammond. - London: HMSO, 1951-62. - 3 vols.: figs.; 25cm. - index. - (History of the Second World War : United Kingdom civil series) Volume 1 : The growth of policy. Volume 2 : Studies in administration and control. Volume 3 : Studies in administration and control.