Even before a food supply system was organized, on June 10, 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Council set the daily allowance or ration for its troops in Boston as:
One pound of bread
Half a pound of beef and half a pound of pork; and if pork cannot be had, one pound and a quarter of beef; and one day in seven they shall have one pound and one quarter of salt fish, instead of one day's allowance of meat
One pint of milk, or if milk cannot be had, one gill [half a cup] of rice
One quart of good spruce or malt beer
One gill of peas or beans, or other sauce equivalent
Six ounces of good butter per week
One pound of good common soap for six men per week
Half a pint of vinegar per week per man, if it can be had.
