Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices in 1930, as shown in this ad for Donahoe’s food store, 421 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, in the July 18, 1930 issue of the Pittsburgh Press.

The prices look like bargains, but there’s been a lot of inflation since 1930. According to this inflation calculator, one dollar in 1930 was the equivalent of $16.12 in 2021 dollars. So you could get a pound of butter for 40 cents, but that works out to over six dollars. And a dozen eggs were 31 cents, but that’s almost five dollars today. But if you bought them both at the same time, you would only pay 69 cents, instead of the full 71 cents.

A whole chicken cost $1.19, which works out to $19 in today’s money. At least they were so tender that the meat literally fell from the bones when done.

For a treat, ice cream cost 49 cents a quart, or about $8 today. But most people didn’t have a refrigerator at home, much less one with a freezer compartment. That wasn’t a problem, since it came packed in dry ice which would keep it for up to six hours.