For a snapshot of grocery prices 40 years ago today, this ad for Giant Eagle supermarkets appeared in the Pittsburgh Press on March 30, 1982. Easter was right around the corner, so ham was prominently featured. Depending on brand, they started at 74 cents a pound. For comparison, according to this online inflation calculator, one dollar in 1982 was the equivalent of $2.94 in 2022 dollars. So to get a fair picture, in round numbers, you need to multiply these prices by 3. So a dozen eggs at 56 cents are about the same as $1.50 today. Coke was 99 cents for a 2 liter bottle, the equivalent of almost $3 today.

If you have trouble reading the fine print in the PDF here, you can follow this link to go directly to the ad.