For a snapshot of the cost of food during the Depression, this ad for A&P Stores appeared in the Washington Evening Star, August 17, 1933. The prices look like bargains, but money was scarce during the Depression, and there has been a lot of inflation in the years since then. According to this inflation calculator, one dollar in 1933 is the equivalent of $22.79 in 2022 dollars. So six cans of beans for 25 cents sounds like it would be a cheap way to eat, but that works out to about 95 cents a can today. According to this report, a coal miner in 1932 earned $13.91 per week, so even those four cents would be significant, and that assumes that someone had a job at all.
A six pack of beer was 75 cents for Pabst, or 50 cents for a brand called Michel. A pack of cigarettes cost a dime. Butter was 2 pounds for 49 cents, which works out to $5.58 per pound in today’s money. A pound of peanut butter was 12 cents, or about $2.73 in today’s money.
So even though the prices look low, pictures like that shown below were not uncommon either.
