For a snapshot of grocery prices in 1949, this ad for A&P stores appeared in the August 12, 1949 edition of the Chapel Hill (NC) Weekly.

The basics of a good dinner could be put together for about $2.29. Two pounds of roast beef would be $1.30, which could be served with two pounds of green beans for a quarter. A loaf of bread would be 18 cents. A pound of grapes was 15 cents, and a pound of coffee was 41 cents.

That sounds like a bargain, but there’s been a lot of inflation since 1949. According to this inflation calculator, that $2.29 works out to $29.36 in 2023 dollars. Maybe we’ll put back that roast beef and instead get some fish for 33 cents a pound.

For a snapshot of grocery prices in 1975, this ad for A&P appeared in the Pittsburgh Press, June 18, 1975.  (You can click on the image above for a larger version.)

According to this online inflation calculator, one dollar in 1975 was the equivalent of $5.65 in 2023 dollars. So you need to multiply all of these prices by 5.65. The pound of coffee for $1.02 sounds like a bargain, but it works out to $5.77 in today’s money. And five pounds of flour was only 69 cents, but that’s the same as $3.90 today.

The federal minimum wage was $2.10 per hour, so you would earn $16.80 for a day’s work. How would you spend your grocery budget if you were buying?

If you were buying groceries for your family in 1924, here’s a snapshot of what the prices would have looked like. All of these ads appeared in the Omaha Bee, May 24, 1924.

Interestingly, more than one of the stores indicate that they will fill mail orders or orders shipped by rail express. If you lived out in the country, you could take advantage of the big city prices in this way.

On all of the images, you can click on the image for a larger version.  What would you buy for dinner in 1924?

For a look at grocery prices in 1963, this ad appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette sixty years ago today, March 21, 1963. (You can click on the image for a larger version.)  In those sixty years, the dollar has lost purchasing power, and a dime in 1963 was the equivalent of about a dollar today. Specifically, according to this inflation calculator, the 1963 dollar would be worth $9.78 in 2023.

So the coffee looks like a bargain at 49 cents a pound, but that’s the equivalent of almost $5 today.  Bread is two loaves for 39 cents, but that’s almost $2 a loaf in today’s money.  Most of the venerable Swanson TV Dinners were about 59 cents each, although if you were on a budget, the macaroni and cheese TV dinner would set you back only 39 cents.

They no longer come in the familiar aluminum tray (which, of course, was useful for many other purposes once the meal was done), but the modern equivalent of what was my favorite is still available.  And adjusted for inflation, the price is about the same:

If you were shopping for groceries 60 years ago, what would you be having for dinner?

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For a look at grocery prices 40 years ago, this ad appeared in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette on February 24, 1983. There’s been a lot of inflation in 40 years, and according to this online inflation calculator, one dollar in 1983 was the equivalent of almost exactly $3 today. So ground beef was only $1.29 per pound, but that’s about $3.87 today.

The price of eggs aren’t shown, but I bet they would be a bargain compared to today. If you were making dinner 40 years ago, what would you buy?  You can click on the image to see a larger version.

For a snapshot of grocery prices in 1973, this ad for Giant Eagle appeared in the Pittsburgh Press, October 13, 1973. The prices look like bargains, but according to this online inflation calcualtor, one dollar in 1973 had the buying power of $6.67 in 2022. So the ground beef for 99 cents a pound works out to $6.60 a pound in today’s money.

Bananas at a dime a pound work out to just 67 cents a pound, so they were a pretty good deal. What would you buy for dinner in 1973? And when you take inflation into consideration, how do the prices compare to today’s prices, which you can find on Amazon?  (You can click on the image above for a full size version.)

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For a snapshot of grocery prices in 1955, this ad appeared in the Pittsburgh Press September 27, 1955. The prices look low, but according to this online inflation calculator, one dollar in 1955 was the equivalent of $11.05 in 2022 buying power. So the two loaves of bread for 29 cents works out to $3.20 today, or $1.60 for a one-pound loaf. How does that compare to today’s prices, at the link below?

Of course, the 1955 bread included a coupon for dime off a cake or pastry. Margarine was 33 cents a pound, the equivalent of $3.64 today. And Velveeta cheese was 2 pounds for 89 cents the equivalent of $9.83. How do those compare to current prices?

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For a snapshot of Depression-era grocery prices, this ad appeared on this date, September 16, 1938, in the Pittsburgh Press.  These prices might look like bargains, but money was hard to come by, and there’s been a lot of inflation since then. According to this inflation calculator, the 3 pounds of butter for one dollar is the equivalent of about $21 today, or about $7 per pound. How does that compare to today’s price, which you can find at this link?

A loaf of bread to put that butter on was a dime, but that was over $2 in today’s money.  Campbell’s Tomato Soup is 6 cans for 40 cents, or less than 7 cents per can. But that’s about $1.47 in 2022 dollars. How does that compare to the current price shown at this link?

Of course, the highlight for many would be the scrapple, two pounds for 29 cents.  The price appears to have gone up since then, as you can see at this link:

If you were shopping for dinner in 1938, what would you buy?

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