For a snapshot of what groceries cost in 1969, this ad for Foodland appeared in the July 8, 1969 issue of the Pittsburgh Press.  If the prices look like a bargain, keep in mind that there has been a lot of inflation in more than half a century, and according to this inflation calculator, each dollar then was the equivalent of $7.34 in 2021 dollars. Or to put it another way, the federal minimum wage was $1.60, meaning that one hour’s work would earn a pound of bologna and six cans of vegetables.

A pound of roast beef was 49 cents, but adjusted for inflation, that’s $3.59, which still sounds like a bargain. Cans of tuna, on the other hand, were 25 cents, the equivalent of $1.84 in today’s money, which sounds rather pricey.

To view a full-size copy of the ad, click on it, and from most browsers, click again to enlarge.

Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices a hundred years ago today, courtesy of the April 29, 1921, issue of the Pittsburgh Press.

While these prices look like a bargain, there’s been a lot of inflation in the last hundred years. According to this inflation calculator, each 1921 dollar is the equivalent of $14.80 in today’s money. So the can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup for a dime sounds like a bargain, but that’s the same as $1.48 today. A pound of butter is only 50 cents, but that’s the same as $7.40 today.

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Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices fifty years ago in 1971, from this ad for Shop ‘n Save Supermarkets in the April 25, 1971, issue of the Pittsburgh Press.  From most browsers, you can click twice on the image above for a larger image.

While these prices might look like bargains, there has been a lot of inflation in a half century. According to this inflation calculator, the 1971 dollar is equivalent to $6.54 in 2021 dollars. So the eggs at 39 cents a dozen are the equivalent of $2.55 in today’s money.

For a snapshot of the cost of living 75 years ago, this ad appeared in the March 15, 1946, issue of the Pittsburgh Press, for McCanns Grocery Store. When comparing pre-1964 prices, one easy rule of thumb is to remember that one dollar equaled one silver dollar, four silver quarters, or ten silver dimes, each equal to about one once of silver. Today, that same ounce of silver is worth about $26, so in today’s money, the 85 cents for three pounds of coffee works out to about $22, or over $7 a pound. The complete sirloin steak dinner sounds like a bargain at $1.35, but that would be the equivalent of about $35 in today’s money.

The eggs sound like a bargain at 49 cents a dozen, but in today’s money, that works out to over a dollar for each individual egg. Of course, the eggs were candled, meaning that you didn’t need to worry about an unpleasant surprise when you cracked it open.

Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices a hundred years ago today, from the January 16, 1921, edition of the Washington Evening Star and this ad for Piggly Wiggly.  The idea itself of a self-service grocery store was relatively new, the company having been founded in Tennessee only five years earlier.  A number of familiar brand names are evident here, such as Crisco, Mazola, Wesson, Lux, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and Quaker Oats.

When comparing pre-1964 prices, one useful way of doing the comparison is to look at the cost of silver.  One dollar in 1921 meant one silver dollar, four silver quarters, or ten silver dimes.  Either way, it was approximately an ounce of silver, which is currently about $26.  So for a rough comparison, you can multiply these prices by 26 to find out what the equivalent is in today’s money.

For example, a pound of sugar was 9 cents, which would work out to about $2.25 today.  Then (as now), dry beans were described as “the cheapest food in America today.”  A pound of navy beans was 6 cents, or about $1.50 in today’s money.

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Here’s a snapshot of what grocery prices looked like 50 years ago today, December 1, 1970, from that day’s issue of the Pittsburgh Press.  This store had just started a practice that is quite common today, namely, posting the unit price of items, rather than having to do the math in the store.

Flour was $1.77 for a 25 pound bag with coupon, or $2.18 without the coupon. Many canned goods, such as beets, green beans, kidney beans, and store brand soup, were 8 for a dollar. Margarine was 5 pounds for a dollar, and 3 pounds of peanut butter was 99 cents.

Saltines were 4 boxes for a dollar, a tuna was three cans for a dollar. Ground beef was 59 cents a pound, and bacon was either 59 cents or 79 cents a pound, depending on brand. You could also get one pound of bacon in a can for only 79 cents. One pound loaves of bread were a quarter.

In the produce aisle, bananas were 8 cents a pound, carrots were a dime a pound, and grapes were 29 cents per pound. A ten pound bag of potatoes would set you back 89 cents. Cans of store brand pop were a dime.

The federal minimum wage was $1.65 at the time, as opposed to the current $7.25 per hour, about 4 times higher. Postage had just gone up to 8 cents, compared to 55 cents today, almost 7 times higher. So depending on how you account for inflation, you would need to multiply these prices by a similar number.  A pound of hamburger cost 59 cents. If you use the cost of postage to track inflation, that works out to about $4 a pound.  Fifty years ago, you had to work just over 3 minutes at the minimum wage to buy an 8 cent banana.  Today, that same amount of work would earn you 40 cents.

From most browsers, you can click on the image above to open it in a new browser, and then click on it again to enlarge.

Here’s a snapshot of grocery prices a hundred years ago, from the November 29, 1920, issue of the Great Falls (Montana) Daily Tribune.

When looking at pre-1964 prices, it’s always good to remember that one dollar meant ten silver dimes, four silver quarters, or one silver dollar, which was one ounce of silver. Today, that ounce of silver would be worth about $22, so one good way to compare prices is to multiply these by 22.

A box of crackers, “N.B.C. Sodas,” which I assume means Nabisco, was 38 cents, which sounds cheap. But when you put that into today’s dollars, it’s $8.36.

10 pounds of lard would set you back $2.50, which works out to about $5 per pound in today’s money. In the cereal aisle, you could get a box of Post Toasties or Kellogg’s Corn Flakes for 12 cents, or Shredded or Puffed Wheat for 14 cents. Thirteen bars of “Palm Olive” soap were a dollar.

Coffee was about 50 cents per pound, or about $11 in today’s money. Cans of milk, presumably condensed, were 25 cents a can.