FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - 1961 food prices vs. today (for a family with 18 kids)

Ed Pawlowski

On 3/9/2015 1:31 PM, wrote:

>
> Also, there was clearly a mistake in the book - the mother said they spent
> $450 a month on food, so unless she meant $400, that would be just under
> 74 cents per person per day (using 365.25 days a year, I mean), not 66 cents!
>
> Thoughts? Granted, I'm sure there are all sorts of reasons food might be
> cheaper now - someone also once said that in the 19th century, too, food
> was pricey but servants were cheap, which was why Louisa May Alcott, in
> "Little Women" could get away with calling her family "poor" even though
> they had a servant, Hannah.
>
>
> Lenona.
>

Using your inflation calculation, the multiplier is 7.8

Prices I remember from working in a grocery store in high school in 1961-62

Ground beef .49 then should be 3.82. Actual ranges is about $3 to $4
depending on grade

Deli ham 1.29 should be $10.00. It is about $8 to $9 today

Campbell's tomato soup. .14 should be 1.09 Not sure of actual.

Loaf of bread .35 should be $2.73 I see higher and lower

Quart of soda .25 should now be $1.95 I can get 2 liters as cheap as
78¢ for generic store brand but name brand is $3.29

When we first married in 1966, a trip to the grocery store very two
weeks was about $20 for 4 bags of groceries. That would be $156 today.
Probably not far off.