On Monday, March 9, 2015 at 4:16:57 PM UTC-4, Reggie wrote:
> > wrote in message
> ...
> > The family?
> >
> > The Beardsleys, of California, as featured in the Lucille Ball movie
> > "Yours,
> > Mine, and Ours."
> >
> > Before the movie, their story was written by the mother as "Who Gets the
> > Drumstick?" (Helen was a widow with 8 kids, he was a widower with 10. They
> > had two more.)
> >
> > In that book (chapter 12), a researcher comes to the house a month after
> > the wedding in the fall of 1961, to do the math on how they manage. He
> > concludes that they spend 66 cents a day for food, per person. According
> > to
> > one inflation calculator, that's $5.15 in 2014 - and another says $5.16 in
> > 2015. (I assume they were strict about not wasting food!)
> >
> > What's interesting, though, is that I DO waste food, unfortunately, but
> > MY food budget, last December, was $120 a month - or about $4 a day!
> >
> > 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.
>
> find some old episodes of Dobie Gillis and look at the store sign prices in
> the background.

Or Andy Griffith. "Picnic ham 29 cents a pound".