$20 for food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fuzzybuddy]

I don't know why I'm on this nostalgia thing, but....
When I was a little tyke ,in the early 50s, my mom came in from buying the week's groceries for a family of 4. She was so angry. Do you know she spent $20 on food. OMG, what the hell was happening to this country.
For God's sake- $20 for food!!!!!

 

[applecruncher]

In 1950 $20 would be $198 in today's dollars.
In 1955 $20 would be $175 in todays dollars.

$198 for a week's groceries for a family of 4 today (or $20 in 1950) isn't unusual or unreasonable at all.

Fuzzy, your mother was able to buy a LOT for that $20.

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/50sfood.html

American Cheese 45 cents per pound New Hampshire New Hampshire 1950
Apples 39 cents for 2 pounds Florida 1952
Bananas 27 cents for 2 pounds Ohio 1957
Box of Chocolates $1.86 for 1lb Florida 1955
Cabbage 6 cents per pound New Hampshire 1950
Campbells Tomato Soup 10 cents Ohio 1957
Carnation Milk Can 14 cents Ohio 1957
Chickens 43 cents per pound New Hampshire 1950
Chuck Roast 59 cents per pound Florida 1952
Coffee 37 cents 1 pound Florida 1952
Cream Corn 3 cans for 38 cents California 1959
Eggs 79 cents for a dozen New Jersey 1956
Family Style Loaf of bread 12 cents Florida 1952
Frozen Chicken Pie 19 cents Ohio 1957
Frozen green Beans 24 cents per 1/2 pound New Hampshire 1950
Gerbers Baby Foods 10 cents California 1959
Grape Jelly 19 cents Ohio 1957
grapefruit 25 cents for 6 Florida 1952
Hamburger meat 89 cents for 3 pounds Ohio 1957
Heinz Cream of Tomato 25 cents for 2 cans Tennessee 1952
Hunts Fruit Cocktail 23 cents per can Ohio 1957
Hunts Tomato Juice 15 cents California 1959
Jiffy Cake Mix 10 cents Ohio 1957
Juicy Oranges 69 cents for 2 dozen New Hampshire 1950
Kelloggs Shreaded Wheat 18 cents Ohio 1957
Kraft Cheese Slices 29 cents pk New Hampshire 1950
Potatoes 10 lb bag 35 cents Kansas 1953
Porterhouse Steak 95 cents lb Maine 1950
Lamb Chops 49 Cents per pound New Hampshire 1950

 

[Don M.]

It's all relative....back in the 1950's, $2/hr. was considered a pretty good wage. Today, $20/hr. is probably pretty close to the average....so prices have gone up 10 times, and so have wages. There were brief periods when wages grew faster than prices, but wages have remained stagnant over the past few years...so, on balance...most people are little better off today, than they were 60 years ago.

 

[JaniceM]

I don't know why I'm on this nostalgia thing, but....
When I was a little tyke ,in the early 50s, my mom came in from buying the week's groceries for a family of 4. She was so angry. Do you know she spent $20 on food. OMG, what the hell was happening to this country.
For God's sake- $20 for food!!!!!

I don't know about the early 50s, but I recall my parents talking about the weekly shopping trips when both of my siblings were still at home- that would have been before 1965- and for a family of 5 they spent $40 a week on groceries.
Everything was made from scratch, and the only canned food we had were canned vegetables.