"The country is going to hell."

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
When I was a little kid (I'm 71, now); my mom came home from Saturday morning grocery shopping. She was yelling, "The country is going to hell!!", "The country is going to hell!!" Can you believe it. She spent over $20 for a weeks groceries for a family of 4. All the canned goods from the A&P went up. She got on the phone and called all her sisters. $20 Can you believe it? $20!!!!
I don't know why that memory is so crystal clear.
 

RadishRose said:
Years ago I laughingly joked "yeah, someday a loaf of bread will be $5.00, they way things are going"...not really believing it. :eek:
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On the bright side. I paid $1.49 for two loaves of bread at the dollar store.

That was for the ones that are partially baked and you finish them at home so it's like fresh baked bread.

Also. Regular bread was $1.00 a loaf.
 

RadishRose said:
Years ago I laughingly joked "yeah, someday a loaf of bread will be $5.00, they way things are going"...not really believing it. :eek:
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I'd wager that you could find some bread for $5 or more—especially in big cities. I could buy eggs at Walmart for over $5. In reality, I'm sure that I pay more than that as I have five pet chickens who live very pleasant lives. They'll soon stop laying as the days become shorter and shorter, but they won't stop eating and demanding their treats..
 
fuzzybuddy said:
When I was a little kid (I'm 71, now); my mom came home from Saturday morning grocery shopping. She was yelling, "The country is going to hell!!", "The country is going to hell!!" Can you believe it. She spent over $20 for a weeks groceries for a family of 4. All the canned goods from the A&P went up. She got on the phone and called all her sisters. $20 Can you believe it? $20!!!!
I don't know why that memory is so crystal clear.
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When I was a kid, mom always took us to the grocery store with her every Wednesday afternoon (double green stamp day) because she didn't have anything else to do with us -- we'd walk to the grocery store and my dad would come by and pick us and the groceries up on his way home from work. I remember one day she spent about $20, which to me seemed like an awful lot of money (we also got a lot of groceries). I don't know why that memory is so clear to me either, Fuzzy, but it is. Nowdays you can spend $20 and carry it home in one teeny weeny little bag!
 
This country has been going to hell for a long time. My mother also spent $20.00 a week on groceries and fussed and cussed when things went up a little bit. I don't spend much these days on groceries as its just me but find myself fussing also when prices are too high!
 
I've always been shocked by higher prices but never shocked by higher income!

I don't remember how much my mother spent on groceries but I do remember how elastic the grocery budget was. My mother constantly stretched the grocery budget to get anything we needed for school, a birthday present, donation, a holiday, etc...
 
Just to put things into perspective, re: that $20 figure, in 1950 it would be like $204 today which, for groceries is a lot.
In 1960 it would be like $164 today which is still a lot.
 
applecruncher said:
Re: that $20 figure, in 1950 it would be like $204 today which, for groceries is a lot.
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Thinking about it, that seems be about right for a family of about 6 or more.

But what irks me, is that while the prices go up, the amounts get smaller.

Coffee used to be a pound. Now, you're lucky to get 11 oz. Some pasta products are trying to shrink down from pound boxes to 12 oz, but that's not going over too well. A 5 lb. bag of sugar is now 4 lbs. Cereal and boxes of crackers have shrunk. Canned tuna is an abomination.

I'm surprised a dozen eggs haven't become 10 to a carton. Actually, eggs have remained pretty stable considering how long they've been sold in markets. Not too many fluctuations. But it seems anything else formerly sold as 12, is now 10.

What else has shrunk in quantity?
 
Big Horn said:
I'd wager that you could find some bread for $5 or more—especially in big cities. I could buy eggs at Walmart for over $5. In reality, I'm sure that I pay more than that as I have five pet chickens who live very pleasant lives. They'll soon stop laying as the days become shorter and shorter, but they won't stop eating and demanding their treats..
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Your chickens must be very well fed and happy! :)
 
RadishRose said:
What else has shrunk in quantity?
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Ice cream. An old half gallon is now 1.5 quarts. I'd rather they raise the prices and keep the quantities the same.

I'm surprised bread is still 20 oz a loaf for the most common types. Must have something to do with changing the machinery used for slicing and packaging it.
 
NancyNGA I was just going to say ice cream, but you beat me to it. A quart isn't quite a quart, but a pint (16 oz) is still usually a pint.

There's a gourmet ice cream (Jeni's) that is $10.00 a pint - yes, ten dollars. That stuff is goooood, but still over-priced. I but it ocassionally, and treat the container like it was gold. Usually I'll get Haagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry's, in the $4 - $5 range, less if on sale, or if I have a coupon for a free one from Kroger. :)
 
NancyNGA said:
Ice cream. An old half gallon is now 1.5 quarts. I'd rather they raise the prices and keep the quantities the same.
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So True...they changed the quantity of ice cream a couple of years ago, yet maintained the old price....essentially giving the ice cream companies a 25% boost in profits. I'm a chocolate ice cream "junky", and the evening isn't complete without a couple of tablespoons of chocolate ice cream. I've tried multiple brands, over the years...both store brands and the expensive brands, and they are all fairly good. We have a chain of discount grocery stores in this area...Sav-A-Lot, and they sell a mixture called Triple Chocolate made by Crown Creamery, which sells there for $3 per 1.5qt. container....This is Absolutely the Best chocolate ice cream I've ever tasted....I keep plenty on hand.
 
My mom was yelling about the $20, but the one person she didin't call was my Meme(my grandmother). Meme lost some toes to diabetes but still kept up her half acre garden. When she found out that none of her 5 daughters baked their own bread, she wondered what the hell they did all day long. I was the one, who let the cat out of the bag. I was at Meme's, and she made sandwiches. I asked why the bread wasn't sliced even like our bread at home. Have you ever had one mother and 4 aunts really pissed off at you?
 
In the mid sixties, I passed an open air sort of grocery store which had a sign in the window advertising eggs for 35¢ per dozen or three dozen for a dollar. Planning to be a hero to my wife, I stopped and bought three dozen in a brown paper bag. My wife appreciated my effort, but she pointed out that the eggs were the smallest she had ever seen. Figuring 10x inflation since that time, those eggs would be $10 for three dozen today. However, they were so small that extra large would probably bring the cost to $15 or more—$5 per dozen.

Americans pay a lower percentage of their income for food than other countries. Perhaps we shouldn't gripe too terribly much about food prices when we have so many other things for griping.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
My mom was yelling about the $20, but the one person she didin't call was my Meme(my grandmother). Meme lost some toes to diabetes but still kept up her half acre garden. When she found out that none of her 5 daughters baked their own bread, she wondered what the hell they did all day long. I was the one, who let the cat out of the bag. I was at Meme's, and she made sandwiches. I asked why the bread wasn't sliced even like our bread at home. Have you ever had one mother and 4 aunts really pissed off at you?
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