Tomatoes were cheaper: a 1932 grocery bill

[Fletch]

The good folks of Syosset, LI, NY, have a lot of local history to relate, and they've kept plenty of mementos of it - many on display at this web site.

Here is two days' shopping for the Budd family at Andy Wencko's grocery, September 2 and 3, 1932.

A few of the items aren't easy to read - "1 Cr. N. - 25"??? "2 Hy Posers - 5" were fly papers, and "1 Jar Behik - 25" was relish.

The priciest items? Round steak (2 lb for 59c), oranges (50c a dozen!), and 3 packs of Luckies (45c - name brand cigs usually went for more, but volume discounts were common).

Syosset in 1932 was a small village in the middle of a farm belt, not the suburban sprawl it's been since the 60s.

I imagine the Budd family ate exceptionally well for those dark days, altho consuming a lot less protein than we're used to today.

Total bill for both days: $8.39.

Anyone want to go to the local Slop & Mop and price out this same shopping list in 2009 dollars? If you can get away for less than $100, well, I won't eat my hat, but I'll be very very surprised. (Especially if you live on Long Island.)

What kind of cheese is "yellow"? (Maybe the question is, what kind isn't?)

 

[Shangas]

The handwriting style reminds me so much of my grandmother's!

Lard - 1lb. 14c.

I suppose that lard was used for greasing frying pans and stuff (like how most people use butter today).

Was lard generally cheaper than butter?

Peaches (?) - 2lb. 16c.

Mmmm. Try getting fruit for that price today!

Coffee - 1lb - 30c.

That sounds pretty expensive when you look at all the other stuff. Would tea have been any cheaper?

LSMFT - Lucky Strikes mean fine tobacco. I suppose that justifies the extra price!

 

[Lady Day]

Total bill for both days: $8.39.

Anyone want to go to the local Slop & Mop and price out this same shopping list in 2009 dollars? If you can get away for less than $100, well, I won't eat my hat, but I'll be very very surprised. (Especially if you live on Long Island.)

What kind of cheese is "yellow"? (Maybe the question is, what kind isn't?)

Well, according to the inflation calculator, 1932s $8.39 in 2007 money is just over $126. The thing is, I bet you could get everything on that list for less now, but the quality might be severely lacking.

I believe yellow cheese was a milder cheddar, milder than American.

LD

 

[Laura Chase]

Well, according to the inflation calculator, 1932s $8.39 in 2007 money is just over $126. The thing is, I bet you could get everything on that list for less now, but the quality might be severely lacking.

I think you are right, LD, or at if you were getting everything organic and best quality, it would cost at least 50% more.

This was pretty interesting to see! Thank you. These people must have been quite well off, I wonder how large the family was?

 

[Elaina]

I live in a one horse town and have exactly one grocery store, and have to go there later today anyway, and I'll do it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I suppose that lard was used for greasing frying pans and stuff (like how most people use butter today).

Was lard generally cheaper than butter?

Lard would be used anywhere Crisco might be used today -- for baking, frying, etc. Lard makes the best of all possible pie crusts.

Pricewise, it was about the same as butter -- you'd pay around a quarter a pound for either, perhaps a bit less for butter in an area with a lot of dairy farming.

The item on the list that would see the most dramatic increase today would be the cigarettes: it varies according to your local taxes, but here three packs of Lucky Strikes would set you back almost $18.

 

[Feraud]

$126. for two days worth of shopping is a lot of money today.

 

[Fletch]

Food cost much more then in relative terms.

Oranges were a strictly Christmas treat for decades (refrigerated shipping helped to change that).

Chickens were all free-range and a chicken dinner was a weekly event at best. Few town families (anywhere) even raised their own until WW2, when chicken thievery became an everyday thing in Syosset. Men came to town to steal yardbirds and sell them to people just down the street - or even at the same address. Could you tell one chicken from another?

Here's the thing about living in a farm region - people might barely have had two pair of shoes, but they ate.

 

[Lenore]

The handwriting style reminds me so much of my grandmother's!

You beat me to it. The first thing I thought when I saw this scan was "who has been in my kitchen!?!" I have boxes and boxes of recipes with identical handwriting. It's a shame that penmanship isn't a requisite nowadays... but that's a whole 'nother thread!

 

[ladybrettashley]

As Lady Day said, food has gotten quite a bit cheaper (accounting for inflation, of course!) over time, but it has also gotten, well, cheaper.

When the federal poverty guidelines were set up in the 60s (late 50s? i've forgotten exactly), they based it on how much a "average" family spent on food. Which, at the time, was 1/3 of your household budget (again, on average, and for people who didn't really have "disposable" income). That is still how they measure poverty in the US, but now food prices have gone down, and everything else (housing and health care, especially) has gone up considerably. The average family now spends about 1/5th of their income on food (again, necessities, not disposable income).

Sorry that's a little (but not totally) off topic. I just think it illustrates so well how little priority is put on food these days. I think we'd be a lot healthier and better off if we spent more money on food still, but, of course, that's awfully difficult to do when you're on a tight budget!

 

[Forgotten Man]

That's a neat list! I once took on a project for a friend of mine... I restored her grandfather's radio as a wedding gift... an early 40s Delco table set. As I pulled the chassis out of the cabinet, there was an old piece of card stock... it was a shopping list! I think I gave it back with the radio.

Some times those items are found in clothes... in pockets. You never know what interesting little tidbits of the past you'll find!

 

[Forgotten Man]

Today’s food is really depleted of most nutrition today. Back in the 20s-50s food was richer with needed vitamins and nutrients. Farms were ran different then... they didn't try and deplete the ground. That's why it's best to have a garden today.

Also, people have to take vitamins to make up for the lack in most vegetables and fruits. It's an outrage how much they do change for this stuff that is so bland and cheep.

 

[John in Covina]

Ripe!

In the produce section today, in Southern California, a lot of the fruit like the current crop of peaches and necterines are terrrible. They look beautiful but they never ripen correctly to a soft and juicy piece of fruit. Sometimes the apples are awful and the onions are mushy. Don't get me started on the tomatoes!

I think that in the good old days a lot more produce was local and they could let the stuff ripen more before delivery so you got to taste what the fruit or veggies were all about. I think that the change to more distant and unripe stuff was the reason my parents alway grew tomatoes at home on Long Island and even here in Southern California.

 

[Warbaby]

We get nearly all of our produce, meat and dairy products directly from local farmers. Sometimes it's a bit more expensive, but the difference in quality is a lot greater than the difference in price.

In keeping with the theme of this thread, here's a handbill from my paternal grandfather's store in 1928. I particularly like the tagline, "Send the Children - the Little Folks are Always Welcome".

 

[Laura Chase]

Amen to all this, people spend way too little money on food today! I'm 23 now and I grew up in a area that was, in many ways, kinda like everywhere else in the world 50 years earlier. We had local produce and local meats and everything was packed with more taste. This has made me appreciate food, love food, care about good food.

But even today, you can get good quality food if you make this your priority - if you buy organic food, locally grown vegetables, and not just the cheapest stuff in the supermarket. All the transportation-costs are both people-unfriendly (no taste because the fruits aren't ripe when harvested) and environment-unfriendly (well, that explains itself). Today, many people can buy the better quality but more expensive foods, many can afford this if they were only willing to let the food budget be a bit larger, but no, they'd rather buy a new flat screen a new car or whatnot. Most people don't appreciate good food, and that kinda frightens me.

$126. for two days worth of shopping is a lot of money today.

But to get strictly back on topc, whether $126 is a lot for two days worth of shopping depends on how large a family they were. I think that on average, I spend $15 a day on food for just me. If they are a family of 5, and if they ate well, $126 sounds reasonable for two days. And of course not everything was spent up, maybe they bought some things they only buy every week or so.

 

[Elaina]

I'll spare you all my awful handwriting. I got most of these from Superama food stores, and it is by far not the cheapest place (Minyard's clone) but it is the only one in my town. I did have to go next door to Family Dollar for some of them, and the local hardware store (I called my dad since he was going) for the lye.

If you want the breakdown, I'll be happy to do that, but this list at my stores would run me $237.16 if I bought it today, mystery item with cost inflation would be about $5 more. I did not buy name brand anything where I could find it cheaper, I did. I also got several things on sale.

 

[Feraud]

But to get strictly back on topc, whether $126 is a lot for two days worth of shopping depends on how large a family they were. I think that on average, I spend $15 a day on food for just me. If they are a family of 5, and if they ate well, $126 sounds reasonable for two days. And of course not everything was spent up, maybe they bought some things they only buy every week or so.

Very true. It would be interesting to know how large a family they were.

 

[ladybrettashley]

In keeping with the theme of this thread, here's a handbill from my paternal grandfather's store in 1928. I particularly like the tagline, "Send the Children - the Little Folks are Always Welcome".

Reminds me of my mom's story about being sent to the grocery as a girl. Of course, she always went with her dog, and more than once got in big trouble for letting the dog carry the butter home!! The dog didn't eat it, either - apparently she was quite an animal - but my grandparents were not so pleased about canine tooth marks in the brand new butter lol lol!

 

[Lady Day]

Today’s food is really depleted of most nutrition today. Back in the 20s-50s food was richer with needed vitamins and nutrients. Farms were ran different then...

Dont *even* get me started on modern food production...
I just ate a vine ripened home grown tomato from one of my tomato plants. Sure, it was smaller, but had more flavor than ANY tomato I had eaten ANYWHERE in years. I had forgotten they tasted this good. But I digress...

But to get back on topic, looking at the list, there are a lot of fresh items, which Im sure, would feed the family for about a week.

Im more than positive that this family shopped bulk for grains and the like. What family during that time didnt? So these what I would think are probably weekly gets, supplemented by beans, grain, rice, etc. to make it all stretch.

Of course this depends on how large the family was for this list. That we dont know.

LD

 

[Mr_D.]

$126. for two days worth of shopping is a lot of money today.

We spend little under $500 a month for groceries and that's buying mostly generic stuff.