Inflation Did Not Play Fair
A dollar went a long way in the mid-1970s. Wages were lower then, so the comparison is not perfectly fair, but the gap between those prices and current ones can be shockingly wide. Part of it is ordinary inflation stacking up over five decades, but the rest has to do with certain crops and certain industries taking much harder hits than others. Here's 20 food prices from that would make anyone born after 1990 do a double take.
1. A Gallon of Milk
A gallon of milk costs under $4 in most parts of the country today. In 1975 it ran $1.57, which sounds like a bargain until you adjust for inflation and end up somewhere near $9. Milk is one of the few things in the store that got cheaper in real terms, mostly because dairy production scaled up enormously over those fifty years.
2. A Dozen Eggs
A eggs dozen cost about 77 cents in 1975, and today the same carton might be $3 or it might be $6, depending on what bird flu has done to the supply that year. No other staple in the store moves that much from one season to the next, and shoppers have gotten used to checking the price before grabbing a carton.
3. A Loaf of White Bread
Thirty cents bought youa loaf of white bread in the mid-1970s, when bread was deliberately kept among the cheapest items in the store. A comparable loaf now runs $3 to $4. Wheat is more expensive, and so is the fuel to ship it, and those costs get passed straight to the consumer.
4. A Cup of Coffee at a Diner
Order coffee at a diner in 1975 and the refill came automatically, since the whole cup cost about a quarter. Today that same cup is $3 or more, and free refills are far from guaranteed. The comparison does not even include specialty coffee shops, where a single drink can run over $10.
5. Ground Beef, per Pound
Ground beef sat around 89 cents a pound in 1975, which is part of why burgers were ordinary weeknight food rather than a treat. Now it costs $5.50 or more. Cattle take longer and cost more to raise than they used to, and American herd sizes have shrunk to their lowest point in roughly seventy years, which keeps supply tight.
6. A McDonald's Hamburger
A family of four could eat at McDonald's in 1975 for under $5, with hamburgers running about a quarter each. One hamburger today costs $2 to $3 on its own, before fries or a drink. Fast food is still cheaper than a sit-down meal, although barely.
7. A Candy Bar
Candy has climbed faster than almost anything else here. A full-size bar cost about 15 cents in the mid-1970s and now sells for close to $2 at a gas station. Cocoa prices hit record highs in recent years, and chocolate makers passed that along through higher prices and smaller bars.
8. A Bottled Coca-Cola
A glass-bottled Coke sells for about $2 today, usually marketed as a throwback. The actual throwback price was a quarter in 1975. The bottle looks the same and the recipe is close enough, so the number on the tag is the part that changed the most.
9. A Pound of Butter
Butter goes up every holiday season, when demand for baking spikes over a few short weeks. A pound was around a dollar in 1975, back when most households bought it in bulk for baking season. It sits near $4.50 for most of the year now, and higher than that if you buy it the week before Thanksgiving.
10. Sirloin Steak
A pound of sirloin can pass $11 now, more for a good cut. In the mid-1970s it was $1.50 to $2, cheap enough to be a regular weeknight dinner rather than a special occasion. Steak has been shifting from staple to occasional treat with every passing year.
11. Bacon
Bacon was among the cheaper meats on the shelf in 1975, at about a dollar a pound. It now costs $6 to $7, depending on the brand. Pork prices rose across the board, but bacon rose further because demand for it kept growing.
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12. A Whole Chicken
Chicken was the budget protein in 1975 and it still is, which makes it the rare bit of continuity here. Back then it cost 55 to 60 cents a pound. Today it is closer to $2, a real increase but a mild one next to what happened to beef.
13. A Bag of Potato Chips
Bags of chips have gotten smaller over the years, which hides part of the price increase. A bag cost around 59 cents in 1975. The same size now runs $4 to $5, and the shrinking packaging means you are often getting less product for that money.
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14. A Half Gallon of Orange Juice
Orange juice prices follow Florida weather closely. A half gallon sold for about 75 cents in the mid-1970s, when concentrate was the standard and fresh-squeezed was a restaurant thing. Citrus greening disease and repeated hurricanes have cut Florida production sharply, which pushed the price past $5 in recent years.
15. A Box of Cereal
A box of cereal cost 60 to 75 cents in 1975, back when the cereal aisle was roughly half its current size. The same box today is $5 or $6, and closer to $7 for name brands with a mascot on the front. Grain costs barely moved over that period, so most of the increase comes from packaging and marketing rather than ingredients.
16. A Jar of Peanut Butter
Peanut butter held up better than most of the pantry. A jar sold for about 65 cents in the mid-1970s and costs close to $4 now. Peanuts are relatively cheap to grow, and a bad harvest year tends to move the price more than general inflation does.
17. A Half Gallon of Ice Cream
Half a gallon of ice cream runs $5 to $7 today, more for the premium brands. In 1975 that size cost about a dollar, and a dollar fifty got you the good stuff. Many companies also shrank the carton to 48 ounces while still calling it a half gallon, so the real increase is bigger than the sticker suggests.
18. A Whole Pizza From a Pizzeria
A whole pie from a neighborhood pizzeria was $2 to $3 in 1975, cheese included. The same order runs $15 to $20 today, and that is before toppings or delivery fees. Pizza is still a cheap way to feed a group, but the definition of cheap has shifted quite a bit.
19. A Six-Pack of Beer
Beer barely registered on a grocery bill in the mid-1970s. A six-pack of domestic bottles was $1.50 to $2, compared with $9 to $12 now. Craft beer pushed the ceiling much higher, and a decent six-pack can run $15 or more.
20. Bananas
Bananas are the one item on this list that barely moved. They were 20 cents a pound in 1975 and run about 60 to 65 cents today, which is close to flat once you account for inflation. Large-scale growing and shipping kept the cost down in a way most fruit never managed, and grocery stores have long used bananas as a loss leader to get people in the door.
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