Comparison shopping using a 1949 Cookbook

pcmich

I have this wonderful cookbook that was my grandmother’s. The Lily Wallace New American Cook Book dated 1949. This is a book my grandmother used all the time and I continue to use today. Not sure when the last time this book was printed I found very limited information about the author Lily Haxworth Wallace. I like the mystery behind this.

One of the reasons I enjoy the cookbook so much is the simplicity of the recipes. These are true homemade recipes. The best part though is at the back of the book where there are meal plans based on income for example a plan for a “Minimum-Cost Adequate Diet ($1000 to $2000 annual Income)”.

Can you image feeding a family of four for only $9.15 a week (based on 1941 average city prices)? I thought it would be fun to take a menu for a day and compare the prices.

For this comparison I did my shopping at my local Safeway store.

Shopping today

Breakfast

Sliced oranges (adults) $.68

Orange or tomato juice (young children) $.32 for 1 cup

Hot Whole-Wheat cereal (Rolled oats and water) I used Quaker Oats Whole grain oats for this comparison $4.99 per ounce

Toast (cookbook calls for day old bread from a bakery) Bakery loaf Whole grain $4.99

Marmalade $.28 per ounce

Milk (Children) $.24 per cup

Coffee (adults) $2.64 per cup

My book has been well loved. It’s a little worst for wear

Lunch

Boiled beans (black, kidney, lima, pea, soy, and yellow eye can be used) I priced Kidney beans $.17 per ounce

Poached egg (young children) $2.39 per dozen ($.20 per egg)

Bread and butter (using remaining bread from breakfast) Butter $.24 per ounce

Stewed Prunes I couldn’t find plums so opted for prepared prunes $.22 per ounce

Milk (Children) $.24 per cup

Coffee (Adults) $2.64

Dinner

Meat Loaf

3lbs ground beef $11.97

Eggs $.40       

Salt $.06 per ounce

Pepper $1.33 per ounce

Onion $1.87

Bread crumbs $2.99

Milk $.24

Tomato catchup (love how this is spelled in the book) $1.99

Worcestershire sauce $.60 per ounce

Scalloped Potatoes (yellow potato and butter) $1.19 and $.24 per ounce

Buttered beets with beet tops $3.49 for 3, butter $.24 per ounce

Bread and butter – finish bread loaf from breakfast and $.24 per ounce

Hot gingerbread

            Cake flour $4.49

Baking powder $1.89

Baking soda $1.49

Ginger $3.12 per ounce

Cinnamon $1.68 per ounce

Salt $.06 per ounce

Shortening $.16 per ounce

Sugar $.06 per ounce

Egg $.20

Molasses $.37 per ounce

Buttermilk $.06 per ounce

Milk (children) $.24 per cup

Coffee $2.64

I’m not sure I could eat this amount of food in a day or even want to spend this much time in the kitchen cooking all this food, and I love to cook.

Breaking down the cost

Since this meal plan feeds 4 people I am assuming 2 adults and 2 children when calculating

Breakfast costs about $20.52

Lunch costs about $14.36

Dinner costs about $36.62 (most people will already have the spices in the kitchen, but I add this cost in)

Food for the day $ 71.50

This is only one day’s meal and it far exceeds the $9.16 per week.

I may try out a meal plan in the future, let me know if you would like to see a post with the meals. This has been a fun comparison. Do you have a favorite old cookbook that you still use today? Share below

Published by pcmich

Hello all I’m Michelle and I started my Frugal and Healthy blog because as I get older I realize that my body doesn’t want to do what it is suppose to do and I have had to deal with high cholesterol and high glucose levels. I have been pre-diabetic since I was a child and always managed my levels by eating balanced meals. After many years of letting myself go I had gained weight and woke up one morning determined that it was time to look out for myself as my kids are adults and can take care of themselves. I found the 100 Days of Real Food website and decided it was time to cut out processed foods. This was followed by multiple doctor’s visits and blood work to determine that I still had high glucose levels and that my cholesterol level was slightly elevated. Wanting to avoid medication I changed my diet even further, eating ever more healthy foods and instead of my levels getting better, they went through the roof. I embarked on a journey that lead to hours, days and weeks of researching the perfect diet that would level out my numbers. Guess what? The perfect diet doesn’t exist and I found out that any diet was going to cost me more money then I wanted to spend. Not being a dietician or financial advisor I sought out advice online and found so many sites that offered the same advice some that worked and most that didn’t. I want to share my journey the ups and downs and hopefully help some you too along the way.