A Memory About Food Budgets

46°f/7.8°C, clear and sunny. A great day to work outside!

Following up on my last post, I was reminded of a time early in my first marriage when my husband changed jobs and his new job really made us tight financially. We had just bought a house, our third baby was on the way, and we needed to replace our VW bug with something bigger. 

Back in the day! I was 22 in this photo, my first husband was 23. The baby,  Aaron, was 2 months, Derek in the chair beside me was 19 months, Jon on the left front was just over 3, and our oldest George was 4 1/2. We were still in Virginia then, in our first house, but moved to West Virginia less than a year later. I still have that chair, as well as the old crock jug and the coffee grinder on the mantle. 

My husband was bringing home about $100 a week. Our house payment was $150 a month, LP gas was $50, electric thankfully was cheap, usually $15, and the payment on our (brand new) van was $77. He had a company car but had to pay for the gas and be reimbursed at the end of the month, and as a copier repairman he did a lot of driving so that gas bill was hard on us. I had a food budget of $10 a week.

I had to come up with creative ways to feed us all. We found a place selling pullet eggs for $1.00 for 3 dozen. We got milk from a local dairy farmer for $1.00 a gallon, and I made butter from the cream. Then we had earlier met an organic orchardist who had made a large amount of cider that didn’t come out as he wanted it, so he sold it to us for 75 cents a gallon (we thought it was delicious). We made a monthly trip to the orchard and to a beekeeper in that area to pick up cider and honey for our local natural food store, so we picked up our honey too, and got paid a bit as well. Another orchard sold their culled apples for $2 a bushel, so we bought those too.

All of those things, plus tuna and fish, made up the bulk of our diet. We didn't eat beef, chicken, or pork at the time because of the additives being used back then, but we did eat dairy and fish. It was a challenge, but I think we managed well, and my boys grew up strong and healthy. After a year, my husband was making a much better salary, and was using our van as a work car and getting reimbursed for mileage, so our situation was much easier.

I was curious about the comparison of my $10 in 1972 to today, and found that it was equal to about $78. And now I wonder, what would $78 buy today? I think that it might actually be easier. For some families,  $312 a month would seem like riches. Some foods are actually cheaper now than they were back then, although meat is outrageously high.

Memories, memories. Despite the lack of money, we were happy, and those were good days.

Anyway, getting back to today: we worked outside all day, spreading 20 bags of mulch, cleaning up the patio, etc. I tilled a bit of the garden while Larry continued cleaning the garage. I didn't plant anything because we are expecting more rain and very low temps and I don't want my seeds to rot like they did last year. We ended the day with firepit time, a reward for our hard work.

 

And to end this rather eclectic post: a friend sent me this link of a Japanese storyteller who credited me with inspiring her to write a beautiful ballad! Here's the YouTube link, if you're interested. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.