Food For Thought

Thanksgiving is still more than a month away, but I've already got deadlines related to the holiday so feasting is on my mind. Over the years I've refined my Thanksgiving dinner menu--simplifying it from the Southern extravaganza it was in my mother and grandmother's day.  (Ham AND turkey, mashed potatoes and candied yams AND sweet potato pudding AND corn pudding...I could go on.) but what I put on the table still costs a pretty penny, even with coupons. (I could go without the gingered yam souffle, especially since I'm the only one in the house who eats it but since I'm the one masterminding the meal, it stays in.)

Photo by as012a2569/StockXchange

I was doing research on fluctuating food prices when I came across this site. It's a breakdown of what food cost in 1961 and an ad for a three-course restaurant Thanksgiving dinner.  Yes, I realize wages weren't that great back in the Mad Man era but still--cranberry sauce was 25 cents for TWO 16-ounce cans? A 20-pound turkey was ... 29 cents a pound.  Is there anything in a grocery store you can even buy for 25 cents now?  Even the candy bars cost a dollar.