Can we talk about the price of a basic pot of beans now versus when I was a kid

I was cleaning out my mom's kitchen in Toledo and found a grocery receipt from 1998 stuck in a cookbook, and a pound of dry pinto beans was 49 cents. I checked the price at my store yesterday, and the same bag is now $1.89. That's almost four times the cost, which really surprised me for such a staple food. Has anyone else noticed a big jump on simple ingredients you used to rely on?

2 comments

2 Comments

bettymurphy15d agoTop Commenter

Look at it another way, a pound of beans still makes a ton of meals for under two bucks. That receipt is from over twenty five years ago, everything costs more now. Wages have gone up a lot since then too, so the real cost to your wallet might not be as bad as it looks. It's still one of the cheapest, most filling things you can put on a plate.

uma30615d ago

Wait, I have to disagree with @bettymurphy here. Wages have not kept up at all in my experience. My rent has tripled since the 90s, but my pay has barely doubled. Yeah, beans are still cheap, but everything you eat with them costs way more. A bell pepper or some cheese to mix in feels like a luxury now. Doesn't that change the whole meal math?