If all American housewives had the spunk and ingenuity of the woman on this page -- Mrs. Hamilton Williams of Atlanta, Ga. -- inflation would be less of a swear word. Mrs. Williams, wife of a high-school teacher, allows herself $12.50 a week to buy all her groceries except milk. On this she manages to feed herself, her husband, her 4-year-old twins and even the family cat (oposite page). The job takes considerable doing. Mrs. Williams is an avid student of grocery ads and shop windows (above). She limits herself to one shopping expedition a week, at which she weighs every penny against the family's full-week appetite. She serves no meat at lunch and limits her evening entrees to such items as meat loaf, hamburgers and chili. yet she manages to provide two desserts daily and such frills as cookies for a party (below). When she described her budget in the Atlanta Journal recently, less enterprising housewives sent in letters of disbelief, and the city's C.I.O. got to work on an official denial that any family could eat so cheaply. But Mrs. Williams, the 1947 heroine of the Battle of the Budget, carried merrily on.
Ann Cox Williams poses with a week's worth of groceries in 1947.Robert Wheeler / Time & Life Pictures / Today
$12.50 in 1947 is equivalent to the purchasing power of about $165.63 today.
BreakfastInBedlam on November 15th, 2023 at 17:06 UTC »
2 pounds of salt, three loaves of bread, and a 5 lb bag of sugar? Each week?
Short_Elevator_7024 on November 15th, 2023 at 17:20 UTC »
You mean this isn't someones Grandma walking to the beach?
Spartan2470 on November 15th, 2023 at 18:42 UTC »
The source of this image is the November 10, 1947 edition of Life Magazine. Per there:
$12.50 in 1947 is equivalent to the purchasing power of about $165.63 today.