When I was growing up in the 60’s & 70’s, 1.00 could buy half a bag of candy (about a pint) or a dozen Popscicles with change to spare. I don't remember the exact price breakdown, but I remember getting a Big Mac and a small soda for .90, then added a waffle ice cream sandwich from Woolworth’s for an additional $.14. It sticks in my mind because our local tax was 4%, so my meal was exactly $1.00 before tax.
Excluding Dollar and 99 Cent stores, because of additional local tax, what can you buy for $1.00 or less today?
Offhand I can think of:
A candy bar, possibly two if they’re on sale
Two five packs of Wrigley’s Gum (They’re still $.35 right?)
A small handful of loose nails and screws from the hardware store
A can of soda or juice
From my latest few trips to the local 24/7 gas station
Lottery ticket
Muffin / Pastry
Coffee / water
Banana / Apple
Onion
Potato
Loaf of bread
Package of hamburger buns
1/2 pint of milk
A loaf of bread or buns for less than $1.00 at a gas station??? In Hawaii, the last loaf of bread I bought was $4.50 at the market and the cheapest I’ve seen hamburger buns go on sale was $2.00. Must be all the rice we eat in Hawaii!
A bag of Fritos or a bag of Doritos from the vending machine at work cost $1 each. The liquor store down the road features small bags of peanuts at the register that are 2 for a buck. (Those are an excellent purchase, especially the hot peanuts.)
Can of beans at our Safeway when they are on sale, which is fairly frequently. Also box of Rice-a-Roni or Noodle-Roni when on sale.
Almost counting - before tax - is a sheet of posterboard at the dollar store. I bought four of them, taped them together, and made a puzzle board which can handle a 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. $1 each.
The Coca-Cola plant in town has six vending machines outside near the back doors that vend one can, or one bottle, for one quarter each. The soda or juice is either old (almost at the sell by date), or an oddball drink.
What I usually buy there is Mello-Yello, Mr Pibb, or one of the Crush products. I also will gamble on the “Mystery sugar” drinks. I have tasted some weird stuff with that selection. Although the last “Mystery Sugar” drink I bought turned out to be a Sprite, which I like, so I won with that one.
One of my co-workers buys all of the Tab that they have. She tries the “Mystery Diet” drinks. There are all kinds of oddly named diet drinks out there.
Neither of us has any inclination to try any of the flavored water drinks.
Thus, I can say that I can buy four cans/bottles of soda for a dollar.
At my local Aldi’s you can get a dozen eggs for under a buck (was 59 cents a few weeks ago, but .93 this week) Cheap loaf of bread is under a dollar, too.
They sell a 10 lb package of dark meat chicken (a random selection of legs and thighs and thighs connected to legs) for around $4.50, so a $1.00 portion of that would be a pretty significant amount of chicken.
Most fast food places have a mini burger or a taco or something for $1.00.
Wendy’s has a pretty good dollar menu, too. Or there’s a 4-for-4 deal that gets you a choice of sandwich, nuggets, fries, and a drink. No tax if you get it to go.
You can usually get off-brand 2-liters for .99, and the Aldi store brand is only .69. Aldi’s single-serving yogurt is usually about $.39.
There are often a variety of sales/coupons on Life cereal, and I’ve seen it dip under a dollar a box when enough of them overlap at once (though you generally have to buy four boxes at a time to get that).
And for a cool summer treat, you can get a Speedway Speedy-Freeze for 79 cents (any size), or a McDonald’s cone for 50 cents.
Ohio doesn’t have tax on food so candy and food at Dollar Tree an at fast food places really is a buck.
You can get 2 cans of green beans at Wal Mart or Giant Eagle for 49 cents each. Probably a lot of other canned store-brand veggies too but I just buy green beans for my dogs.
There is no sales tax on food in Indiana. Therefore, at Dollar Tree you can get a 6 ounce bag of frozen spicy breaded chicken breast strips. I use them as a snack or cut them up and use them as “meatballs” in spaghetti sauce. Of course, there’s the usual range of chips, sardines, and other snacks. They have frozen White Castles 2 for $1, which is cheaper than the restaurant price.
