# when did chicken for dinner get cheap enough for an everyday option? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2019, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669 "2019-09-23T00:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/21 "2019-09-23T06:43:34Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > I grew up between 1962 and 1980 in the Chicago area. Chicken was unremarkable, but definitely not every day in my first 10 years. Tuna casseroles and other food-stretchers were much more likely. Steak (cheap cuts on the grill, basically round steak) was not unheard of, but definitely a treat. I had two siblings, and my father was a research chemist, my mother a journalist. Probably solid middle or upper-middle class. this was me except well we weren’t middle class we lived on 45 bucks a week child support for 3 kids and state assistance… but the grandparents were great depression kids … ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/22 "2019-09-23T09:17:26Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > City Chicken (which is not chicken, it’s pork)… Really? Here in the Chicago area I always heard that “city chicken” was pigeon. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/23 "2019-09-23T10:42:17Z")
My mother (now 85) deliberately avoids making or ordering chicken most of the time because it was the cheap meat of her younger days. I guess it holds unpleasant associations for her. I don’t remember having it a lot as a kid - many meals were based on ground beef in my youth, so I saw that as cheap meat. Personally, I like chicken and I make it frequently at home. I’ll even order it occasionally when we go out (tho seafood is my go-to.) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/24 "2019-09-23T12:36:40Z")
The mass production of chickens really ramped up in the 50s. But it still took a bit for chicken to get _really_ cheaper. There was still a lot of holdover in mentality for quite a while where people considered chicken to be a “special” meat for (some) Sundays and such. But that had nothing to do with cost. In particular, people who raised their own chickens would have had the “chicken for Sunday” attitude quite a bit. I remember watching my grandfather grab a chicken out of the coop and … process … it for Sunday dinner when we visited. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/25 "2019-09-23T12:37:40Z")
“A chicken in every pot” was a 1928 campaign slogan during Herbert Hoover’s presidential campaign. [From here](https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+chicken+in+every+pot) > [@](#): > > Prosperity. The phrase came from a newspaper advertisement by the Republican National Committee during Herbert Hoover’s 1928 presidential campaign. The ad pointed out that the preceding administrations of presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge had “put the proverbial ‘chicken in every pot.’ And a car in every backyard, to boot.” Although credited with the statement, Hoover never promised “a chicken in every pot.” In a similar vein, King Henry IV of France vowed on his coronation in 1589 that “if God grants me the usual length of life, I hope to make France so prosperous that every peasant will have a chicken in his pot on Sunday.” His assassination in 1610 at age fifty-seven stymied such a plan. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/26 "2019-09-23T13:40:35Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Born in 1960 (Australia) and chicken was indeed a very special meal > … > As to WHEN it happened? I’m thinking late 1970’s, early 80’s here in Australia. I think a bit earlier than that. Inghams (the Australian equivalent of Tysons) built it’s first processing plant 1958 to become the first fully integrated poultry business here. The first KFC restaurant opened in Sydney in 1968, so by that stage chicken had become mass produced, mass marketed and cheap. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/27 "2019-09-23T13:56:39Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I was born in the late 70s and remember until I was about 8 or 9 that chicken for dinner was a rare “Sunday dinner” occurrence (it was usually a whole stuffed chicken with au gratin potatoes and fancy frozen vegetables with biscuits" and usually pie Was that “usually a whole stuffed chicken” more like “almost always”? I was born in the early 60s - but chicken for dinner wasn’t a rare occurrence. A whole, roasted chicken was a rare Sunday dinner occurrence but fried chicken cutlets, or grilled /broiled chicken pieces were pretty common - the reason the whole roasted chicken was kind of rare was because 1) it took too long to cook on weekdays 2) my parents preferred roast beef ( which I’m pretty sure was more expensive than chicken ) on Sundays. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/28 "2019-09-23T14:33:24Z")
Factory farming of chicken overtook “barnyard” chicken in 1952, and general industrialization of chicken-rearing brought down the price and increased availability. > **[National Chicken Council | U.S. Chicken Industry History](https://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/about-the-industry/history/)** > > The chicken industry in the United States is one of the most successful sectors in agriculture. In a little over 50 years, the U.S. broiler industry has > [@](#): > > By 1952, specially bred meat chickens (“broilers”) surpassed farm chickens as the number one source of chicken meat in the United States. > **[A History of Chickens: Then (1900) Vs Now (2022) -](https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/a-history-of-chickens/)** > > In the history of chickens, our chickens today are spoiled beyond belief! Know the origins of the modern-day chicken and how they evolved. > [@](#): > > **1950-1960s: Chickens Stop Becoming a Luxury Food** > These were the years that saw the most change for chickens. > > Improvements in production capabilities and lower labor requirements saw the price of eggs plummet and many family-owned chicken farms went bankrupted. The vacuum was filled with larger industrial operations. > > Chickens stopped being a ‘luxury’ food; almost every family could afford a chicken. Broilers were now the #1 source of poultry meat. > > In 1950 the refrigeration was invented allowing produce to be stored at home for much longer. > Companies bought the feed mills, hatcheries etc. in order to control production. > The average flock sizes increased massively, however with this came issues of disease control and prevention, medicine and vaccinations. I wasn’t able to find a useful price history of chicken and beef, but I’d guess that was around when chicken got cheaper than beef in the US. Customs and habits lag economics, and I suppose that a lot of families still used chicken as a festive party food for a while after it became cheap and widely available. But I’d point out that if it was served at church picnics, it probably wasn’t all that expensive. People usually try to make tasty-but-affordable food for events like that. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/29 "2019-09-23T15:09:45Z")
I was born in 1969 and for most of my life, chicken has been cheap enough to eat several times a week. But in the 1970s and '80s there were several periods when the relative prices of different animal proteins fluctuated wildly. I haven’t noticed such wild fluctuations in recent decades, except for eggs. I remember one period of more than a year or more, probably sometime around 1978-82, when chicken was relatively expensive and beef relatively cheap. I don’t know if chicken was literally cheaper per pound than beef, but the price differential was so low that my parents mostly bought beef, which they preferred. Over the course of one whole year we had chicken exactly once, on my birthday when I asked for it specifically. During this period I got so sick of beef that to this day, I eat it only a few times a year. Yet, in a different year when beef was expensive and chicken cheap, we had chicken almost every day and beef maybe once a week. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/30 "2019-09-23T16:28:23Z")
_“In 1950 the refrigeration was invented allowing produce to be stored at home for much longer.”_ Say what? :dubious: Home refrigerators (in contrast to iceboxes) were in use by the early 1920s, led by Kelvinator, Electrolux, Frigidaire, and General Electric. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/31 "2019-09-23T16:44:36Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > City Chicken (which is not chicken, it’s pork) was super popular here in Cleveland when my mom was growing up in the 50s and 60s but we’ve discussed it and we can’t remember her ever serving it to us in the 80s. So chicken must have been the cheaper meat by the 80s. > > Not that it probably wasn’t cheaper earlier. I just like to drop midwestern ethnic goodies into threads when I can 🙂 We got fed City Chicken on a regular basis when I was a Cleveland kid in the 1960s. Hated it; mom stuck it in the oven and it came out dry as the Kalahari. She never seemed to season it, either. In those days it was made out of VEAL. Wrap your head around THAT. We never had chicken because my father hated it. He’s the only non-vegetarian I’ve ever known who didn’t like chicken. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/32 "2019-09-23T16:45:46Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _“In 1950 the refrigeration was invented allowing produce to be stored at home for much longer.”_ > > Say what? :dubious: Home refrigerators (in contrast to iceboxes) were in use by the early 1920s, led by Kelvinator, Electrolux, Frigidaire, and General Electric. Yeah, I think that’s when refrigerated TRUCKs became common, which changed the availability and price of a lot of foods. It’s also when home refrigerators got a lot better. (My mom talks all the time about how much longer stuff keeps now than it used to, even though she’s always had a kitchen fridge.) My guess is the site is better about chicken than about technology, but it’s obviously not an ideal citation. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/33 "2019-09-23T16:48:06Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > [This article](https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-are-the-only-american-meat-options-chicken-beef-an-1525262411) indicates that it was during WWII that chicken (as a meat) became commonplace, due to both the growth of industrialized chicken farming, and red meat being prioritized for sending overseas to the troops. > > It also notes that, as chicken became more common, at least one meat that declined was rabbit. That makes sense, as rabbit is similar. It’s about the same size, it’s a mildly flavored meat, and imo, it’s not as good as chicken. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/34 "2019-09-23T16:50:53Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > We got fed City Chicken on a regular basis when I was a Cleveland kid in the 1960s. Hated it; mom stuck it in the oven and it came out dry as the Kalahari. She never seemed to season it, either. > > In those days it was made out of VEAL. Wrap your head around THAT. In Minnesota, these were called “mock chicken legs.” They were quite good when deep-fried. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/35 "2019-09-23T16:58:17Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yeah, I think that’s when refrigerated TRUCKs became common, which changed the availability and price of a lot of foods. From the ABCO website: \*Somewhere around 1930 the first commercially used versions of mechanically cooled trucks were beginning to hit the roads. These trucks were designed in many different variations but were not yet built as a separate truck and trailer that you see on the roads today. By the late 1930’s refrigerated trailers ranging from 38 to 40 feet were being introduced to the market. Modern reefer trailers are usually between 48 and 55 feet in length. In 1939 Fred Jones was tasked with helping Joe Numero in adapting a refrigerated cooling process for the tractor-trailer. This invention later became known as the Thermo King and helped revolutionize the emergence of the supermarket we know today. This was the beginning of attaching a refrigeration unit to the outside of the trailer to cool the contents inside. By 1940 there were over 18,000 refrigerated road vehicles being used with around 2,500 of those units being mechanically cooled. With the implementation of the interstate highway act of 1956, the trucking industry experienced rapid growth and continued to increase the number of reefer trucks on the road.\* It looks like the Interstate highway system had a lot to do with the development of the refrigerated trucking industry. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/36 "2019-09-23T17:31:51Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > My mother (now 85) deliberately avoids making or ordering chicken most of the time because it was the cheap meat of her younger days. I guess it holds unpleasant associations for her. I don’t remember having it a lot as a kid - many meals were based on ground beef in my youth, so I saw that as cheap meat. Before he died at the age of 79, my dad, who was born to Austro-Hungarian immigrants in Milwaukee in 1921, wrote that his childhood memories of family life consisted of “chicken paprikash and things that are best forgotten.” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/37 "2019-09-23T17:48:18Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > We got fed City Chicken on a regular basis when I was a Cleveland kid in the 1960s. Hated it; mom stuck it in the oven and it came out dry as the Kalahari. She never seemed to season it, either. > > In those days it was made out of VEAL. Wrap your head around THAT. > > We never had chicken because my father hated it. He’s the only non-vegetarian I’ve ever known who didn’t like chicken. A friend’s family were early adopters of the microwave oven! The only problem was that my friend’s mom couldn’t believe it could cook as fast as it did. A recipe said, “cook for five minutes” and she would scoff, cooking it for 15 minutes just to be sure. She made chicken that could pass as beef jerky. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/38 "2019-09-23T18:55:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Before he died at the age of 79, my dad, who was born to Austro-Hungarian immigrants in Milwaukee in 1921, wrote that his childhood memories of family life consisted of “chicken paprikash and things that are best forgotten.” Awwwww. I like chicken paprikash. I throw in a handful of mushrooms to sauté with the paprika and onions, making it a sort of “Stroganoff-paprikash.” I see this kind of prejudice against peasant food all over Amerika. We did a weekend in Lancaster County, PA, in June, and stayed at a B&B. The innkeeper’s dad was hanging around — a worldly WASP-y neurosurgeon — and I asked him where to find a nice Amish restaurant for dinner. “You don’t want to eat THAT shit.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/39 "2019-09-23T19:35:33Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Awwwww. I like chicken paprikash. I throw in a handful of mushrooms to sauté with the paprika and onions, making it a sort of “Stroganoff-paprikash.” > > I see this kind of prejudice against peasant food all over Amerika. We did a weekend in Lancaster County, PA, in June, and stayed at a B&B. The innkeeper’s dad was hanging around — a worldly WASP-y neurosurgeon — and I asked him where to find a nice Amish restaurant for dinner. > > “You don’t want to eat THAT shit.” FTR, I love it too. I don’t think my dad was disparaging the dish itself, just the unhappy memories associated with it and his childhood. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669/40 "2019-09-23T20:22:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I get the impression that many families, urban and otherwise, raised their own chickens and rabbits for food up to the WWII years. I know my dad’s raised chickens in Milwaukee in the 1920s, and my mother’s kept rabbits in rural Missouri in the 1930s. My wife’s grandfather, who grew up in Omaha, then in Chicago, in the 1920s, told us about the chicken coop that his family always had in the back yard. It was often his job to kill and pluck the chickens that would wind up on the family menu, and as a result, he had a distaste for chicken for the rest of his life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-chicken-for-dinner-get-cheap-enough-for-an-everyday-option/840669.md?page=3)