30 year old food ad

Yesterday when I was working I happened upon a pile of old newspapers.  One in particular caught my eye.  It was the food ad from January 22, 1981.  Some prices haven't changed in over 30 years: 
2 liter store brand soda .79 a bottle - I can go to the dollar store and buy a 2.5 or 3 liter bottle for a buck now!  Chicken legs .69 a pound - on sale just last week for .79. Cake mixes .68 a box - on sale for .88 a box recently.

So you are thinking that prices really haven't risen much, at least not by the three examples I just gave.  Let's get down to the other items.   Since it's almost New Year's Eve let's talk about alcohol prices.
$1.79 for a 6-pack of beer, $4.89 for a bottle of vodka.  I saw the vodka in the latest ad from the same store for $15.  Or Johnny Walker Red Label scotch from $9.99 to $32.  Those prices tripled over the past 30 years!

How about real food and groceries in 1981?
Coffee 2.29 a pound
Bubble bread (cheap white bread) 4-$1.00
Toilet paper four pack -.59
Kraft mac and cheese .18 a box
Clorox bleach .78 a gallon jug
tangerines .29 a pound
avocados .25 each
lettuce .25 a head
most beef was between $2.00 and $2.50 a pound
bacon $1.19 a pound
spaghetti .89 for 24 oz.
ragu 15 oz jar for .79!  Comparing this to the canned spag sauce for .88 at present meant that ragu was really expensive.  No wonder I never bought it in the "olden days".

So much for reminiscing about prices.  Buy food and stock up on things that will last.  It's better than money in the bank! 

Along with the food ads was the daily comic section.  I have to repeat one comic here.  It's Hagar the Horrible by Dik Browne.  The setting: Two people are sitting on top of a rock in the middle of the ocean.  Eight sharks are visible swimming nearby.  "We're shipwrecked in shark-infested waters thousand of miles from land with no food or water - what should be do?!" "Try not to think about it..."

Most people listen to the news on TV or read it on their electronic devices.  There are so many things happening that can have a significant effect on our lives but most people don't really put much stock into what they hear or read.  After all, it's easier to be oblivious to the real dangers to our way of life.  At some point society will be sitting on that rock, without food or water, and trying not to think about it.  I won't be one of those people.