A 1947 issue of Life magazine, in a package of stories on “High Prices,” profiled Atlanta housewife Ann Cox Williams, who was held up as a superstar saver for feeding her family on just $12.50 a week.
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| Ann Cox Williams poses with a week’s worth of groceries in 1947. She spent $12.50 a week to buy all her groceries except milk. On this she managed to feed herself, her husband, her four-year-old twins and the family cat. (Robert Wheeler Time & Life Pictures) |
The author of the article called Williams “the 1947 heroine of the Battle of the Budget,” saying she: “allows herself $12.50 a week to buy all her groceries except milk. On this she manages to feed herself, her husband, her four-year-old twins and even the family cat.
“The job takes considerable doing. Mrs. Williams is an avid student of grocery ads and shop windows. She limits herself to one shopping expedition a week, at which she weights 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.”
“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,” said the article, which showed Williams shopping, studying the newspaper and preparing cookies for a PTA party.
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