Fans of the 1990 Christmas movie “Home Alone” know the scene where eight-year-old Kevin McCallister heads to the grocery store by himself. At this point, he knows his family left him behind when they went to Paris and he figures he should stock up on some kitchen staples to get him through. His total for the items is really low, since this was more than 30 years ago, so a fan of the classic film decided to crunch the numbers to see what those same things would cost today.
Kevin spends $19.83 for the 10 items he buys, even saving $1 with a coupon for the Tropicana orange juice. TikToker Geoffrey Lyons set out to see how much those exact groceries would be today if he was shopping at Target. He crunches the numbers and shares the total in a video that explains what the price of each item is now:
- A TV dinner - $5 (Geoffrey couldn’t find the exact same one, but this is close)
- a loaf of Wonder Bread - $3
- a frozen mac and cheese - $3.50
- one half gallon of milk - $4.60
- Tide laundry detergent - $13
- toilet paper - $8
- a half gallon of orange juice - $4.50
- a pack of Army men - $9
- a pack of Saran Wrap - $4.50
- and some dryer sheets - $8.79
According to Geoffrey’s calculations, Kevin’s groceries would cost $63.73, after the $1 coupon, and with tax, the total would be $68. The TikTok user notes that this is a 248-percent increase in price.
Source: Scary Mommy
Talk Back:
- Kevin was a very responsible shopper, my kids would have wasted all their money on candy!
- The room service bill in “Home Alone 2” was $900 back then. I bet it would be 3k today!
- Do these prices line up with what you’re paying for groceries? Are dryer sheets really almost $9?