(NEXSTAR) – Of all the outlandish occurrences that take place in “Home Alone” — a movie about a family forgetting to bring their child on an international trip, and that child later outsmarting and nearly killing two grown men — the most unrealistic aspect, at least according to many of today’s viewers, is perhaps the cost of groceries circa 1990.
About halfway through the movie, 8-year-old Kevin McCallister purchases the following items at a suburban Chicago supermarket:
- a half-gallon of milk
- Wrappit! plastic wrap
- a Stouffer’s frozen turkey dinner
- Snuggle dryer sheets
- Wonder Bread
- a four-pack of Quilted Northern toilet paper
- Kraft Macaroni and Cheese
- a baggie of plastic Army figurines
- Tide liquid laundry detergent
- a half-gallon of Tropicana orange juice
The total cost of Kevin’s items comes to just $19.83, after accounting for the $1-off coupon Kevin redeems for juice. He then pays with a $20 bill, fends off the suspicions of a nosy cashier, and leaves with his purchases.
Granted, “Home Alone” was released over three decades ago, and the cost of groceries at Kevin’s local market seemed accurate enough for audiences in 1990. But in 2023, some viewers can barely believe how little Kevin must’ve paid for Tide and toilet paper.
One such fan, TikTok user Geoffrey Lyons, took it upon himself to calculate the cost of the same (or comparable) groceries at Target.com, claiming that Kevin would be spending $64 (before taxes) on similar items today.
“It’s just nuts how much it’s changed,” Lyons remarked in a now-viral TikTok video he posted last week.
Many commenters appeared similarly astonished, calling 1990’s prices “insane” or “ridiculous” by comparison. But others claimed Lyons could have cut costs by shopping at retailers such as Walmart or Aldi, saying those stores would charge less for the same items.
Some also accused Lyons of picking more expensive options (specifically, brand-name milks and larger-sized dryer sheets) than Kevin did.
Lyons did not say which Target location, specifically, he had obtained the prices from, though he indicated he lived in northern Texas. At a Target in the Chicago area, the total cost of identical items (where available) and conservatively-priced substitutes totaled only around $47, according to online price information — albeit before the added cost of a pack of Army men, which Target.com does not currently show as available. On Amazon and Walmart.com, however, similar packages go for around 8 bucks.
A comparable batch of groceries at Walmart — Army men included — cost just under $50 at a store in Chicago, according to online pricing information.
Then again, a reporter for NewsNation also did his own calculations in 2022, finding the total cost of Kevin’s groceries “came out to be $72.28 with tax,” as purchased that year at a Happy Foods supermarket in Chicago.
In any case, today’s groceries might not be as insanely overpriced as they initially appear to some “Home Alone” viewers, especially if purchased at a reasonable supermarket: According to the inflation calculator operated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, $19.83 in December 1990 had the same buying power as $45.60 in October 2023.
Nevertheless, inflation — and therefore the cost of basic groceries — has far outpaced the median U.S. income, likely making such purchases more difficult for today’s “Home Alone” viewers.
“So what you’re telling me is that my kids couldn’t survive if I accidentally left them home alone to go on a trip to Paris,” one TikTok user jokingly lamented.
