Food Expenditures of Two Working-Class Families (1887-1888) In the 1870s and 1880s the cost of food accounted for about 60% of the total expenditures of a typical working-class family – with some fluctuation based on total family income and the number of children. The table below shows the food expenditures of two working-class families. The first family had less money per person to spend on food than the second one. Both spent the most on bread: 21.5% and 28.1% of total food expenditures. The next largest share was for meat (including sausages). The expenditures appear to show great disparities for some items: for example, the first family spent just 1.3% for butter, whereas the second family spent 16%. The next line, however, shows that the first family spent more on fats and lard, perhaps to compensate for their meager use of butter.
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page 1 of 1 Expenditure on Foodstuffs by Two Working-Class Families 1887-88 Food item Working-class family of 7-8 according to Opificius (1888) Working-class family of 5 according to Mehner (1887) in marks in percent in marks in percent Bread 140.77 21.5 183.04 28.1 Bread rolls 21.25 3.3 – – Kaiser buns – – 13.00 2.0 Potatoes 24.14 3.7 60.84 9.4 Flour 7.85 1.2 10.40 1.6 Rice (barley) – – 10.40 1.6 Butter 8.41 1.3 109.20 16.7 Fats and drippings 28.83 4.4 11.44 (a) 1.8 Salad and rapeseed oil 10.66 1.6 – – Beef 40.08 6.3 22.36 3.4 Various meats 9.94 1.5 15.60 2.4 Sausage (b) 19.90 3.1 15.60 2.4 Herring (c) – – 10.40 1.6 Milk 50.45 7.9 – – Cheese (c) 5.55 0.9 – – Farmer’s cheese – – 6.24 1.0 Eggs 11.28 1.7 20.80 (d) 3.2 Vegetables 11.96 1.9 13.00 2.0 Pulses 4.15 0.7 – – Other soup ingredients 14.12 2.2 – – Onions – – 1.04 0.2 Fruit 8.08 1.3 – – Sugar 19.09 2.9 – – Salt, vinegar, spices 11.46 1.8 5.20 (d) 0.8 Honey or fruit puree 1.71 0.3 – – Coffee 33.88 5.2 15.60 2.4 Coffee substitutes 1.85 0.3 10.40 (e) 1.6 Beer – – 27.04 (f) 4.2 Spirits 15.00 2.3 31.20 4.8 Provisions at work 95.02 14.6 57.72 (g) 8.8 Provisions at inns (h) 45.26 7.1 – – Misc. 6.11 0.9 – – Total 646.53 100.0 650.52 100.0 a) Mehner only lists beef drippings. b) Here, it should be noted that the consumption of sausages, herring, and cheese by members of the family charted by Mehner was substantially higher, but this is recorded under the category “provisions at work,” since both spouses worked in a factory. c) In Mehner’s statistics, the consumption of eggs is divided in two categories: “eggs” and “salad and eggs.” Since the latter cannot be divided, it was added to the total consumption of eggs. d) Mehner only lists salt. e) Mehner only lists “barley.” f) Beer consumption was higher as well, but the beer consumed during work breaks is included under the category “provisions at work.” g) Complied by the author from the categories: sausage or cheese (34.32 marks), cucumber or cheese (3.64 marks), cucumber or herring (4.16 marks), as well as brown beer (15.60 marks). h) Opificius’ table reads: Provisions at inns and tobacco. Since this category cannot be divided, it was listed as a whole. In Mehner’s listing, a worker’s consumption of tobacco amounts to 34.32 marks. Cf. Mehner loc. cit., p. 309. It was omitted here. The worker’s consumption at inns is included in beer consumption. Source: L. Opificius, “Haushaltsbudget eines Arbeiters in einer chemischen Fabrik,” [“Household Budget of a Chemical Factory Worker”] Frankfurter Arbeiterbudgets (Schriften des freien deutschen Hochstiftes) [Frankfurt Workers’ Budget (Writings of the Free German Hochstift)]. (Frankfurt a.M., 1890): pp. 69-70, and H. Mehner, “Der Haushalt und die Lebenshaltung einer Leipziger Arbeiterfamilie” [“The Budget and Cost of Living for a Working-Class Family in Leipzig”], in Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reiche [Yearbook for Legislation, Administration and National Economy of the German Reich] 11 (1887): p. 310; both in Lothar Schneider, Der Arbeiterhaushalt im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert [Working-Class Budgets in the 18th and 19th Centuries]. Berlin, 1967, pp. 158-59. Original German text reprinted in Gerd Hohorst, Jürgen Kocka, and Gerhard A. Ritter, Sozialgeschichtliches Arbeitsbuch II [Social History Workbook II], 2nd ed. Munich: Beck, 1978, pp. 118-19. Translation: Erwin Fink
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