14 Things Every Family Bought Weekly in the 1960s That Disappeared

Families used to buy things on a weekly shopping trip in the 1960s, which are progressively disappearing from day-to-day living, making the errands of that era significantly different than the errands of today. Ordinary routines also depended on carbon paper, payments for diaper care, canned evaporated milk, and blocks of fat. Changing lifestyles, health concerns, sophisticated appliances, and new packaging have replaced many of these previously essential things throughout time. Today, these forgotten purchases live primarily in recollections, vintage commercials, old television episodes, and family stories from a totally different era.

1. TV Dinners

In the 1960s, families routinely loaded their freezers with Swanson TV dinners, which made it easy to prepare meals on busy evenings. Neatly portioned in aluminum trays were fried chicken, Salisbury steak, peas, corn, and mashed potatoes. Parents loved the convenience after long days at work, while youngsters adored eating in front of the television during popular shows. The dinners were a sign of how much Americans were learning to love modern convenience and frozen foods in the post-war era. TV dinners are still around today, but the original compartment trays and the family thrill they generated are mostly gone from daily life.

2. Powdered Drink Mixes in Large Tins

In the 1960s, many households bought large tins of powdered drink mixes like Tang and Ovaltine every week. They were seen as cheaper substitutes for fresh juice, especially for larger families. Before dinner, children poured brilliant orange powder into pitchers and made delicious drinks that were part of regular routines. When NASA astronauts drank Tang on space flights, it felt futuristic and adventurous. Tang exploded in popularity. These giant containers have been eclipsed by bottled drinks and other movements toward healthier beverages. Giant powdered drink tins in kitchen cabinets were a thing of the past in most households today.

3. Cigarette Cartons from Grocery Stores

In the 1960s, many American households almost always included cigarette cartons in their weekly grocery shopping. The checkout counters were packed with brands like Marlboro, Winston, Pall Mall, and Lucky Strike alongside candies and chewing gum. Smoking was still socially acceptable in restaurants, offices, aircraft, and even within homes with children present. Colorful signs and promotional discounts were commonly used in stores to market cigarettes, encouraging families to buy cartons instead of single packs. Health warnings nonetheless remained restricted for much of the decade, and smoking behaviors remained open with little public concern. Today, cigarettes have vanished from the usual routine of the family grocery store, and they have lost their normalcy.

4. Wax Paper Rolls

Wax paper rolls were purchased on weekly supermarket excursions in the 1960s before plastic wrap had completely taken over the kitchen. Wax paper was crinkly, something that mothers used to wrap sandwiches, line lunch boxes, cover leftovers, and separate handmade sweets. In almost every supermarket, there were brands like Cut-Rite alongside foil and paper bags. The roll made a gentle ripping sound that belongs to school mornings and packed lunches. Wax paper was cheap, handy, and easily folded around food. But with the coming of resealable bags, cling wrap, and plastic containers, wax paper vanished from everyday. Today, it hardly ranks as a weekly family staple.

5. Returnable Glass Soda Bottles

As a side note, back in the 1960s, families bought returnable glass bottles of Coca-Cola, Pepsi, 7UP, and RC Cola every week. They were sold in robust cardboard boxes or wooden crates, and consumers paid a small deposit per bottle. Empty bottles were rinsed after Sunday dinners or backyard feasts and sent back to the store for credit. The clinking of glass as crates rolled through the kitchen was a sound the children enjoyed. The arrangement seemed normal, functional, and a little thrilling, as soda was still a pleasure. The practice was later replaced by disposable cans and plastic bottles. Weekly bottle returns had mostly been removed from family shopping routines today.

6. Canned Evaporated Milk

Canned evaporated milk was a weekly staple in many households of the 1960s, especially for families that cooked from scratch. Brands such as Carnation and Pet Milk expanded into coffee, mashed potatoes, puddings, cream sauces, and home-made desserts. Some parents used it when they ran out of fresh milk, while others trusted it as it had a longer shelf life in the cupboard. Besides flour, sugar, and canned vegetables, grocery carts often carried many small tins. Its rich taste makes simple meals more satisfying and comforting. As refrigeration improved and fresh dairy became more available, evaporated milk fell out of favor for everyday cookery. It was still useful today, but hardly weekly.

7. S&H Green Stamp Books

In the 1960s, families meticulously collected S&H Green Stamps on their monthly shopping trips to supermarkets, gas stations, and department stores. Cashiers gave you little green stamps depending on how much money you spent. Parents licked the backs after supper and stuffed them into thick stamp books at the kitchen table. Filling a book was gratifying since finished pages could be redeemed for home products, toys, cookery, or even furniture from redemption catalogs. Children typically helped to paste the stamps and dreamed of prizes. The program was woven into the fabric of everyday family life throughout America. Stamp books slowly faded from the weekly shopping life as credit card rewards and digital programs emerged.

8. Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate

Frozen orange juice concentrate arrived in refrigerators across America in the 1960s and became a weekly supermarket staple for many homes. Small metal tins nestled in frigid grocery bins among frozen veggies, with labels like Minute Maid and Birds Eye. Parents combined the concentrate with water in plastic pitchers each morning before breakfast. It felt like a typical, practical, cheap way to raise a family. Children typically observed the thick orange block melt slowly as someone mixed it up with a big spoon. For many families, fresh-squeezed juice was still expensive, and concentrate was a convenient option. Today, this previously typical breakfast habit has been replaced by ready-to-drink refrigerated juices.

9. Metal Ice Cube Trays

In the 1960s, refrigerators did not yet have automatic ice makers, and many households were regular buyers of metal ice cube trays. The trays had little handles that broke the frozen cubes apart with a loud snap. Most kitchen freezers held many trays of water, carefully piled near frozen items. As families gathered for parties and summer evenings, parents placed cubes into lemonade, iced tea, soda, or evening cocktails. On hot days, children often stole bits of ice from the tray. Refrigerators with built-in ice dispensers became the norm, and metal trays progressively dropped off weekly shopping lists. Today, they lived largely on as sentimental kitchen recollections.

10. Disposable Diaper Service Tokens

In the 1960s, many parents routinely bought diaper service tokens or payment booklets weekly instead of buying disposable diapers in bulk. In several areas, cloth diaper businesses would deliver clean diapers to people’s homes and pick up the dirty ones for washing in industrial laundries. Mothers kept metal diaper pails in bathrooms or laundry rooms until pickup day. This habit became part of the everyday life of families with babies. Each week, drivers carted enormous bags of folded white diapers from house to house. Disposable diapers from brands like Pampers became cheaper and more convenient, and diaper services steadily vanished. This once-common weekly purchase has never been experienced by most younger families today.

11. Shoe Polish Tins

In the 1960s, families would commonly buy tins of shoe polish on their weekly outings, for polished shoes still played a part in school, church, and work. In supermarkets and pharmacies across America, brands like Kiwi sat alongside brushes and cleaning products. Fathers polished their leather dress shoes for work, children their black school shoes on Sunday nights. The fragrance of polish and the rapid gloss of buffing cloths become familiar features of everyday activities. Many a home would have had multiple tins in different colors for many pairs of shoes. With the ascendancy of the casual sneaker and the laid-back dress shoe, the daily shoe shine and the weekly shoe polish disappeared from the radar of everyday living and weekly shopping lists.

12. Lard in Large Blocks

For many households in the 1960s, especially those that made traditional foods from scratch, big slabs of lard were still a weekly kitchen item. Housewives used fat for frying chicken, making biscuits, baking pie crusts, and seasoning cast-iron cookware. Grocery stores sold it in paper wraps or in metal tubs, alongside shortening and butter. The ingredient bulked out meals affordably and gave home-cooked dishes a rich flavor. Over the decade, older relatives frequently had greater confidence in lard than in newly processed cooking oils, which were making their way into supermarkets. Over time, concerns about fat and cholesterol in health impacted the way Americans cooked. Families’ weekly purchase of large lard bricks is quite rare today.

13. Carbon Paper Packs

In the 1960s, families often bought packets of carbon paper because duplicating copies at home was hard work. Parents wrote messages, invoices, receipts, school forms, or household records on the thin black sheets via typewriter. One keystroke would make an instant copy below the original page, saving time and paper. Office supply aisles and stationery areas always had new packs sitting next to ribbons and typing paper. Spare sheets were often kept in desk drawers as the ink smeared readily after regular use by many families. As photocopiers, printers, and computers entered homes and offices, carbon paper soon became obsolete. Today, rarely did newer generations know it or use it.

14. Brylcreem Hair Cream

In the 1960s, a pot of Brylcreem hair cream was found in many bathroom cabinets and was a weekly buy for many men. The shiny cream helped create smooth hairstyles that mimicked the decade’s trendy looks. Fathers carefully brushed it through their hair before work, dating, church services, or family gatherings. It was the familiar smell that filled bathrooms during hasty morning procedures. Brylcreem was marketed in television advertising and magazine adverts as part of a polished, respectable image. As natural hairstyles became more popular in later decades, heavy hair creams gradually left the typical weekly shopping routine.

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