You'd buy your meals in diners instead of buying food to cook, if you were someone non-wealthy working in a factory or an office. You probably wouldn't be buying that much outside of this: for cigarettes, newspapers etc. there were newstands you could shop at while running to work. For big purchases, I imagine you would get a day off. Buying a fridge would be a major event, for example. But also one I'd expect people to be married for already.

Besides, if we go back far enough, upperish middle class people would hire servants. The original 101 Dalmatians film comes to mind.

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consp 18 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

> you would get a day off

A day off? Are you mad! During the industrial revolution as a factory worker? Only on Sundays, if you are lucky.

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skrebbel 42 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Good thing the servants didn't need food or fridges.

	▲	stereolambda 19 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I'll reply in good faith in case anyone else reads and wonders: if you had a working day, you would eat at your employer's. You could also well be the person doing the shopping for them and yourself for the day. For most of the period when the servants were common, people did not or rarely had fridges. There were different contraptions for keeping the food cool.

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dotancohen 39 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

This is not how any class of people lived during any age of history.