Newlywed Zoe Dippel was enjoying a girls night at her sister-in-law’s house when they decided to peruse a baby book that her mother-in-law recently passed down. Among the milestones and sonogram photos was a carefully folded, seemingly mile-long receipt from grocery store H-E-B. It was dated June 20, 1997, a little time capsule of daily life for posterity.

Though the receipt listed 122 everyday necessities like fruits and vegetables, baby food and diapers for twin baby girls, the total was just $155.

“We were immediately shocked,” Dippel tells TODAY.com, “As we started reading off the prices, our jaws dropped…It wasn’t until that moment that I truly realized how much the world has changed in nearly 30 years.”

The video is viral now, with over 2 million views on TikTok and thousands of replies from commenters bemoaning their own grocery bills in comparison to that nearly 30-year-old tab. It’s certainly not limited to H-E-B customers, either.

A sampling of the comments:

  • “$155 would be a short receipt these days.”
  • “I’m sorry, CENTS?!?!! Veggies were in CENTS???”
  • “And the older generation expects us to save money…”
  • “It makes me sick to my stomach to see how expensive groceries have become. It’s validating tbh, to see your mom’s receipt.”

In a series of follow up videos, Dippel has tried to address some of the details commenters have wondered about, like how it’s possible that such an ancient receipt is still readable. It’s printed with real ink or regular paper as was typical of the time, she says, and not the ephemeral thermal paper of today.

She also read off some of the items individually, reporting today’s prices for context. Little Debbie’s brownies were $1.09 on that summer day in 1997, compared with $5.75 today. A bag of coffee went from $2.47 to $9.43, while a package of diapers rose from $12.99 to $31.47.

At the urging of commenters, Dippel decided to tally up all the items on H-E-B’s shopping app, and even after painstakingly accounting for the slight price increase for curbside orders with a detailed spreadsheet, the present-day total rang in at nearly $500. That’s a staggering increase of about 220%.

But, prices are always rising over time. Is the change here really that remarkable?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Inflation Calculator, it takes about $2.02 to have the same buying power as just $1 in 1997, as of the most recent numbers of November 2025. That’s an increase of only 102% — significant to be sure, but nothing like Dippel’s receipt.

Still, some items on NBC News’ grocery price tracker are up 15-20% over last year. When that’s true for some or even most things on your list, it adds up in a hurry. And, though minimum wage has risen since the $4.75 required at the time of the receipt’s shopping trip, it’s only by 52%, to $7.25. To keep pace with the increase on the receipt, it would have to be a whopping $15.30 an hour.

With other costs like housing and healthcare rising, too, it’s no wonder so many respond that they’re feeling the pinch, and also feeling a little hopeless about ever getting ahead.

Dippel, a 24-year-old dental hygienist, is thankful to be making ends meet herself, but she also feels for the many commenters expressing shock and anger about the difference in cost of living between themselves and their parents. She describes reading the comments on her videos as “eye-opening and heartbreaking.”

“It shouldn’t be this hard to live,” laments Dippel, “and it shouldn’t take multiple jobs just to stay afloat. An entire generation is struggling to imagine buying a home, building savings or planning for the future.”

She also notes that it’s not just people her age reporting the stretch. “One comment in particular really stuck with me,” Dippel recalls, “a woman shared that her father made the same salary she makes today — and he supported a family of five with a stay-at-home mom. Now, she and her husband both work, have two kids and still barely make it each month. How does that make sense?”

“It’s honestly wild to see how dramatically grocery prices have changed due to inflation,” she continues, and even from her own place of stability, she has been as shaken as anyone by the dire picture ironically encapsulated by her mother-in-law’s sweet baby book keepsake. “It’s impossible to ignore how broken the system feels.”

After all, it’s right there in black and white.