10 Piastres
I still remember what 10 piastres (20 petites piastres, 5 two piastres coins, 2 five piastres bills) could buy me during  my school years in the  late 50's.                                                          
With 10 piastres (in today's money 2.1 US cents),  I had many choices. With  25 piastres 
in my pocket, I felt like I was on top  of the world. 
Here is a  list that does not include tips. If I'm not to  sure I will add an asterisk  (*), but the price should be very close. I'm  listing of course all the items  that were of interest to me.                                        
For one or two piastres:                                            
One sandwich of foul or falafel.                                    
A large ortass of leb, homoss, sweet or salted peanuts, a handful of roasted chestnuts, a stick of semsemiah, homosseiah, ssaleyah or nougat, a slice  of almazeyah or basboussa, pain d'Espagne or eich  saraya, a piece of konafa,  baklawa, ghorayeba, loukoum, or meshmesheyah, a  bag of hot zalabia, a leaf  of amar el din, a fettira, a muffin at the  Brazilian coffee shop (and with  chocolat glace 4.0*).                                               
10 sticks of Caca Chinois candy, assorted loose candies, a few strings of licorice, one pack of "Hubba hubba" bubble gum, smarties (English version  of M &M's), a bar of Crackel crunchy chocolate*, a  Kitkat bar, a Chicklets  pack of chewing gum*.                                               
Ice cold soft drink (another name for you "Aristo") or sugar cane.                                              
A small bag of marbles.                                             
A ride on public transportation                                     
Entrance fee to any museum, including the world  famous Egyptian museum of  Antiquities in Cairo and the Greco Roman in  Alexandria.                                                           
Entrance to the Zoo, Jardin des poissons, or Jardin Moor.                                                          
Admission to the grounds of the "World fair  exhibitions."                                                         
An Ali Baba, Captain Marvel or Superman comic  book.                                                                 
A used book: A couple of novelists from the past  A.J. Cronin and Maxence  Van Der Meersch. Add to that the famous mystery writer  Agatha Christie (her  books published by "La serie du masque", you  remember 
these books with an  orange cover?) If I'm not mistaken the Penguin  books were also available  during that period.                                                 
A stick or cone of a plain brand of ice-cream (for  the Alexandrins the  Toppi  brand was quite familiar)                                           
Pastries other than those from Groppi.                              
Groppi's croissant or patee au fromage*.                            
Over two piastres:                                                  
Groppi's pastry (2.0 then 2,5).                                     
Groppi's ice cream stick or Argentin from Loques  2,5.                                                                  
One of the many delicious ice creams from L'Americaine.                                                         
A visit at the Paradis des fruits                                   
A sandwich from Excelsior, Bamboo, Kursal (a batarekh 3.0) and Garo.                                               
A Tintin.                                                           
Very large bar of chocolat Royal (in red wrapper)10.00*.                                                       
Roller skating 5.0, including the renting of skates--without renting 2.0*.                                         
The cost of renting a bicycle was 5.0 per hour.                     
An hour of ping pong was 3.0*.                                      
Entrance to the Luna Park was 3.0*.                                 
The cheapest matinee seat (called Amphitheater) at  the opera was 5.0, and  up to 10 piastres for a better seat--these of course  were discounted prices  for students.                                                           
For all other cultural events, special school  plays, or performances 5.0                                            
An average hantour ride 5.0 (since there was no  meter, it was recommanded  to set the fair in advance)                                            
Hiring a Taxi cab would have set you back 5.0 to  10.00                                                                 
A pack of cigarettes 5.0* (or four "seches" for 1 piastre, do you remember  that "chers ecoliers")                                              
A biere Stella bought at the depot 6.5 (does not  include the 1.5 or 2.0*  for deposit)                                                            
Cinemas:                                                            
The morning show was 5.0 for all seats. Balcony  seats were 6,5 with the  exception of the Cinema Metro, which had a cheaper  section of a few Front  row seats. For the rest of the day, the prices go  up to 6.5 for the floor seating, 9.00 for balcony, and 11.00 for the loges  section (in the late  50's, the prices increased to 9.0, 11.00 and 14.00  but 6.5 for some front  seats?)                                                             
For open air cinemas, general admission was about  6,5, cheaper for the  cinemas Strand, Rio, and other neighborhood  theaters, but more expensive  for Miami.                                                              
Only at the cinema Strand was there a cheaper and separated front section  with its own entry and special usher with a long  bamboo stick in his hand,  his only function to maintain law and order in  that section                                                          
At the Eglise St.Joseph, all the seats for the  only Sundays afternoon show  were 5.0.                                                           
In Alexandria les cinemas de quartier were a great  bargain Eden,  Metropolitan, La Gaitee, Alhambra...                                
Of course "going Dutch" was totally unknown--the  sacred and unbreakable  rule was that the boys always paid for the girls, although there were a few exceptions, but this is another story. What you  never wanted to hear from  your date was "Can my sister and her girl friend  join us?"                                                             
And for free:                                                       
A couple of songs from the past                                     
Pardonne-moi de n'avoir pas su te comprendre...                   
Thornycroft gay be sor a'a zamarlou ma bass  Ya khossara a la chababou mat wala hass  Mat we eineh bet bass bass lel setat...                            
Source: Joe Rossano aka Joe La Gargoulette