Friday 17 October 2008
More are dining at home
As the country faces its first recession since 2002, Singaporeans are changing their eating habits. More are opting for home-cooked meals in an effort to save money. When they eat out, people are choosing cheaper dishes like economy rice instead of long-time favourites like chicken rice.
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More are dining at home
As the country faces its first recession since 2002, Singaporeans are changing their eating habits. More are opting for home-cooked meals in an effort to save money. When they eat out, people are choosing cheaper dishes like economy rice instead of long-time favourites like chicken rice.
By JESSICA LIM, TESSA WONG and LIM WEI CHEAN
17 October 2008
Until two months ago, Mr Alwin Goh, his wife and two children used to spend their Saturday and Sunday nights eating in hawker centres and mid-price restaurants.
But battered by inflation, the Bedok family has cancelled meals out and taken refuge in home-cooked dinners.
‘I miss my favourite chicken rice sometimes, but I think saving money is more important,’ said Mr Goh, a 53-year-old IT salesman.
He is among a growing number of cost-conscious Singaporeans who are opting to cook at home, according to Straits Times checks with shoppers, supermarket managers and experts.
Retail management lecturer Sarah Lim from Singapore Polytechnic said the country is undergoing a ‘fundamental change in the way we eat’.
‘This is more so for large middle- and low-income families,’ said Ms Lim, who predicted the shift would last till the current economic crisis blows over.
The belt-tightening comes amid new economic data that shows Singapore has entered a technical recession, its first in six years. That news came on the heels of chaos in the world’s financial markets, which has rattled Singaporeans still grappling with high prices for everything from rice to petrol.
Said Madam Fauziah Ab Samad, a 33-year-old mother of five: ‘Prices for everything have been going up and we hear about the bad economy all over the news. I’m afraid my budget will not be enough.’
The shift towards home-cooked meals appears to have fuelled sales of raw food at supermarkets, minimarts and wet markets across the island.
A check with four major supermarket chains showed that demand for uncooked food - such as raw chicken, vegetables and rice - has risen up to 20 per cent over the past year.
It is the same at minimarts which chart increases as high as 30 per cent.
Consumers are taking cost-cutting a step further, choosing cheaper items for their cooking pots.
Supermarket chains Giant, Cold Storage, NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong said more shoppers are opting for house brands. At MCP Supermarket, raw produce sales have gone up 30 per cent over the past year, with the increase confined mainly to cheaper foods like frozen meat and regionally-grown vegetables.
Said owner Raymond Tan: ‘Things like broccoli from Australia are less popular because they are so expensive.’
Checks at three wet markets revealed a similar pattern. Nine of 15 stalls surveyed report increases in sales of up to 20 per cent for cheaper items. Meanwhile, demand for more expensive buys has dipped up to 50 per cent.
At a wet market fruit stall in Toa Payoh Lorong 8, sales of Australian oranges ($1.50 each) and Californian plums (80 cents each) have fallen by 40 per cent over the past two months.
‘When the economy was better 25 people a day would buy these fruits. Now only 15 buy them,’ said owner Boo Ching Ngee, 70.
Meanwhile, butchers, especially those selling beef, have been hit hard by the shift. Sixty-two-year-old Chiaw Joo Low has seen business slow down by 20 per cent at his raw beef stall. When it comes to saving ‘beef is the first to go’, he said.
Shopper Mrs Ng Poh Leng, who recently started cooking more at home, said opting for cheaper groceries saves her about $30 a month.
‘Now, I buy frozen food not fresh, apples not strawberries and I eat fishballs and tofu instead of meat,’ said the 51-year-old mother of three.
‘It’s a lifestyle change.’
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