cheap...eh?

Cheaper in the peninsula

Food prices in Peninsular Malaysia are cheaper than those in Sabah and Sarawak.

EVEN though they may not be as low as many hope they would be, food prices in Peninsular Malaysia are still affordable in comparison to those in Sabah and Sarawak.

The weekly marketing guide posted on the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry’s website showed that prices in Sabah and Sarawak are, by and large, higher.

Ikan bawal costs RM6 per kg.

Yeah sure! I would like 3 kgs of those please. Went to the market this morning. It was drizzling and despite the petrol hike, the Taman Universiti wet market was packed with shoppers and two million cars still parked haphazardly outside.

And this is how me Ringgit was stretched:

A kg of medium sized prawns
2 medium sized Cencarus (Torpedo Scad)
A kg of Selar Kunings (Yellow Banded Scad)
3 Kembungs (Indian Mackerel)
Total RM28.00

A bunch of Kailans (Chinese Kale)
Half a kg of long beans
French beans
Broccoli
2 bunches of spinach
Half a kg of carrots
Spring onions & Chinese celery
Tempe (Fermented Soy Bean Cake)
Total RM22.00

A kg and a half of beef = RM21.00

2 whole chicken = RM24.00

Eggs, coconut milk and some onions = RM18.40

Takeaway breakfast for four = RM11.00

All these for a grand total of RM124.40. Cheap eh?

A week's worth of groceries from the wet market. Tomorrow will be the trip to them hypermarkets for the dry goods. And then the credit cards payment, car installments, utilities, insurances, the girls' school van, the tuition, fuel. And I still need that visit to the bloody dentist. Maybe I really need to change me lifestyle. I must if I want to survive another day. Damn.