At one time, imported canned food from China used to be very cheap, and relatively cheaper than that from other countries overseas and at times, even cheaper than our own locally-manufactured stuff, but not anymore!!! Despite all the horror tales that I heard and knowing about the high salt content and extensive use of artificial preservatives, I still went on buying and consuming regardless, but not anymore!!! No more!!!
I used to love the Ma Ling luncheon meat and the Great Wall corned beef but the quality had dropped so much that they had become quite inedible. I was forced to turn to other alternatives like Linkz or Celebrity corned beef that cost around RM5-6.00 a can and I thought that was so expensive until the other day when I bought this can of Gulong stewed pork chops…
Good grief! That cost RM8.50 a tin!!! Daylight robbery!!! Well, that is it! No more! I am NOT going to buy canned food from China anymore after this! Gee! RM8.50!
The other day, I went to this foodstall here and bought RM5 worth of daging masak hitam and got a substantial amount, probably more than what we can find in that can of meat! And the best part was – it was very very nice! I also bought RM5 worth of ikan parek (stingray) curry and got one pot full. My missus and I had it for dinner, together with the masak hitam, and we had this much left over – enough for another meal…
Now where is this foodstall, some of you may want to know? It’s at Bandong. They set up the stall around lunchtime and a lot of people going back on their lunchbreak will stop by and tapao home. I went again today and bought this yummy vegetable soup dish of cangkuk manis and ketola for only RM3.00…
I didn’t exactly know what that was but one thing’s for sure, it wasn’t masak lemak as there was no trace of santan (coconut milk) and all the better too! Too much of santan isn’t healthy owing to its high cholesterol content. The ladies’ fingers masak sambal was absolutely delicious though! Two thumbs up! I really love it!
That was RM3.00 worth. I added the hardboiled eggs myself for extra protein and just in case, the stingray curry was not enough for the two of us. So without including the price of the eggs, today, I only spent RM6.00 for dinner for two persons, and RM10.00 the other day. Cheap, eh?
In the face of the economic recession, we should be thinking along these lines – how to scrimp and save and not spend like there’s no tomorrow. Bank interest rates have dropped by 0.2% and I hope it will not slide further as I have to depend on the interest to supplement my measly pension! I shouldn’t have believed the crap I read in somebody’s blog on the EPF and withdrew every sen – at least, they give some 5% or so per year. Sigh! I wonder if they will let me put the money back in or not…
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 