Feeling the pinch…

Somebody commented on my post on the Penang prawn mee the other day – he was of the opinion that RM10.00 for a bowl was kind of shocking. Well, like everything else, the price has been going up and up. It was only RM6.00 when she first started a long time ago…

…and then it went up to RM7.00 and later RM8.00. The last time I had it, it was RM9.00 and it has gone up again.

Well, considering that there are so many big prawns in a bowl and so many fried wantons plus half a hardboiled egg, I would not say that it was expensive but one thing’s for sure – one would feel the pinch when going for anything over RM10.00 for breakfast. What she could have done was to have fewer prawns and wantons and maybe, a quarter of an egg instead of half and maintain the price at RM9.00…or RM8.00. One would not feel it as much if it is just one digit, not two.

Of course, it is YOUR money and it is YOUR choice what you want to spend it on. If you think that something is expensive, you can always go for something more affordable. There are people here who are more than willing to part with over RM30.00 for a plate of fried noodles with ONE freshwater prawn…

…or a bowl of Taiwanese beef noodles…

…but you can count me out, of course. I cannot afford to do that on my measly pension.

Fortunately, there are a lot of cheaper options should one feel like eating out like the other day, for instance, when I went and bought a pack of roast duck rice with one stewed egg…

…for only RM7.00 for dinner.

I was rather surprised when I was told how much it was because I thought it was really cheap. Egg is not so easily available these days and the last time I asked, stewed eggs…

…were already RM1.50 each. My guess is they are RM2.00 now.

We are lucky nowadays that we have the frozen duck from Perak available at most, if not all, supermarkets so we can afford to enjoy the meat…

Otherwise, those traditional locally-bred ducks will cost a bomb, not something that everyone can afford. Still, there was somebody grumbling that he used to pay around RM15.00 for one Perak duck before and now, they are over RM20.00 each.

I also bought a pack of the same for my girl…

I did not buy any for the mum because she would not touch duck with a 10-foot pole.

Personally, I do not mind paying more for something substantial for lunch or dinner like this platter of sweet and sour fish fillet with fried rice and a generous serving of salad by the side…

…for only RM10.90 but for breakfast, I would stick to something cheaper, something that is below RM10.00.