Story of the Lost Sheep #2

Lost Sheep need to eat as well. The mission is to eat the greenest affordable grass :D [eating habits is a tale for another day, when/if I decide to spill on living with friends] Story #1 is on the old LJ page btw!

On Food/Groceries

1) Go to the large supermarket branches - think Giant in tampines, that kind. The variety is much greater there than in smaller branches and hence, the higher the chance of finding better deals. They open late as well (10pm). This facilitates both buying in bulk and buying after work. The only drawback is that these may be inconvenient to get to without a car. If a car is a given, there're petrol pumps there too.

2) Cabbage is the NUMBER 1 MAGICAL SUPERSAVER VEGGIE. For 3 ppl, a single cabbage can well last 4 meals (3 if small) and costs all of 69 pence. Note however, that cabbage is a white veggie which means that iron needs to come from somewhere else. What we usually do is buy one cabbage along with a variety of other leafy greens - the cabbage can last half the meals. It's good stir-fried or boiled into soup. Soup is my absolute favourite - I'm not sure I appreciated clear soup enough back home (always taken as a given). Take heed, cutting a cabbage pays homage to opening a durian - use a strong knife.

3) Berries and stone fruit are way cheaper here than you're ever gonna find in sg so eat more while you're here. Forget the tropical fruit, not worth the price.

Short funny story: Not relating to stone fruit but a more familiar seeded fruit. We spent some time laughing at a bunch of 5 sad-looking rambutans that cost £2.50 at the supermarket. That works out to about S$1 per rambutan.

4) Read the not just the labels but the ingredient content whenever unsure. Applies esp to asian food since the brands that you're used to may be rarely available, and the search for alternatives can lead to wrong outcomes.

Short irritating story: Dark soy sauce here has the same watery consistency of light soy sauce (or at least we haven't found thick ones). We mistook a LARGE bottle of sweet sauce (the kind that goes with sun kueh) for thick dark soy sauce. The label read smth like stir-fry sauce but we failed to see that it contained molasses.

5) Watch the expiry/best before dates. Esp when buying in bulk, ensure that the dates are far enough so that there won't be a mad rush to cook before the thing expires. Fruits and veggies are not too bad, maybe they grow a little mushy/have soft spots when not at their best and are USUALLY still ok, but meat is a different story. Even with freezing, don't risk keeping meat past the bbd, once bad there's no salvaging it.

Case-in-point: We've had to throw away minced meat on the day it was supposed to expire - there were faint black patches and going closer, a bad smell. Also, although we tried parsnips (all 3 of us for the first time) we still can't be sure if it was supposed to taste that way coz we cooked ours 3 days past the bbd.

6) Thaw frozen meat early. Not compulsory but helps to reduce the agony of delayed cooking due to the solid frozen meat while you're about to faint due to hunger. Snacking before dinner is not a v good solution btw. In the morning before setting off, just rmb to bring the night's dinner out of the freezer into the fridge.

7) Know your portions. Ahh tis smth we've always struggled with and seems to sync better with another Story. So all I'll say here is, to avoid keeping cooked food for too long in the fridge, portion wisely. Cooked rice kept for a week? Edible, but not the best.