<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>
Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Finally,a ST reporter who tell the truth</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>8:00 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 4) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>34919.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Jun 21, 2010
SOAPBOX
Hard to stomach 'economical' rice
If the austerity drive is over, why am I still hungry after lunch?
<!-- by line -->By Jessica Lim
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_543282.html
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-- ST FILE PHOTO
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ECONOMICAL rice - for young working adults, it's what's for dinner, sometimes breakfast, and the next best thing to a free lunch. At least it used to be.
But inflation, and an economy that's still in recovery, seems to be hitting young diners in the stomach, leaving a group that is sensitive to price changes wanting more.
For starters, novice office workers might be hard pressed to find the quality nutrition that their $3.20 typically used to buy, because that packet rice with two meats and one vegetable dish combo is not what it once was.
Battling rising food prices on everything from rice to cooking oil, neighbourhood hawkers are getting creative.
Short of officially raising prices on their options - they fear this will drive regulars elsewhere - hawkers use other ways to thicken their profit margins.
In addition to using lower grades of rice or serving meals on smaller plates, you'll find more petite portions too.
Definitions, too, have changed.
What passes as a meat dish is no more that reliable staple of stir-fried pork which once cost $1.50; in its place, you'll find minced pork fried with vegetables.
In fact, new rules also put fish and chicken in the same price range, although both were previously different.
This mysterious alchemy is working on portion sizes too, shrinking them by at least a third.
Where once I would have received a generous helping of at least eight pieces of sweet and sour pork at an economy rice stall in a Jurong food court, I most recently got five measly pieces.
When I questioned the hawker on the niggardly morsel, I was told to simply buy an additional serving.
For us working adults on a budget, this means every dollar that we earn now pays for much less than it used to.
The choice we have to make: Pay up for more food, or save more and leave with a half-empty stomach.
And worse, when rising prices trickle down to your plate of economical rice, you can be sure that the price of everything else is rising as well.
Perhaps it's time we wrote off 'economical rice' as a misnomer altogether.
After all, a $3.20 price tag for two meats and one veg now applies only to general dishes. If you pick speciality options such as snow fish ($3) or herbal chicken ($2.50), an economical lunch could set you back $8.
At the same time the average salary of Singaporeans has dropped - from $3,977 in 2008 to $3,872 last year (before CPF deductions).
You do the maths.
While economic oracles are proclaiming the end of hard times, those among the lower- earning ranks are still facing everyday reality. Because our incomes have not adjusted to keep up with cost-of-living increases, any optimism about an improved economy is somewhat dampened.
I, personally, am reminded of this each time I pay a whole lot more for something I once regarded as a nominal daily expense.
Worse still, I am barely full afterwards.
[email protected]
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SOAPBOX
Hard to stomach 'economical' rice
If the austerity drive is over, why am I still hungry after lunch?
<!-- by line -->By Jessica Lim
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_543282.html
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
ECONOMICAL rice - for young working adults, it's what's for dinner, sometimes breakfast, and the next best thing to a free lunch. At least it used to be.
But inflation, and an economy that's still in recovery, seems to be hitting young diners in the stomach, leaving a group that is sensitive to price changes wanting more.
For starters, novice office workers might be hard pressed to find the quality nutrition that their $3.20 typically used to buy, because that packet rice with two meats and one vegetable dish combo is not what it once was.
Battling rising food prices on everything from rice to cooking oil, neighbourhood hawkers are getting creative.
Short of officially raising prices on their options - they fear this will drive regulars elsewhere - hawkers use other ways to thicken their profit margins.
In addition to using lower grades of rice or serving meals on smaller plates, you'll find more petite portions too.
Definitions, too, have changed.
What passes as a meat dish is no more that reliable staple of stir-fried pork which once cost $1.50; in its place, you'll find minced pork fried with vegetables.
In fact, new rules also put fish and chicken in the same price range, although both were previously different.
This mysterious alchemy is working on portion sizes too, shrinking them by at least a third.
Where once I would have received a generous helping of at least eight pieces of sweet and sour pork at an economy rice stall in a Jurong food court, I most recently got five measly pieces.
When I questioned the hawker on the niggardly morsel, I was told to simply buy an additional serving.
For us working adults on a budget, this means every dollar that we earn now pays for much less than it used to.
The choice we have to make: Pay up for more food, or save more and leave with a half-empty stomach.
And worse, when rising prices trickle down to your plate of economical rice, you can be sure that the price of everything else is rising as well.
Perhaps it's time we wrote off 'economical rice' as a misnomer altogether.
After all, a $3.20 price tag for two meats and one veg now applies only to general dishes. If you pick speciality options such as snow fish ($3) or herbal chicken ($2.50), an economical lunch could set you back $8.
At the same time the average salary of Singaporeans has dropped - from $3,977 in 2008 to $3,872 last year (before CPF deductions).
You do the maths.
While economic oracles are proclaiming the end of hard times, those among the lower- earning ranks are still facing everyday reality. Because our incomes have not adjusted to keep up with cost-of-living increases, any optimism about an improved economy is somewhat dampened.
I, personally, am reminded of this each time I pay a whole lot more for something I once regarded as a nominal daily expense.
Worse still, I am barely full afterwards.
[email protected]
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%"> </TD><TD class=msgopt width="24%" noWrap>
