Gimme A Break

I was supposed to meet my girlfriend for coffee this morning. I messaged her late last night and got her reply this morning that she was on her way to another coffee morning.

Oh, never mind, I’ll go crawl the mall on my own. Lately I’ve become incredibly conscious of my spending. With the recent gas price hike, everything’s become so expensive.

I can’t think of many people who aren’t affected one way or another by the rising cost of living, unless they’ve got millions stashed away in some bank. Personally I’m getting down to some serious penny-pinching.

Thought I’d share some tips I came up with as I was browsing at the mall (my pupils dilating at every price tag).

1. Compare brands, compare prices. I usually buy Panda rice noodles. Whenever I need to top up my supply, I automatically reach for Panda. Lately I’ve been looking around and noticed it’s more expensive than some others. I wondered if the other brands would taste as good.

Then I remembered my neighbor had brought over a plate of fried rice noodles for me recently (she knows I love fried noodles, bless her ;). And she’d mentioned that she uses the Tesco house brand of rice noodles. Mmm, I remember that plate of noodles had tasted pretty good.

So it’s Tesco noodles for me now. (Er, if you work for Tesco and you’re reading this now and would like to pay me a handsome commission for advertising your product, please contact me, I sure could use the extra cash - to buy more Tesco noodles maybe? ;)).

See, it doesn’t mean that if you’ve always been using one brand, you must stick with it forever. Don’t prejudge other brands, give them a try. You never know, it could turn out to be equal or better quality for less money.

2. Wait for the sale. Unless you’re in dire need for an item, don’t rush to buy. Forget the misconception that sales are for the poor folks. I know for a fact that it’s the rich folks that make a dash for the sales (that’s how they got rich!).

I’ve had my eye on a new pair of shoes. I’ve tried it on and love it, but I’m procrastinating. Why pay more when you can pay less?

3. Do it yourself. Eating out can get costly. For the same amount of money or less, you could cook more meals or feed more people.

I love the roast chicken at this place called Dave’s. I thought they made the yummiest chicken and had many a fulfilling lunch there during work break. The price seemed pretty reasonable at the time.

One night, I took the whole family there and the price multiplied by x family members burned a hole in my pocket. Ouch! Since then, I figured there had to be a better way.

And there is. Now I make the best darned roast chicken in town! (Er, if you work for Dave’s and you want to get a hold of my recipe, contact me, I’d be happy to sell it to you for a nominal sum :lol:).

Okay, that’s all I have for now. Are you a newly-inspired penny pincher too? Great, let’s pool our resources. Drop your penny-pinching tips into the comments box and let’s work on it together ;). What do you say?

• want to live to be 125? try this!
• fullmoon party
• no cheese please
• buying in bulk
• yucky meals

by minutechaser - 5 Comments →

For me, there’s a real excitement about going to the mall and it’s the food sampling. Especially on the weekend, there’re lots of these little counters both in the shopping mall and the grocery stores (also housed within the shopping mall) where promoters are handing out little plates and cups of food for us to try.

It’s incredible the range of food we get to taste - from Californian pistachios to Korean noodles to Danish cookies. Because we’re a cosmopolitan city, we don’t have to go very far for food and drinks from all over the world.

Frankly it’s hard to resist when someone’s constantly shoving little cups and plates of goodies right under your nose. Seriously! Sometimes I get so stuffed from just sampling bits of this and that, I even have to skip lunch.

Today, I had two little cups of Japanese green tea poured hot from the little tea-pot by a kimono-clad promoter. One cup was brewed from sun-dried tea leaves, the other from roasted leaves. Both tasted incredibly fragrant and rich.

Then I walked past another counter and was handed cups of iced latte and Belgian chocolate milk to try. Mmm, those tasted heavenly, rich but not too sweet.

I have this soft spot for beverages (non-alcoholic ones, of course!). My pantry and fridge are always stocked with something exotic - fresh whole coconuts, sea coconuts, soy bean milk, green pea soup, ginger tea, …

So happens too my neighbor owns a tea factory so I benefit from a free supply of tea leaves. In my Chinese tea collection, I’ve got oolong, ti kuan yin, jasmine, and some others with names I can’t even pronounce :lol:.

Today, I was incredibly tempted by the Japanese green tea. I’ve heard it’s a health drink too. Well, maybe next time ;).

• Japanese buffet, really?
• yummiest coffee
• three kinds of tea
• the rhythm of the mall
• green tea, lovin’ it

by minutechaser - 2 Comments →

You know when I first started my blog, I wasn’t really convinced that anyone was ever going to read it. I was saying to myself, who on earth would want to know what kind of day I had or indeed what I ate for lunch?

I still wonder about that occasionally but I think I’m going to go ahead and do it anyways - tell you what I had for lunch today, that is :lol:. I have to warn you though, it was nothing fancy, just the regular lunchtime fare.

Except it had lots of chillies in it, and I lur-ve spicy food, the spicier the better. So what’d I eat?  Sorry to disappoint you but it wasn’t escargot or anything exotic :). Just chicken curry over rice.

I did a simple stir-fried cabbage and carrot shreds which makes a great accompaniment. I also added on a hard-boiled egg. Because the veggie and egg are bland, they absorb the spiciness better.

Next, a generous sprinkle of crispy fried anchovies. Mmm, that added a whole different texture and made it so yummy.

The trick is to drown everything in the curry. I had a tall cup of hot Chinese tea on standby :lol:. The real satisfaction of it is to have it so spicy that it burns, and that hot drink, that’s my handy fire extinguisher right there!

And that was my simple yet satisfying lunch ;).

What did you have for lunch today?

• spicy breakfast
• kids, come drink your veggies
• want to live to be 125? try this!
• what’s for lunch?
• rare morning out

by minutechaser - 3 Comments →