Eating out now a luxury

The scene at Pasar Bisik in Kuala Muda, where fishermen put their catch on the floor and wait for customers to whisper bids for the seafood. — Filepic

Money, time and health are factors to consider when choosing to dine outside or cook at home

THERE was a time when eating out was a joyful outing for families.

They were usually happy to skip the hassle of cooking at home.

During my childhood days, my father would regularly take the whole family out, even on his meagre salary as a primary school teacher. This normally happened after payday.

Sometimes we would have nasi kandar; other times, we would head to food courts in Komtar, the City Stadium or Padang Brown.

Today, from what I see, eating out has become the daily default habit of city folk, with cooking at home done only once or twice a week.

But in the Kepala Batas suburb on the mainland where I live, eating out is more like a treat.

Although I still can afford to take my family including my ageing mother to eat out, I know my wallet will get thinner if I choose to do so and don’t cook at home regularly.

A normal family lunch in Kepala Batas with rice, fish or chicken and vegetables at the Malay warong for four people costs at least RM50, before the extra rice servings.

So my wife and I opt to take turns cooking. I’m not a great cook but I get by and my skills have improved since I started watching cooking videos on YouTube.

On my days off, I go to the wet market in Kepala Batas old town to buy a whole chicken, a kilo of kembong fish, several slices of tuna and some vegetables.

That will cost me between RM50 and RM80. It is enough for at least four to five wholesome dinners for the four of us at home.

Food expenditure for the family is the most necessary and also the most elastic one.

My family has learned how to freeze our meats by packing them according to planned serving sizes. We pack them flat to save space in the freezer and also so that the packs will thaw more quickly when taken out.

Also, don’t simply toss 1kg of shrimp into the freezer in one bag. If you thaw the whole bag to take out the amount you need and re-freeze the rest, you will spoil the texture of the unused shrimp.

Imagine how much money we can save by practising proper kitchen management.

We do our grocery shopping twice a month and my wife is our home’s quartermaster, making a list so we won’t overbuy or impulsively buy what we don’t need.

Kepala Batas folk have a slight advantage in Penang when it comes to getting ultra fresh seafood at good prices. We will go to Pasar Bisik, also called Whispering Fish Market.

There, we buy directly from fishermen returning from the sea. There are no middlemen.

The fishermen don’t sell fish like fishmongers. They get off the boat and put their catches down on the market floor and wait for bids to be whispered to them.

There is no weighing and no cutting up of the big fish into slices for retail sale. It’s been like that for over a century.

I would gang up with my neighbours or friends to buy the fishermen’s catches.

For about RM200, we can haul back enough fresh seafood for our three or four families. A haul would include golden snapper (jenahak), Spanish mackerel (tenggiri), threadfins (senangin), prawns and crabs.

Sometimes, I get enough seafood within my budget to last us almost a month.

I do agree we now live in an era when everything is getting more expensive.

Basic food items like eggs, chicken, sugar, cooking oil and now rice tend to be in short supply at times, resulting in price hikes.

I feel the government should straighten out regulations for suppliers, producers and importers, especially on basic items.

Some may agree that the most valuable commodities in the world are money and time.

It may be that people eat out because they want to get more time by using money.

But are you really that short of time? Or do you just dislike the tedium of washing up after cooking? Or you don’t like tackling the learning curve to be able to cook a satisfying meal?

And when people use more money to eat out, supposedly to save some time, there is another thing of high value which might be overlooked: our health.

By cooking at home, we can feed our families with better quality protein and more dietary fibre.

A friend of mine said, “Always save money but don’t be stingy about spending on good, healthy food when cooking at home.”

If you can cook at home, please do. It is so much healthier and financially more prudent.