Prices of food have gone up since the beginning of the pandemic. It became difficult for us to afford food especially because my mother lost her job due to the lockdown. The price of chicken and beef went up, also fruits and veg, which affected our intake of a balanced diet. Fortunately, I did not have to skip meals but I would eat a quarter (chicken) which is a form of junk.
My access to protein has really really changed. I don’t eat protein as much as I did. Before COVID-19 I used to eat a lot of beef, things like stew and even steak, but now I can’t afford that because now they are more expensive than they were before COVID.
Even things like chicken breasts are more expensive than they were. Chicken used to be cheaper than beef but I’ve noticed that even loose portions are around R60-R70 which is not really good because now I can’t have access to protein as I would like to. I’ve been trying to exercise to stay healthy and obviously our bodies need protein. I eat fewer veggies now too than I did before COVID. My favourite thing that I use to eat that I loved and used to include in my meals for balance, things like avocados are too expensive now. They now like around R20 each which is crazy for me so I can’t get fruits and veggies from stores like Checkers or stores like Pick n Pay because they are expensive. I rather get my veggies from people who sell on the road like hawkers. Those don’t last long so I end up eating less veggies and less meat and I find myself eating takeaways, like ordering maybe twice a week because I can’t cook because I don’t have fresh meat and veggies. I think now my diet has become less healthy than it was.
It wasn’t like perfect and super-healthy before COVID started but then it’s now bad.
