Ever since we have been burdened with COVID-19 and the numerous lockdowns, we have seen and experienced a price rise in most things, which has resulted in many challenges in our lives. We have had to reduce the amount of food we consume and the quality and variety of foods we usually eat.
From six types of meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken, turkey, fish), we have reduced to one, which is chicken, because it is more versatile and cheaper. We have changed from buying fresh vegetables to buying frozen ones as they last longer. Where we usually have take-outs weekly, has been reduced to once in 3 months and we never go out for meals in restaurants anymore. We have also had to reduce meals, we either skip lunch completely or have it late so we don’t have supper.
Before COVID-19, we would spend our Easter with family at church, and we would gather and share meals together. We would have a braai and play some music, hang out and have conversations. It was usually a bring and share the occasion, where we will have a variety of meals and some entertainment for the kids.
This year we didn’t go to church and we didn’t gather. I took my kids for 1 hour to have an Easter egg hunt and purchase supplements such as vitamins and immune boosters and some fruits to make smoothies at home.
We have cut our grocery money by 50%.
In terms of the changes my family and I have made to our eating habits – we’ve seen a drastic change or reduction in the amount of meat that we usually have. We no longer buy beef, mutton, pork, turkey and fish that we generally would have because it’s much more expensive. For the past year, we just buy chicken because it’s much cheaper and it’s also more versatile rather than the other products so you can have a variety of meals with just one product.
We’ve also supplemented our protein and we use a lot of vegetables to get some protein. We eat a lot of beans now.
I think the biggest change that we’ve made since the start of COVID-19 is that we no longer have fresh products. We always prefer to make our food from scratch, like when we are making sauce for pasta, because we love pasta a lot, we buy already-made products. We buy our things from the sachets now that are already mixed so that we don’t have to buy cheese and more products to make the thing that you want to do, so you buying a lot of more already pre-made food and we no longer have fresh vegetables.
It’s very rare that we get vegetables so now. We just buy frozen products because they last longer, because with fresh vegetables you have to consume them very fast and buy new ones and because the Rand has lost value, we ended up just having to buy ready-frozen and cut products that we store in the freezer.
