COVID-19 impacted food security in different ways because the food we used to buy every month before COVID-19 became expensive. Food prices are very much higher at the market and in grocery stores. To make things worse, we are stuck at home all day and that makes us eat more.
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My diet hasn’t changed much. I am not someone who ate a lot. I would eat things that I knew would boost my immune system.
I grew up in a family that had a vegetable garden and so every December I plant vegetables and maize. It’s good to have gardening because you always have fresh vegetables to supplement meals.
Food prices have always changed according to the seasons, especially around the festive season, but during lockdown this was worse, forcing us to tighten our budget and not buy unnecessary things. COVID-19 has impacted the way I shop and what buy. Prices of red meat, vegetables, electricity, gas for cooking and other household items are very high.
I haven’t been forced to skip meals because I am the person in charge of the grocery budget in the house and I plan because I know skipping meals is a bad idea if you live with a chronic health condition.
I don’t eat that much red meat, so that hasn’t changed because of COVID-19. Instead of that, I make sure that I have eggs and milk and pilchards as much as I can. Chicken is expensive but red meat is even more expensive than chicken.
I eat a lot more fresh fruit and vegetables than did before COVID-19 to boost my immune system. I cook at home and hardly eat takeaways when I am not in the house. My diet is healthier now than it was before COVID-19 because I am taking a lot of vitamin tablets that I bought from the pharmacy and I’m eating fresh fruit and vegetables.
I live in Cape Town but my home is in the Eastern Cape. Before COVID-19 the Easter holidays were celebrated back home with family members without any fear of contracting diseases. At home, we have a small farm with sheep, goats and cattle. We used to slaughter a sheep for the Easter holidays because many of us gathered together.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I used to travel home for the long weekend. My mother would know that I was coming so she would slaughter something for us, knowing that I’m on the way home. Last year because we were in level five lockdown I wasn’t able to go home, but this year things are better and under level one of the lockdown I managed to go home.
Even though I was able to travel again, things are not the same as they were before COVID-19. On top of Easter, we were also celebrating the engagement of my niece, which meant we had to host lobola (negotiations between the groom and the bride’s family) negotiations. That was a nice celebration because it was involved friends, families and neighbours.
From Good Friday we were cleaning up the yard and the houses. We bought alcohol and we made African beer. We prepared African food such as samp and beans (umngqusho), African beer (umqombothi), meat, vegetables, colddrinks and alcohol.
