One week food expenditure
Look at the food they bought for one week and the number of persons in the family
Taiping: 49-year-old clerk Tan Guat Sim – 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: RM 324.13. (Refer link for details)
Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or RM 500.07
United States: The Revis family of North Carolina - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: $ 125.00 or RM 341.98 
Japan : The Ukita family of Kodaira City - 2 adults, 2 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or RM 317.25
Italy : The Manzo family of Sicily - 2 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or RM 260.11
Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca - 2 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or RM 189.09
Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna - 4 adults, 1 teenager
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or RM 151.27
Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo - 7 adults, 5 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or RM 68.53
Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo - 4 adults, 5 teenagers
Food expenditure for one week: 98 Tingo or RM 31.55
Bhutan : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village - 7 adults, 6 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 Ngultrum or RM 5.03
Chad : The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp - 3 adults, 3 kids
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or RM 1.23
Please…… Don't waste food……………..
RINGGIT & SENSE: BETTER DEAL AT FAMILIAR PLACES
By: Brenda Lim, NST, 25-July-2008
TAIPING: Haggling is unnecessary when you know your vendors and have a nose for sales, says 49-year-old clerk Tan Guat Sim.
She rushed to Giant supermarket one Saturday when she saw flyer advertising cheap Mi Sedap instant noodles and Milo between 7pm and midnight on that day
The next day, the mother of two completed her grocery shopping for the week in 15 minutes, picking out four types of vegetables, some prawns and a handful of ginger, onions and garlic.
"My family loves prawns fried with batter. I have a good idea of what to buy after years of cooking for them."
Her 8-year-old daughter, Loh Wei Zhen, who usually tags along on shopping trips, helped with choosing onions.
"She knows the names of the vegetables, but not the prices. She always tells me to buy her favourite vegetable, fish and prawns," said Tan.
She spent RM13 in the market at Plaza Perbandaran Taiping, with the bulk of the money going for prawns, which cost her RM7.50 for 500g.
With an income of RM2,000 to support a family of four, the family is accustomed to simple meals consisting of rice and a few dishes, she said.
Tan wakes up at 6am daily to prepare breakfast and lunch for Wei Zhen and her son, Loh Wei Jun, 11, before she leaves for work.
Breakfast is bread or instant noodles, washed down with Milo or coffee.
For lunch, she and her husband eat at a hawker centre, paying RM3.50 for rice and dishes, and 30 sen for a glass of Chinese tea each.
At night, the family has a simple dinner, either at their ancestral home in a shop- house in Cross Street or at their home in Bukit Mas in Kamunting.
"Eating home-cooked meals is much cheaper than eating out. It's even cheaper after we decided to eat less meat, as we've read so much about hormone-injected animals."
The wet market at Plaza Perbandaran Taiping, situated opposite her ancestral home, offered better prices for vegetables as it handled wholesale goods, she said. However, fish was cheaper at the old Taiping wet market, a few minutes' walk away.
"I've shopped at the plaza for more than a decade, so I'm familiar with the vendors. They offer reasonable prices."
You've just seen something that will replace your PC in the near future.
This is the forthcoming computers you can carry within your pockets. 
