Moving to Singapore in 45-60 days!

[Primrose Hill]

There are 2 cold storage in Holland Village. One is open 24/7, the Fair Price is also 24/7. There are houses to rent within your budget that will come furnished within a development. Glen eagles is a stone throw away. Chip Ber Garden had The Butcher, great little restaurants, cafés & plenty more around Chip Ber Gardens.

Bukit Timah are great too. Some houses like Barker,net have private lifts. The Ford too

[taxico]

i grabbed a screen shot, used paint and saved it as an image...

i know for a fact that google maps allow you to share map locations with someone else but they come out as little tacks on the map - i don't know how to circle an area though.

someone wiser than me can chime in if that's possible...!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXTvj-Mm9k
(I did not try it so far)

looks promising... i'll give it a shot when i am free (the video seemed to make me believe it works...)

Weird/deja vu.

Only this morning I was staring into space and thinking, 'Wouldn't it be useful if you could take a Google Streetmap and highlight areas on it... '

And here we are... !

Little-known feature: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/

that works! thank you! : )

[JR8]

@Primrose Hill.
No such thing as 'Chip Ber',
Think you mean Chip Bee Gardens @ Holland Village
We tried to get a unit there some years back. It's some kind of 'affordable housing development' with very decent rents for what/where you get.
It's so good, almost no units come up, and indeed we had no luck.

[Usmom]

So much good information and I really like the graphics. Thank you.
Now to refocus on different areas besides downtown central financial district.

I heard cold storage is very expensive. I'm not the typical American that needs to have burgers or pizza, I can eat Asian food everyday. I have also converted my husband who now eats Asian food almost everyday. He just needs beer or wine, guess a big part of the food budget will go to that. Oh and he and son will need milk and cereal in the mornings. I can eat rice porridge. lol. I know I'm super cheap even though husband makes a decent living. I also don't plan to buy any clothes or shoes for anyone while we are there, you can get them so cheap in the US.

Again, thanks for all the advice, it helps us with the search and saves time.

[zzm9980]

So much good information and I really like the graphics. Thank you.
Now to refocus on different areas besides downtown central financial district.

I heard cold storage is very expensive. I'm not the typical American that needs to have burgers or pizza, I can eat Asian food everyday. I have also converted my husband who now eats Asian food almost everyday. He just needs beer or wine, guess a big part of the food budget will go to that. Oh and he and son will need milk and cereal in the mornings. I can eat rice porridge. lol. I know I'm super cheap even though husband makes a decent living. I also don't plan to buy any clothes or shoes for anyone while we are there, you can get them so cheap in the US.

Again, thanks for all the advice, it helps us with the search and saves time.

Yes, it is. My wife does groceries ~3 times a week in small batches. We used to do Cold Storage (or Fairprice Finest). She now makes comparable purchases for comparable items at Whole Foods in the US. The normal purchase at Cold Storage costs about 30-50% more money than we spend at Whole Foods. And I'm sure you know Whole Foods is *not* cheap, and Cold Storage is not the same quality of food.

Funny enough, we buy the same organic strawberries here in California that we did in Singapore. The difference is here they cost half the price, and over there they are days or weeks older.

[nakatago]

So much good information and I really like the graphics. Thank you.
Now to refocus on different areas besides downtown central financial district.

I heard cold storage is very expensive. I'm not the typical American that needs to have burgers or pizza, I can eat Asian food everyday. I have also converted my husband who now eats Asian food almost everyday. He just needs beer or wine, guess a big part of the food budget will go to that. Oh and he and son will need milk and cereal in the mornings. I can eat rice porridge. lol. I know I'm super cheap even though husband makes a decent living. I also don't plan to buy any clothes or shoes for anyone while we are there, you can get them so cheap in the US.

Again, thanks for all the advice, it helps us with the search and saves time.

Local Fairprice/NTUC stores sometimes have alcohol on special. I've bought a bottle or two of cab sauv at very competitive prices at a small store just below a community center. Beer goes on sale every festive holiday.

[JR8]

@ USMom
Well, shopping is all relative, and also depends on who is giving their opinion.

A scale of pricing (lowest cost and rising) might look like this...
Wet-markets
NTUC , Giant, Song Seng (sp?)
NTUC Finest
Cold Storage, Jasons
Isetan
Jones the Grocer, Swiss Butcher, ‘365’

Where you slot in on the scale will depend on many factors, budget, diet, proximity to outlet, and ability to be understood by local shop-workers! What I can say is I tried shopping at wet markets and for fresh food it was a challenge. You can pick up a few apples and hand them to the stall-holder, but you can’t really do that with say fish or meat. And as most wet markets I’ve seen are filled with locals, they tend to look at you like you’re a ghost who has just walked in. And the stall-holders generally can’t understand what you’re saying, as they commonly seem to not speak English. A great cultural experience until say your 3rd visit looms On your first visit try and go with a local, and if you want anything, let them do the ordering, to get an idea of how they do it, and how it might work for you.

NTUC is probably the common benchmark. Rather like Tesco might be in the UK. It’ll have the whole spectrum from chicken-feet and durian, to Cheerios and low fat yogurt. For say chicken, they’ll have one brand and offer, breast, thighs, or wings, and that’s it. AFAIC they don’t sell whole chickens (why would they, their customers don’t roast whole chickens?). If it’s a branch in a wealthier suburb, it might have some more imported lines, then this might meet a lot of your daily needs. But some of the fresh meat ‘Has been previously frozen’, as has much of the seafood (and any home chef will know what that does to the texture). I’ve only been to a Giant once, and it was pretty dire, cavernous gloomy, with depressing looking products. Same goes for Song Seng (sp?)

NTUC Finest. I’ve only ever seen one, and I recall that was/is on Orchard Boulevard. It was small and probably caters to a very local wealthy clientele who don’t want to trek over to the main supermarkets. A posh convenience store? It did stock many more imported lines than a standard NTUC branch.

Cold Storage and Jasons. Both seem pretty much the same to me. The former is Australian, the latter likely is too. This to me is like a say Sainsbury’s back home. It’ll have a butchers and fishmongers counter. You can speak to them, and be understood. They can cut stuff to your specific order. The fishmonger will scale and ‘dress’ any fish you choose (if you ask). The fresh prawns appear to be fresh/not frozen, judging by the crunch you get from the glorious Glass Prawns. They stock more ‘expatty’ lines, and much of their fruit/veg/meat/seafood is air-freighted in. They tend to be located in expat-friendly locations, so their rents are higher. So naturally they are relatively expensive.

Isetan. Errr... like Cold Storage but pitched more at North East Asians/esp. JPNese. If you want some niche JPNese/KRN ingredient you can’t find anywhere else, this is the place for you. Visit if only to marvel at their display of Wagyu beef and sashimi, and make a mental note of the kinds of products that they stock for possible future reference.

Jones the Grocer, Swiss Butcher, ‘365’. Wooh! Go and browse, but maybe not if you’re hungry. Aimed squarely at high-end expats. Live lobster, fresh whole foie gras, a joint of venison, air-flown Yukon Gold/fingerling potatoes, fresh pink garlic, or Himalayan pink salt ? ... this is where you’ll find them all and more.

What I do, and I expect some others do too (incl my parents back home), is split the shop/shopping list by product type. So broadly speaking, for stuff like basic fruit and veg, bread, dry-goods, dairy, pre-prep pasta sauces, fresh chicken breast, basic soups, toiletries, soap-powder etc, then we’ll get all of that from NTUC. If I’m cooking something where meat or fish is going to be the ‘star of the show’, or I want say decent salad greens, or ‘on the vine’ cherry tomatoes, then I’ll get it from Cold Storage. Costs a bit more, but much wider range, plus I’d be confident it will be good quality. And lastly if I’m after something really ‘niche’ then I might (have to) go to one of the high-end three. That might be something like truffle infused olive oil, or fresh anchovy fillets, i.e. things I use in very small quantities but which are pivotal to certain recipes, or say French raclette cheese to make the dish ‘Raclette’ (something of a parallel to fondue), there is only one place I know of that stocks it, and that’s the Swiss Butcher.

So what I find, is we shop where we feel we get quality, access to what we need, with the least hassle, at the best price. Everyone is going to be somewhere slightly different on the scale, from 100% wet-markets to 100% Jones the Grocer etc.

Lastly, what I also found was that when you’re newly in you often shop for what you’re familiar with. If that’s mostly imported stuff, then it’s not going to be cheap. But as you get settled in you seem to get more willing to experiment with ‘going native’.

re: shoes/clothes you’ll find previous topics here titled such as ‘What to bring’. They’ll likely give you some useful pointers and suggestions.

[maneo]

I heard cold storage is very expensive. I'm not the typical American that needs to have burgers or pizza, I can eat Asian food everyday. I have also converted my husband who now eats Asian food almost everyday. He just needs beer or wine, guess a big part of the food budget will go to that. Oh and he and son will need milk and cereal in the mornings. I can eat rice porridge. lol. I know I'm super cheap even though husband makes a decent living. I also don't plan to buy any clothes or shoes for anyone while we are there, you can get them so cheap in the US.

Jason's MarketPlace is expensive.
It's the upscale part of the Cold Storage chain.

Spectrum of supermarket chains:

Cold Storage Specialty & MarketPlace (e.g. Jason's)
Cold Storage
NTUC FairPrice Finest
NTUC FairPrice
Giant
Sheng Siong

As you live here longer you might become adventurous enough try moving down the scale (or "up" in terms of being more "colourful").

There's also a chain called Prime Supermarket, but I haven't shopped there yet. It probably fits in alongside Giant or Sheng Siong.

Sheng Siong is kind of a combo wet market & local "department store" but with aircon.
It targets the Channel 8 crowd (i.e. Mandarin speaking), but I've seen quite a few others shopping there the past few years.

Some chains range in scale from convenience/express (sometimes located in petrol kiosks, gas stations for you) to HDB outlets to full scale supermarkets and on up to hypermarkets.

There are also some one-of (e.g. Mustafa's, Foodie Marketplace) and specialty markets.
Mustafa's would fit in alongside Giant in the spectrum, but there's only one.

If you don't need to eat imported expat food your food bill should not be a big drain.
However, you should make beer/wine and other alcohol a separate budget item.
Buy when on sale & take advantage of volume discounts.
In addition, if you buy half a dozen bottles of wine your grocery bill will usually exceed the minimum required for free home delivery.

[maneo]

@ USMom
Well, shopping is all relative, and also depends on who is giving their opinion.
...
Where you slot in on the scale will depend on many factors, budget, diet, proximity to outlet, and ability to be understood by local shop-workers!

It seems we had a similar idea in mind, but you managed to beat me to the punch.

NTUC is probably the common benchmark.
...
AFAIC they don’t sell whole chickens (why would they, their customers don’t roast whole chickens?).

Some NTUC outlets provide what may be called "whole" chickens for roasting (e.g Bukit Timah Plaza).
Same goes for Cold Storage.
However, in the Asian context, these are not "whole" chickens.

I’ve only been to a Giant once, and it was pretty dire, cavernous gloomy, with depressing looking products.

Giant does have a different "feel," but I don't think the Giant in VivoCity can be considered "dire," "gloomy" or "depressing."
However, must admit that Sheng Siong would be quite an adventure for the typical angmoh expat.

What I do, and I expect some others do too (incl my parents back home), is split the shop/shopping list by product type.
...
So what I find, is we shop where we feel we get quality, access to what we need, with the least hassle, at the best price. Everyone is going to be somewhere slightly different on the scale, from 100% wet-markets to 100% Jones the Grocer etc.

Great perspective.
We do the same.

[Primrose Hill]

I did mean Chip Bee Gardens, typo, sorry.
There are wet markets around Holland Village that speak a smatterings of combo of Mandarin and English.
I try to be good and buy fruit and vegetables from the wet markets, it does help that they shut at 9pm. The fruit mongers and veg stall holders do stock more western palate type of veg and fruit. Holland Drive stall holders where the NTUC Fairprice is located have more local produce, which of course is much cheaper.
For dry food (toileteries, water, beverages) I tend to use NTUC Fairprice and their delivery service.
Salads, milk and yoghurts, I tend to go to Cold Storage.
Fish, it is spilt between Giant at Vivo or Cold Storage.
The Butcher at Holland Village for turkey or specials
Oh, there's a great little baking shop in Chip Bee Gardens.

[zzm9980]

Fairprice Finest and ColdStorage both sell whole chickens, labelled as Kampong Chickens. About S$5-$7 depending on weight.

JR8, most of the Finests are actually a bit bigger than the normal stores I've noticed. The one in Marine Parade Central at least is on par/nicer than the local Cold Storage.

[JR8]

That's what I get for living in a bumi/kampong district

I can't imagine an NTUC Finest being bigger/nicer than a Cold Storage.... hmmm ... might have to trek on over just to have a look-see.

[nakatago]

That's what I get for living in a bumi/kampong district

I can't imagine an NTUC Finest being bigger/nicer than a Cold Storage.... hmmm ... might have to trek on over just to have a look-see.

The one in Thomson Plaza can be.

[the lynx]

And in 111 Somerset.

[the lynx]

Fairprice Finest and ColdStorage both sell whole chickens, labelled as Kampong Chickens. About S$5-$7 depending on weight.

The definition of whole chicken can be quite fun. If you buy "whole chicken" in places like Giant and Sheng Shiong where it is pre-wrapped in refrigerated shelves, you literally get the head and feet of the chicken, and maybe bits of gizzard and whatnot that they forget to clean.

I heard the Cold Storage's "whole chicken" doesn't include head and feet. But if you buy from the wet market, you can ask the butcher to help you remove the head and the feet for you.