Question about local food

[standingroomonly]

What local foods are most readily available/inexpensive at the wet markets/grocery stores?

What is a common dish/meal do you (or your significant other) cook using local foods or... what foods are always stocked in your refridge/pantry now--that you may not have bought as often in your home country?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Guess that would depend on where your home country is, don't you think? People here are from all over the world and all over Asia as well. And we are all expats.

[x9200]

What local foods are most readily available/inexpensive at the wet markets/grocery stores?

What is a common dish/meal do you (or your significant other) cook using local foods or... what foods are always stocked in your refridge/pantry now--that you may not have bought as often in your home country?

What are you trying to achieve with these questions? I am asking this because I think they make not too much sense. Let me answer them truthfully from my perspective and you will see:
1. rice, bananas
2. none/coconut cream

[standingroomonly]

sms...Are you saying there are not more commonly found and used foods in Singapore? Some countries rice is very cheap....so far more locals cook various dishes with rice as a staple...other countries, pasta or potatoes...certain veggies or fruit are more readily available in some countries over others...(i.e. cheaper) Obviously western goods are priced very high because they are not commonly used in Singapore and require longer distance for shipment...So there should be commonly used foods in Singapore that are used in place of certain Western foods, veggies and fruits... What are these more commonly used foods? What are the local dishes and commonly used ingredients?

I assume expats (those who know how to cook) need to adjust what dishes they cook now that they are in Singapore... I know my husband and I did when we lived in Japan.

[elspike]

We shop at a wet market for fruit and vegetables. It has pretty much everything we could buy back in Australia, with a whole lot more tropical fruits (Love dragon fruit!) and much fresher asian greens (bok choi etc.)

They still have all the usual western vegetables like potatoes, pumpkin and onions. Overall our fresh food budget has gone down significantly.

Meat qualities vary from shop to shop, but there is usually more than one meat/fish vendor in each market so you can shop around.

Chain supermarkets (ColdStorage and Fairprice) have the same sort of things, but all packaged up in plastic, with a price premium as expected.

Rice is cheap. Australian rice is cheaper here than in Australia. Though often the smallest bag you will find will be 5kg.

Dairy is expensive. Milk runs at about $5 for 2 litres. Cheese can be up towards $7 for 100g. There are specialty butchers and importers that sell online, delivered to your door that do cheese and processed meats at a much better price. We usually stock up our freezer once every 2-3 months.

My wife bakes her own bread every day. We eat great, fresh meals, and try new vegetables and fruits whenever we find them. The best place to get new recipes to try is to ask the Aunties at the wet market stalls. "How should I cook this? What do you cook this in?" We've made some great friends in the market stall owners and they are always showing us stuff we may not have tried and offering advice on good meals for our kids.

We love it, even if we are the only crazy Ang Mos in the market

[sundaymorningstaple]

Considering Singapore doesn't have any natural resources of it's own and all it's produce & meats are imported and most of it Seafood as well, there are supermarkets who stock a world wide selection of products here and you can cook what ever style of cooking you desire. You can get the majority of your normal cooking ingredients without too much problem here as well, although you might have to change brands as you wouldn't have the full variety of different brands here. You will, however, pay more for these products as they aren't bought in as great a bulk as what moves faster here.

You have to remember that rice and noodles are the two staple starches here but there are no dearth of potatoes here either from the US and Indonesia or China. Veggies from Australia, Meats airflown from Australia & N. Zealand & the USA. You don't want for too much here as the country is very international in scope.

Local food? http://www.makansutra.com/index.php

[Saint]

There are even cheaper places to get your meat/veg from than wet markets

[nutnut]

There are even cheaper places to get your meat/veg from than wet markets

Where? Please tell!

[elspike]

There are even cheaper places to get your meat/veg from than wet markets

Are you the one who's been stealing from our larder?

[Saint]

There are even cheaper places to get your meat/veg from than wet markets

Where? Please tell!

The wet market stall holders have to get their meat/veg from somewhere which is their supplier. Luckily I can get stuff directly from these suppliers

[the lynx]

There are even cheaper places to get your meat/veg from than wet markets

Where? Please tell!

The wet market stall holders have to get their meat/veg from somewhere which is their supplier. Luckily I can get stuff directly from these suppliers

You meant an abattoir?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Nah, he just goes to the import/wholesalers just like I do at either Jurong port or Senoko Port for my crabs with getting ready to steam two or three dozen crabs. Buy direct from the wholesalers or, as noted, the abattoirs.

[Saint]

Nah, he just goes to the import/wholesalers just like I do at either Jurong port or Senoko Port for my crabs with getting ready to steam two or three dozen crabs. Buy direct from the wholesalers or, as noted, the abattoirs.

Yes exactly and I get it delivered to the bar inaddition to the business order which is even easier

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yep! I'm jealous on that point. Getting up at 2:30 am to go to Senoko Port for fresh off the boat seafood is rough. Even rougher partying all night and going before going home! If you go after 4:30 it's all picked over already!

Would that I could get it delivered!

[standingroomonly]

The cooking adjustment to Singapore will be easier than Japan then from what I gather... minus cooking with cheese and some dairy products, most everything will be easily available at reasonable cost. Expanding my ideas for recipes now is much easier (having 2 toddlers to adjust to new foods) than being thrown into someplace new not knowing how to cook certain more-common foods or veggies in Singapore or what to cook them with...and getting my toddlers used to new foods now is better than waiting till later.

Where are the wet markets located? Do you have a favorite? What hours/days are they open?