How I Stock Up On My Food During Dorscon Orange

As Singapore goes into Dorscon Orange, we saw a scene of an apocalypse in the supermarkets. It was madness, people rushing to grab food supplies in the event that there is a lockdown. Daily whatsapp messages received with photos of supermarket shelves wiped out, and trolleys full of food supplies and toilet paper (?) for some reason. The theory behind toilet paper still remains a question mark.

Notices To Limit Purchase

Supermarkets and meat butchers are now putting up notices for the amount of stock you can buy at any one time to prevent you from hoarding! What you should know, as a halal meat supplier, we are well prepared to serve you to the best of our ability and keep you stocked comfortably throughout this period of crisis. You do not need to panic, there is plenty of supply to go around.

Although Dorscon Orange means we are only to take precautionary measures in our daily activities and prepare for what could be worse to come, we are still seeing a panic buy for food supplies that does not need to happen. Over-buying can greatly affect others in the community, especially those that are in need of it the most at certain times. Such as; elder shoppers or frontline workers who shop when they need and surprisingly, still survive.

How I Stock Up On My Food During Dorscon Orange?

This is my advice as a working mother of three and wife on how I stock up on my food during Dorscon Orange. I hope it will give you some insight into how you can continue with a practical routine to cope around this global pandemic.

To start off, I have been visiting the supermarket around twice a week. I usually only have time to go either on the weekends or after work and I would spend approximately 30 minutes there. To be frank, grocery shopping is not one of my favourite things to do so I am in and out of there as fast as possible. I think that’s how it should be anyways, especially with the restrictions now of how many hours a day we should be out in public!

There are a few essentials on the list of things to buy that I would get weekly. Some items are vegetables, frozen halal meat, grains, breakfast meals, canned food and snacks. The amount bought each time lasts just enough until the next visit so there is no over buying. In order to not buy excessively, it is a good idea that you have a rough meal plan of what you need for the week. Most products will come in a standard amount of how much is good for one portion/servicing.

Food such as vegetables, I would buy a selection of 3-4 different types. When bags of rice are limited to 1 or 2 packets per family, that is a restrictive amount. For frozen meats I would purchase just enough to last the week. There seems to be a trend at supermarkets for a popularity for meats and vegetables. When everything goes to waste, it is unhealthy to have over-long produce left in your pantries especially when there is still plenty left in stores for you. Somewhere, in one NTCU or another there is enough produce to go around including halal products.