Daily Times

If the current market price of a kilogram of onions is Rs 100, tomatoes Rs 280, garlic and ginger around Rs 70 per quarter of a kg, and coriander and mint Rs 10 apiece, it is a great challenge to meet the cost of two meals a day for the hungry and the hand-to-mouth poor, amid customary alarms of price hike by the chicken-hearted rich. While the affluent, despite fashionable alarms of inflation, enjoy lavish cooking with an array of delicious vegetables, chicken, mutton, veal or beef delicacies, the have-nots look for creative ways to get cheap buys for two simple meals a day.

Here is the case study of Faizan Khan, a little boy whose father is sick and is a daily labourer, and whose mother is an underpaid domestic servant. Faizan helplessly wonders about the rent of their room and meal woes of their large family. There is no sugar, no milk, no tea and no real meal as his mother creates a little watery chutney out of a few coriander and mint leaves and just half a roti, dipping it and eating.

Faizan says that even one roti per person is not affordable due to the price hike of over Rs 500 per five-kg flour bag. Even chanadal is out of reach for the poor, what to say about moong, masoor or mash. A tidbit of dal is added to the watery chutney to make innovative gravy.

For a middle-income family of five, there is better creativity in planning for a meal. Lentils-moong, masoor, chana, mash, arar-range between Rs 100 and Rs 200 per kg. Any lentil worth Rs 50 is cooked with Rs 40 onions, a big spoonful of oil and salt, and mixing it with Rs 10 worth coriander or mint chutney to make it bigger and tastier. It serves five people. With Rs 50 worth of flour for 10 small chapattis, it is a Rs 150 meal for five.

Spiralling prices are out of control and beyond the means of the common man. It depends on our financial gurus to address this hopeless situation

There is room for diversity for a middle-income family with a different menu for a meal. With the current egg cost of Rs 116 a dozen, let’s take four eggs for Rs40, and add Rs 40 tomatoes, costing Rs 280 per kg, with Rs 20 onions, and a spoonful of oil and salt as needed, to make a large scrambled egg dish. Add to that Rs 50 flour for 10 small chapattis, totalling Rs 150 for a delicious meal for five.

The third option for a diversified meal for a middle-income family is Rs 20 onions, Rs 20 potatoes, Rs 20 tomatoes, Rs 30 mixed carrots, peas, beans and cucumber, Rs 10 teaspoonful of oil and salt as required, and Rs 50 flour for 10 small rotis, totalling Rs 150 for a vegetable dish.

Amid fashionable alarms of roaring costs, sky is the limit in lavish dining of the upper strata, the elite and the affluent. They enjoy desi/Pakistani, Arabic, Turkish, Lebanese, Afghani, Mediterranean, Mexican, South Indian, Indonesian, European or Chinese gourmet food delicacies and delights.

The tragedy of the common man’s household is that one hand feeds five to eight mouths. Mass awareness through education and media should be created; each family member should work, if possible, and contribute a bit to the family budget, if feasible, is one solution to meet the challenge of the rocketing inflation.

Spiralling prices are out of control and beyond the means of the common man. It depends on our financial gurus to address this hopeless situation. Public confidence-building measures need to be devised in simple, easy, interesting and innovative ways.

The writer is an educator, a journalist and a market analyst