Last year we had good savings from buying mooncakes from Malaysia and gifting them to family so we thought of doing the same for CNY goodies.
Last year, we bought each CNY item at around $20 per container. Each delivery is usually 2 big containers for 4 deliveries. Parents and grandparents x2. So it costed us around $160.
This year the average price is around $22 per container so it would likely have costed us around S$176.
Couple of months back when I was last in KL, I did some recce and they were selling their new year goodies at around MYR40 (S$14) per container depending on the type of item, for their more "atas" brands.
So the SGD equivalent would be $112 (MYR320)
Straight off I thought great idea! I can save around $50.
Today I went to do a little more research around the area I stay and prices of pineapple tarts is around S$10 per large container. And egg rolls are S$6 for a small container. Other stuff are around S$6-S$10.
Woah!!! I'm likely going to be able to do S$20 per family for a total of around S$80-S$90.
What's even more amazing is the price of "Bak Kwa" sweetened pork slices. Depending on which brand or outlet, they are around MYR100-MYR110 per KG!!! That's like around S$34???
Compared with back in SG? Which is over S$50 per kg...
I'm considering buying a little back for personal consumption. But I'm already carrying 8 containers of goodies by hand so I'm a bit hesitant... I'm not a real fan of Bak Kwa by the way, rather I'm considering to buy cos it's much cheaper than back at home.
For those who are wondering...
I'm also not a fan of the custom of giving CNY goodies. Cos it's usually a lot of induced spending. Just for a bit of formality, I have to buy stuff which we usually don't consume, at unusually higher prices.
It's like Valentine's day. It's a day like any other... But prices are more expensive just cos it's 14 Feb...
Similarly, suppliers jack up the prices of goodies during this period and after CNY, they don't reduce the prices back to the same prices, they drop it by a little bit and keep prices higher than the prices before CNY.
Some places even have clearance of stock just after CNY at significantly cheaper prices.
But oh well... It's one of those things.
Between my wife and I, I can negotiate another Valentine's day, or Christmas dinner on a cheaper date. But I ain't gonna try to change the mentality of 4 families of older people. That's just not gonna work.
So I'll just live with it for this custom of giving CNY goodies and mooncakes when the time comes along every year.
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