I am glad I stuck to my guns this week and returned to the same two supermarkets that failed me so badly last week. At first I was going to hedge my risk by going to a Cold Storage and NTUC Fairprice much further from home but with a better location and there, better set-up and inventory.
Then I thought that this would be a survey error as I will be skewing it for better results. I was reluctant to have another week of semi-empty shopping bag and a bad taste in my mouth but I felt I should at least give those two neighbourhood supermarkets a chance. So I decided to be brave and responsible and returned to the same, lame Cold Storage as last week. My reasoning was that there is a taxi stand right outside it so I can always hop into one and zoom off to the better Cold Storage.
Fortunately for me, the supermarkets gods are on my side this week. In fact, this week is a total reversal of fortunes for me and I completed my shopping with only one hiccup, which was entirely my fault. And I did it all in about an hour, managed to come back and have my lunch and still have energy to update here. How's that for efficient?
And all done by lunch-time.
So, to re-cap, I'd managed to list out my shopping by about 10.30 this morning. Then I caught a copy of Today and saw that Carrefour and Giant had placed their ads too. Now, if I had the energy, resources and time to go to Carrefour, I would, as it looks like they have a great variety of fruits on promotion this week. However, I am plum out of energy to do any more shopping and furthermore, my haul is good enough that I do not think I even need to do any grocery shopping for the next two weeks!
Still, if I did go to Carrfour this week, I would get for the kiwis which are going for S$1.99 per punnet and the crimson, seedless grapes at S$3.95 per punnet, which were originally S$2.95 and S$5.90 respectively. Not a bad deal. But as is, I already have apples and starfruit, which are plentiful for me.
Unusually for Giant, their promotions this week had nothing to attract me.
So, armed with my list, I headed for Cold Storage first. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot of staff. There had to be about 3-4 staff in the fresh produce area, all busy stocking the counters. There were about 2 store managers inspecting the counters. One of them I recognised as the "regular" Filipina (I think she's Filipino but I might be wrong).
Another was new to me - an Indian chap who did not seem too knowledgeable about his produce. Why do I say that? Because he was sniffing some of the organic apples priced at S$0.75 each. They did not look too fantastic to me so sniffing them is a waste of time. No one would buy them when they look so unappealing compared to the cheaper, non-organic ones further down a stand. If I had to hard sell expensive, organic, non-moving apples, I would have samples and a lady next to them to convince people that the bright red ones further down only look good but don't taste as good.
Anyway, the regular Filipina store manager was haranguing one of the staff stocking the vegetable counter. I totally get her point and agree with her but I think she could have gotten her point across to her staff better if she was less superior and empathised more. Why? The staff was older and probably not a graduate of retail marketing like our store managers. But she must have a family for whom she shops for all the time. Filipina store manager was cross because the woman had placed the vegetables still all wrapped up in their paper and polyform wrappers. She was exasperated enough to say "No one would buy the vegetables you just placed because they cannot see them. You never even rubbed the wrapping away!""
I could see this all going over the head the staff. What did she care? She probably thought, "All these uni grads type who think they know it all!"
If instead she asked her, would she buy them if she did not know what they are and she probably would not bother to unwrap them herself, right? I mean if the store doesn't, why should the customers do it for them? I think the staff would have gotten the point better and probably be less irritated by her.
Anyway, I noticed that there were at least 1-2 staff all busy stocking and arranging (there was a young man I would never invite to my house to decorate the Christmas tree as he looked like he exploded the area he was supposed to stack). This is highly unusual as there are never that many staff. I am beginning to wonder if someone actually reads this blog.
Even the deli counter had more people there than normal. And surprise, surprise, there were plenty of chicken. I resolved to come back that-a-way after I picked up all the other stuff. Other stuff being -
Cold Storage
Ben & Jerry's @S$19.85 for 2
Fresh Pork Mince @S$10.90/kg (UP: S$18.60)
Fresh Pork Spareribs @S$15.90/kg (UP: S$23.20)
Fresh boneless pork loin @S$14.90/kg (UP: S$21.40)
Starfruit @S$1.59/ packet
Beef chuck tender @S$34.90/kg (UP: S$35.90)
Oxtail @S$33.90/kg (UP: S$38.90)
Meltique ribeye/sirloin @S$6.45/packet
3-day special - BBQ chicken @S$4.99 each
Post Banana Nut Crunch @S$8.70 for 2 (UP: S$6.25 each)
Meiji milk @S$9.95 for 2
Let's just look at the meat. For once, the meat counters were well-stocked. Now, I've always felt that Cold Storage meats are of much higher quality than NTUC Fairprice which is why I always shop for my meat there. Both supermarkets had promotions on pork this week and I compared them. Take the pork spareribs. There was admittedly not a large number of packets available but what they had were of pretty good quality. However, the packing deferred. Cold Storage's were clean and well trimmed but NTUC Fairprice's were messy and not cleaned properly. Also, the butchers deferred in skill. Cold Storage's cuts were neat but NTUC Fairprice's were jagged and had chips of bone and gristle. But taking aside the packing, if you look at the quality of the meat itself, they probably did not differ that greatly. Also, if I am not mistaken, Cold Storage's promotion this week actually beat NTUC Fairprice's.
Another example of quality was in the boneless pork loin and minced pork. Truly, Cold Storage's were of a better colour and cut. I know supermarkets can cheat with a lot of them using fake colouring to enhance meat products nowadays but even examining the grain and "springiness" of the meat, Cold Storage seemed a better bet.
I bought the smallest packet of spareribs at Cold Storage, which may still be a little too much for me.
The beef were also well-stocked this week. There was a lot to choose from but I did not buy any as their packets were all too large for me. The only thing I did not think was such a good deal was the oxtail. If I had not bought some at Giant a couple of weeks ago, I might have thought it was but as it is, I think they are slightly over-priced despite the promotion.
I finally found the Meltique meats but they were lurking in a corner of the standing freezers with no promotion tags attached to them despite the ad. Tut tut, the only mis-step from Cold Storage this week. I could not be bothered to ask a staff about them and as I wandered off, I wondered how many customers they had lost.
I almost forgot the starfruits till I consulted my list. And dashed back to the fruits & veggies stand. And there they were. Lots of them. However, lots of them looking awfully green. I know starfruits. We had them in our garden and they do not ripen well off the vine. So I bought the ripest looking bunch that did not look crushed or were starting to brown at the edges. I love starfruit.
Then I got my biggest indulgence ... the two tubs of Ben & Jerry's. They are the most luxurious indulgence I have now but I cannot resist such a good deal!
And then I toddled off to NTUC Fairprice. If you are observant, you would have noticed I forgot something.
At NTUC Fairprice, they too, were busily stocking up! What is going on???? This is highly unusual! I am getting a little paranoid. Anyway, I remembered I was running out of eggs so I head to the aisle. I'd gotten my usual when an older lady pointed to the ones she was holding and said, "These are S$1.90". Startled, I smiled and said, "Oh really? That's good ..." with an slightly dazed air. And she pointed out that there were 12 of them, with 2 extras. Oh, I see! Well, that's a good deal and I set mine aside and took up the ones she was buying. I thanked her sweetly and looked closely at the price tag. Wait a minute ...
It seemed the eggs were on the wrong section of the counter. The price tag and the product are not in simpatico. In other words, we'd been had. For shame, NTUC Fairprice! I would not accuse them of deception but perhaps a careless mistake in stocking the wrong things under the wrong price tag. I tried to look around for the lady but she was far gone and I can only sympathise with her when she reached the cashier.
Anyway, I sorted the eggs for me and soldiered on.
Here's where it was a 60-40 success for me.
NTUC Fairprice
Benishan Mangoes @S$3.50 for 2 OR
Thai Rainbow Mangoes @S$3.24 for 4
Fresh rump steak @S$1.99/100g
Unicurd tofu square puffs @S$1.50 each
Unicurd egg tofu tube @S$1.65 for 2
Pasar corn on the cob @S$1.25 for a packet of 2 (UP: S$1.50)
3-day special - Iceberg lettuce @S$0.99 each
As I suspected, the mangoes were a right mess. The Thai Rainbow mangoes were the same ones from last week except some new stock had joined them. But the new ones were so green they could have passed for guavas. But the sad sack award goes to the Benishan mangoes. There were 20 of them. I know for sure as I counted them. It's not hard since there were only 20. And they looked truly tragic that Shakespeare could have written about them.
And it is even sadder that there is no beef in this NTUC Fairprice. This is the thing about Singapore. I once lived in Ang Mo Kio and the entire time I lived there, I never bought beef there. Why? Because they do no sell them anywhere in the estate. I had to go to town and KK to buy my beef and lamb. I once asked a store owner why and he told me it was because it was a mostly Chinese estate so no one sold beef. I can only deduce Hougang is the same since the NTUC Fairprice does not have beef. So forget about the rump steak. I can't tell you if it's a good deal because I had no sample. Shaking my head at NTUC Fairprice ...
I bought some silken tofu instead of the Unicurd ones because I reckoned I need the fridge space and it was actually a better deal at $0.10 less ... LOL.
But the vegetables were in much better condition this week. As I lurked at the iceberg lettuce stand, a staff was stocking up. And I must say the stock is plentiful and they were in good condition. Ladies, this week's winner is the S$0.99 lettuce at NTUC Fairprice. What was better was the NTUC Fairprice staff. She was a wonderful, older lady who told me to take from her cart of stock instead of what was on the counter since it's easier and they were fresh stock. Oh bless ... love her!
I also got the corn in the cob deal as they were in lovely condition too.
So, here's what I have to say about NTUC Fairprice. They might do a terrible job of their meat but they do a good job on their veggies. And whole Cold Storage might have more efficient, younger and more hip-looking staff, NTUC Fairprice seems to hire aunties with whom you can identify. They could be your mum or aunt and nag but they do know their stuff.
I was all ready to go home when I realised with horror I forgot something crucial. The BBQ chicken from Cold Storage. So I had to do a back-track and return to get that chicken! And so I did. I got the black pepper one since I'd gotten the honey one last time.
And here is where I know God was looking out for me. All three times I had to queue up for the cashier, I took the middling length lines. Twice, someone in front of me lost their patience and hustled to another aisle to speed things along. And each time, I lucked out with the fastest and most efficient cashiers and ended up sorted before the deserters. Ah, queue justice and aisle envy ... sometimes patience pays out.
I will be moving in about 3 weeks so I will probably not do much grocery shopping till then. And then it will be another adventure to explore the shops in my new neighbourhood. So long Hougang, it's been interesting.
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