I had cravings for sardines suddenly last Wednesday. So I went to speedmart to buy Ayam Brand Sardines, it's definitely on the higher price range compared to other brands (although cheaper than those premium brands), I tried some cheaper brands before, and it's not to my liking, it tasted off. Maybe I grew up with Ayam brand? While I was in the speedmart, I was looking at the canned food section and I saw canned corn! I watched a lot of youtube cooking videos and a lot of people eat canned corn. I like corn, carrot so so ok. But I am not a fan of green bean. I don't understand why almost all the frozen mix vegetables out there (in Malaysia) are mixture of carrot, corn and green beans! I think I once saw frozen corn only package in Tesco (now Lotus), but I didn't stay near Lotus.
Anyway, I bought the canned Sardines (in tomato sauce) and canned corn. Actually I didn't know how to eat the canned corn. I had frozen and fresh corn before, never canned. Then I remember I had instant oat at home. So, I decided my dinner would be mi goreng with shredded sardine and instant oat with half can of corn.
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| dinner 1 - instant mi goreng with canned sardine, instant oat with canned corn |
I cooked the Maggi Mi Goreng Cili Ala Kampung and took the mee out first. Then, with the remaining boiling water, I put half can of sardines into a cup to heat it up. After that, I used forks to shred the sardines and tossed it to the mi goreng with the sauces that came with it. Well, the tomato sauce from the sardines are quite overwhelming, the mee tasted more tomatoey.
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| warm up the sardines using leftover water from cooking the mee |
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| mi goreng with shredded sardines |
Next, I boiled water and poured it to a bowl with instant oat. Then, I poured half can of corn into it.
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| instant oat + canned corn |
Well, the instant oat I used has no added sugar i think. I felt that the oat porridge is quite bland even with half can of corn. However, I could still taste the corn sweetness. Not bad.
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| oat porridge with corn |
So for Wednesday dinner, it's around RM8.95 and I was so full. If I had my dinner at Kopitiam, I would spend similar amount without the fruit. One bowl of noodles would be like around RM8 to RM9, fried rice, noodles would be around the price point. And a glass of warm water is RM0.60. I didn't save that much with own cooking because I didn't choose the cheapest brands out there. If I substitute the instant noodle with the one without any flavourings, cheapest sardines brand and in house brand canned corn, I could save around 30% of the cost.
| item |
price (RM) |
| half canned Sardines | 2.50 |
| half canned corn | 1.90 |
| 1 packet of instant oat | 0.55 |
| 1 packet instant noodle | 1.40 |
| 1 orange | 2.00 |
| miscellaneous | 0.60 |
| total (RM) | 8.95 |
I was left with half canned of sardines and corn each. So on Thursday, I continue with the same items to avoid spoilage, I didn't how long can it be stored in fridge after opening. I chose soup type this round.
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| dinner 2 |
I had Mamee instant noodle, 5 packets around RM4 to RM5. For the oat, I had the Nestum as I wanted some creaminess. I cooked the noodle together with sardines. Like the day before, it tasted like tomato only from the canned sardines.
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| mee soup with sardines |
Next, Nestum cereals with canned corn.
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| canned corn texture |
I poured a packet of Nestum cereals into a bowl and added the remaining canned corn, hot water last. Ermmmm, I should have added hot water to the cereals first, mixed it well, then last corn. I had issue to mix it well on the first method. Anyway, it tasted better than the instant oat only, need to add some sugar to the instant oat to make it taste better. Albeit, not so healthy.
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| Nestum cereals with canned corn |
My second dinner cost around the same. If I really wanted to save money on food, I need to research more. However, with my hectic schedule on work days, I will still be eating out for the time being because money wise, I didn't save much. Time wise, I think I spent more time cooking and finally washing all the dishes.
| item | price (RM) |
|---|
| half canned Sardines | 2.50 |
| half canned corn | 1.90 |
| 1 packet of cereals | 1.00 |
| 1 packet instant noodle | 0.90 |
| 1 orange | 2.00 |
| miscellaneous | 0.60 |
| total (RM) | 8.90 |
The end.
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