Friday! It's time to explore the traditional market. I buy daily needs, not just Friday. When my daily necessities are out of stock, I shop at the traditional market.
I have to buy fish as the main menu as I did today. It is common in our area; every lunch or dinner and even breakfast, we always eat white rice. This is our staple food. Rarely will you find a family eating bread for lunch or dinner, except for breakfast?
So, if we eat rice, the main dish is fish, be it fried fish or fish curry. We don't only eat fish; sometimes, we eat fried chicken, chicken curry, and red meat, except pork. Besides fish or meat, we also eat green vegetables and fruits.
Okay! I started my shopping activities to buy fresh fish. Today, I want to eat tuna. I also headed to the fish market. There are various types of fish that we can meet here. But I like yellowfin tuna or mackerel tuna. I found a lot of these two types of fish in this market. The price for yellowfin tuna per kilogram is IDR 40,000 (USD 2.63). Mackerel tuna is cheaper, at IDR 35,000 (USD 2.30). The price depends on the condition of the number of fish caught.
I bought one yellowfin tuna weighing 3 kilograms and spent IDR 120,000 (USD 7.89). I have to admit that fish prices have been rising in the last few months. This happened because of the government's policy to increase the price of fuel oil three months ago. As a result, all materials for daily needs also increased.
Like the price of broiler chicken, a broiler chicken is currently IDR 55,000 to IDR 60,000 (USD 3.63 to 3.95). My kids love chicken pieces. Especially if it is cooked similarly to KFC chicken. But, to make fried chicken exactly like KFC is very difficult, you know!
After buying fish and broiler chicken, I also have to buy vegetables and spices for the kitchen. We love green vegetables. I love mustard greens. My wife loves spinach. Meanwhile, children like potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and beans. All the vegetables are made into soup.
Today's mustard prices normally start at three bunches for IDR 6,000 (USD 0.39). During the rainy season late last year, the price of mustard greens increased drastically, namely IDR 5,000 (USD 0.33) for one bunch. Prices of potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes also increased. Potatoes per kilogram IDR 14,000 (USD 0.92), carrots per kilogram IDR 12,000 (USD 0.79), and tomatoes.
When buying vegetables, my child seems to be actively moving. He touched everything he saw. Perhaps it pleases him. My son named, Omar, is my third child. He is 3.5 years old.
I also bought kitchen spices such as red chilies, green chilies, shallots, garlic, soup leaves, spring onions, and others. The mothers may already understand all the needs for these kitchen spices. If I forget to buy the spices, my wife will scold me. But luckily, today, my wife and Omar accompanied me shopping.
The traditional market atmosphere on Friday is less busy than on Sunday. Friday is productive for us, so most people are in their offices. Unlike the case on Sunday. Sunday is a holiday, so many people shop at this traditional market.
For fruit, I buy pineapples. Sometimes I buy papayas and oranges. But today, I prefer pineapple. Just like papaya, isn't pineapple also able to help digestion? Pineapple costs IDR 8,000 (USD 0.53) per fruit. The price of pineapple also depends on the condition of the fruit.
For snacks, it always helps to cook green bean porridge. Mung bean porridge is beneficial for me, who has digestive and stomach problems. I have had digestive and stomach problems for almost two years. This also causes me to be unable to contribute to the Hive platform. That is, I had a vacuum for about two years.
Moving on from the green bean shop, we also bought fine herbs. The spices that we bought are spices for fried chicken. Children especially love this particular spice.
Those are some of the market activities on Friday. I have spent more or less IDR 250,000 (USD 16.44). A fun activity for us. Of course, delicious food will be served at the dinner table. And I'm waiting for the magic of my wife's hands to process all these groceries into delicious and healthy food.
All the photos I took using my smartphone camera.
The location of the market is in Pasar Inpres Lhokseumawe, Indonesia.
Thanks to 