Foodstuff Hike in Nigeria: Cheaper Alternatives for Christmas
Most Nigerians at this point are looking into the future with great uncertainty. The greatest uncertainty of all: where to get food to eat.
According to the International Committee of The Red Cross (ICRC), “The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic put additional strain on the vulnerable communities in the North-East of Nigeria, where the decade-long armed conflict is severely hampering agricultural production and self-sufficiency of local farmers. “Everywhere we work the food prices have gone up, in some places they doubled. It means that millions of people in the North-East of Nigeria do not have enough to eat,” said Ruth Mwakiuna Muriungi, economic security programs coordinator for the ICRC. Almost two million people in the North-East are currently displaced and do not have access to their agricultural land and production tools. In many areas of the Lake Chad region, insecurity and movement restrictions have limited farmers’ ability to plant crops.”
What this means is that, despite the opening of borders on November 10th, food would still be expensive in the coming months. Food prices have also continued to suffer from persistent inflation making some food items inaccessible to the middle class in Nigeria. Knowing this, we have made a little list of food substitutes that are way cheaper than their originals.
Pawpaw Stew vs Tomatoes Stew
Image Source: Pixabay
Pawpaw or papaya is a fruit that grows in west Africa. Papaya contains dietary fiber, folate, vitamin A, C, and E. It also contains small amounts of calcium, iron, riboflavin, thiamine, and niacin.
Pawpaw is very rich in antioxidant nutrients flavonoids and carotenoids; very high in vitamin C plus A, and low in calories and sodium. It also contains the following:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Calcium
- Iron
- Riboflavin
- Thiamine
- Niacin
Source: Pulse
How to Make Papaya Stew
The first and most important step to preparing the Papaya stew is finding the right fruit. This process will influence both all the other processes and the overall taste of your stew. When searching for the right fruit, you have to take these few things into consideration
- The sweetness of the Papaya
- The ripeness of the papaya
- The amount of stew you want to prepare.
Always choose a fruit that is not sweet and not too ripe. This ensures that your stew comes out tasting like tomato stew.
Ingredients
- A papaya fruit
- All other ingredients for a tomato stew.
Steps
- Wash the body of your papaya fruit till it is clean.
- Peel
- Cut into pieces
- Blend
- Turn into a pot and steam.
- Go on and cook your stew!
Soybeans Soup vs Egusi Soup
Image Source: Pixabay
Soya beans soup is a wonderful substitute for egusi soup. Soybean contains vitamins B and E, fiber, iron, calcium, zinc, and other bioactive compounds like isoflavones. Soybeans help people with diabetes, women going through menopause, reduces their chances of getting breast cancer, and also helps you lose weight.
Soybean can be found in the market for as low as #70 per cup. After buying soybeans from the market closest to you and roasting them, you should grind them with those industrial machines to reduce the workload on your blender at home.
How to Prepare Soybean Soup
The only difference between egusi soup preparation and soybean soup preparation is the “soybean” and the “egusi(melon)” ingredients. I’ll be sharing my egusi recipe here, feel free to substitute it with yours.
Ingredients
- Soybean
- Palm oil
- Water
- Seasoning
- Fish/meat
- Pepper
- Tomatoes(optional)
Steps
- Wash fish or meat into a pot
- Add seasoning
- Boil
- Pour the palm oil into a pot
- Let it heat up
- Add the tomatoes
- Add seasoning
- Allow it fry
- Add your soybean powder
- Stir
- Leave to fry
- Add fish/meat stock when it is dry
- Leave to boil
- Stir
- Leave to simmer
- Serve hot!
You can also combine both soups by buying one part egusi and one part soybean and cooking as specified above. Roasted soya beans also make a very good and nutritious snack.
Potatoes vs Yam
Image Source: Pixabay
Sweet potatoes are a wonderful substitute for yams. They are also cheaper to buy than tubers of yam. Sweet potatoes are more filling, which means you consume less and get more. These are some benefits of sweet potatoes:
- Sweet potatoes help prevent Vitamin A deficiency.
- Sweet potatoes can help manage stress levels.
- Sweet potatoes can help protect/prevent/manage cancer.
- Sweet potatoes can also help manage diabetes.
- Sweet potatoes can help guard against ulcers.
- Sweet potatoes can help in minimizing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
- Sweet potatoes can help in regulating blood pressure.
Substituting sweet potatoes for yam is easy. Prepare them the same way you prepare yams.
Fun Ways to Prepare Sweet Potatoes
Parmesan Potato Stacks
Ingredients
- Golden potatoes
- Butter
- Parmesan cheese
- Garlic powder
- Salt
- Thyme
- Pepper
Steps
- Slice up 9 good golden potatoes
- Add three tbsp of melted butter
- Grate 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese into it
- Add 1 top of Garlic powder
- Add salt
- Add 1 tsp of thyme
- Add pepper
- Shake the bowl to mix
- Stack in small pans and bake for one hour.
Potato Stir-fry
Ingredients
- 500g frozen potato chips
- 5 fillets of chicken breast
Half each of:
- green bell peppers
- red bell peppers
- yellow bell peppers
- 1 red onion
- Garlic and ginger (to your taste)
- ½ to 1 teaspoon each of:
- thyme
- salt
- onion powder
- curry powder
- white pepper
- 2 tablespoons pepper sauce
- 1-2 tablespoon soy sauce
- Sunflower oil (or vegetable oil) for frying
Notes on The Potato Stir-fry Ingredients
- If you do not have frozen potato chips, peel Irish Potatoes and cut them into potato chips shapes (see video).
- It is best to use tasteless and odorless vegetable oils for this. So the vegetable oils sold in Nigeria are ok for this.
- Use any pepper sauce condiment. You can add any spicy pepper e.g. atarodo, habanero peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, cayenne peppers, etc if you do not have pepper sauce.
How to Prepare Potato Stir-fry
- Cut the fillets of chicken breast into thin strips, put them in a bowl.
- Add all the seasonings: thyme, salt, onion powder, curry powder, and white pepper, mix till everything is well combined then cover and set aside to marinate.
- If you are using Irish potatoes, peel and cut them into chips.
- Peel and grate the garlic and ginger.
- Slice the onions as shown in the video below.
- Deep fry the potato chips in oil.
- Cut the bell peppers into long slices.
- Directions for making the Potato Stir-fry
- Pour a bit of sunflower oil into a frying pan or wok.
- When it heats up, fry the strips of chicken till pale, set them aside.
- Stir-fry the onions, garlic, and ginger for about 3 minutes.
- Add the bell peppers and fry for 5 minutes.
- Add the fried potato chips and mix everything very well.
- Add the pepper sauce and soy sauce, mix well and add more salt if necessary.
Source: allnigerianrecipes
Fufu vs Pounded Yam
Image Source: Pixabay
During family reunions, this December, elders might demand you prepare pounded yam and some kind of soup for them. Since one tuber of yam is priced between 500 to 1000 naira, preparing a large mound of pounded yam could be an unrealistic expectation. Do you know that you can prepare fufu to be as soft and malleable as pounded yam? Here’s how.
How to Make Soft Fufu Without the Smell
- Buy fresh cassava from your local market.
- Soak in a bucket or basin for 3-4 days.
- When fully fermented, wash and remove large parts.
- Sieve.
- Put into a soft sack bag and squeeze the water out.
- Grease a polythene bag.
- Put in the mold of cassava
- Boil for 10 minutes
- Take out and mix with a spatula
- Knead.
- Put back on fire to boil for 20 minutes until hard.
- Pound.
- Serve hot!
Other Ways to Get Cheaper Foodstuff for Christmas
Image Source: Pixabay
Buy Beforehand
We all know how sellers use Christmas as an opportunity to cash out and collect all the money they couldn’t collect throughout the year from their customers. The fish you bought for 500 naira last week could very well become 1,000 naira today because “things don dear/cost for market market”. African foodstuff would also become more expensive for Africans in the diaspora to purchase.
Smart people buy Christmas foodstuffs beforehand. As soon as you get your November salary or can save enough to buy a few things, don’t hesitate to visit the market. Suffer no dey finish and you might end up using that money for something else. To avoid stories that touch during the festive period, visit the market as soon as possible.
Visit the Local Market Closest to You
Local markets or village markets, in some cases, usually have foodstuff at lower prices than the regular markets. This is because most times, you purchase these products from the farmers themselves or wholesalers. Going to the local market means you save money that can be used to buy other things you need. You can find them by searching on Google “local markets near me”.
Buy in Bulk
“Mama Sunny give me one cup of rice,” Bisi’s mom who lived near us would always be heard buying one small item or the other from the grocery store across the road. She was a homemaker who took care of the home with her share of her husband’s salary. At the end of the month, Papa Bisi would fold money into her hands and she would keep it for later use.
The money never made it to the end of the month. It would have been a lot easier for her if she had learned the culture of buying things in bulk. Buying in bulk saves your money and also saves your energy. Don’t be like Bisi’s mom who created difficulties for herself in choosing to buy one cup of rice at intervals.
Go to the market and buy in bulk. Not a very large amount to avoid having to throw it away because you can’t consume it, but one which would be enough to serve you a long while. With the inflation going on in the country, buying in bulk is a valuable investment. The onions we bought for ten naira now sell for a hundred naira in some places, fast competing with Bitcoin!
So strap on, it is still the first week of December. Go get those bags of rice before they tell you the price has doubled. Compliments of the season!
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