Europe is expensive, Vietnamese mother shows off her cooking skills for less than 200,000 VND for 3 people

(Dan Tri) - A meal with enough salty dishes, soup, stir-fry... is less than 200,000 VND. Ms. Linh said that many women living in France or European countries almost do not believe the prices she gives.

Living in Toulouse, Southern France, Ms. Do Thuy Linh always maintains cooking Vietnamese meals for the whole family. In an article posted on a cooking group, Ms. Linh shared a series of Vietnamese meals with many delicious and beautiful dishes at "very Vietnamese" prices. "These are meals I cooked for 2-3 people with a grocery budget of about 200,000 VND. Please take a look and give your opinion on whether the cost of food in Vietnam and Europe is much different," Ms. Linh shared.

The meal included bamboo shoot bone soup, basil-leaf fried eggs, garlic-stir-fried chayote shoots, lemongrass-chili-fried chicken, sweet apricots, and cherry tomatoes, costing 148,000 VND. In this menu, Ms. Linh received eggs from an acquaintance.

Under the article, many people praised the Vietnamese mother for her skillful hands and ability to balance costs to cook delicious and cheap meals in expensive Europe. "If you can cook such a delicious meal with 150,000-200,000 VND, the cost is not much different from Vietnam," said Do Phuong. A Vietnamese woman living in the UK shared: "Food there is so cheap. In the UK, I bought a pack of water spinach (just a handful) for about 115,000 VND." Some Vietnamese compatriots in France said that food in the area where Ms. Linh lives is cheaper than where they live. If they want to cook a similar meal, they have to spend more money. Many people were surprised that even though she lives in France, Ms. Linh still has rustic dishes such as shrimp, tofu, roasted peanuts, spices such as fermented rice, shrimp paste, etc.

The 148,000 VND meal includes water spinach, dried mussels sent from Vietnam, boiled pork, pickled eggplant, and grapefruit for dessert.

Ms. Linh said that her family has 5 members, including her husband's parents, her husband and her son. Ms. Linh's husband is French-Vietnamese, and her husband's parents are also Vietnamese. Having lived abroad for a long time, the family members often eat European dishes. To balance the preferences of all members, during the week, Ms. Linh will cook European and Asian dishes alternately. "Every day, my mother-in-law and I will cook together, usually whoever presides over the meal that day will be the main chef. Every day I cook Vietnamese food, I am very excited because I am "addicted" to Vietnamese food," Ms. Linh said.

Linh often visits the Asian market to buy ingredients to cook Vietnamese dishes. However, finding enough ingredients to cook Vietnamese meals in faraway France is sometimes "a lot of work". According to Linh, Vietnamese vegetables are very rare in supermarkets, and Asian markets are far away, an hour's drive away. Many times she thinks of Vietnamese dishes but cannot make them. "Once I wanted to cook sour fish soup, there was fish, tomatoes, and pineapple, but I was missing some Vietnamese coriander. Fish soup without Vietnamese coriander would not be complete, so I had to "hold on" to it," Linh said with a smile. The area where she lives has a number of markets run by Vietnamese and Asians, so she usually goes to the market once a week to buy ingredients. In addition, every time an acquaintance from Vietnam comes to France, Linh often asks her to buy more dried foods to store in the house for later use. "My house is like a mini Vietnamese supermarket in the house, I buy a lot of the items I use often and preserve them carefully. "I grow the batch myself, use jarred eggplant, and buy handmade tofu from Vietnamese people," the Vietnamese woman shared. When sharing the article online, Ms. Linh received many comments from Vietnamese housewives or Vietnamese people living in Europe. She said: "I received many comments asking why the food in my place is so "cheap". Many other women in France or other European countries almost do not believe the prices I give."

A meal worth over 200,000 VND includes pork belly (49,000 VND), boiled water spinach (40,000 VND), tofu marinated with scallion oil (nearly 60,000 VND), 6 lychees (nearly 70,000 VND) and other spices...

To answer this question, Ms. Linh said that she always follows the information pages and advertisements of large supermarkets. These supermarkets often have promotions on all kinds of products, including essential foods such as meat and fish. These are all fresh foods, not foods that are about to expire, so she feels secure buying them to cook for the whole family. At home, Ms. Linh bought an additional freezer to store food for convenience in daily cooking and to save on grocery shopping costs. "Pig belly is usually 6 Euros (160,000 VND)/1kg, but when bought on sale, it is only 2-3 Euros (55,000-80,000 VND)/1kg. Lean shoulder meat is normally 245,000 VND/kg but sometimes it is discounted up to 50%," Ms. Linh shared.

Although she has lived in France for 5 years, Linh always maintains meals with a strong Vietnamese flavor. According to Yen, a fellow Vietnamese living in the same area as Linh, the price Linh shares is completely realistic. Pork when on sale is only about 3 Euro/1kg, divided into small portions for later use. Linh said that thanks to having a ready source of food at home, she almost never has to worry about "what to eat today". When she is out of ideas, she will go online to groups, refer to other people's recipes to be able to create a menu for her family.

Photo: Character provided

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Source: https://dantri.com.vn/doi-song/chau-au-dat-do-me-viet-tro-tai-nau-com-chua-den-200000-dong-cho-3-nguoi-20240628170150666.htm