LPG price up Tk 475 in two months, dishes disappearing from middle-class kitchens in the capital
There was a time when Friday lunch in the capital's middle-class families featured five or six dishes — fish, meat, lentils, vegetables and mashed items. Now those same families are cooking just one or two dishes. Some days only lentils accompany fish, other days an egg curry or mashed potato has to serve for both lunch and dinner. Afternoon snacks, entertaining guests and extra weekend arrangements have also declined.
Alongside rising prices of daily essentials, the cost of cooking fuel LPG has risen too. As a result, household expenses have grown a lot even though incomes have not. To balance the monthly account, the number of dishes in middle-class kitchens is falling, and long-standing eating habits are changing.
Talking to residents of the capital's Mohammadpur, New Market, Rayerbazar and Jigatala areas on Friday morning (6 November) revealed this picture of change. Housewives in several middle-class families in these areas said that where daily meals once had two to four dishes, they now have to limit themselves to one or two to cut costs. Days of cooking fish and meat have decreased, and in many cases one cooking session has to serve two meals. Even children's snacks and favourite foods for family members have had to be cut.
According to the latest price adjustment by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), from 2 November this year the price of a 12-kg LPG cylinder has been set at Tk 2,060. Earlier, on 4 October, the price was Tk 1,837 — a rise of Tk 223 in one month. The set price in September was Tk 1,585. In all, the price of a 12-kg cylinder has risen by Tk 475 in two months.
Meanwhile, cylinders are not available everywhere even at the government-set price. Because of supply shortages and higher prices, many buyers have to pay Tk 400 to 500 more than the set price. As a result, a 12-kg cylinder costs Tk 2,400 to 2,500 in some places. This has created extra pressure even on families that use one cylinder a month.
Md Russell Ahmed, an employee of a private organisation, lives in a rented home in Mohammadpur with his wife and two children — a four-member family. He said that after meeting house rent, children's education, medical care and market costs, very little money remains at the end of the month. Fish and meat used to be cooked at least two days a week, with extra arrangements on Fridays, but that picture has now changed. He said income is the same as before, yet costs have risen in every sector; extra money now has to be kept just to buy a cylinder, leaving little option but to cut spending on food.
Nadia Akter Sharmin, who came to Mohammadpur's Town Hall Market with her husband, said she used to prepare lentils, vegetables and mashed items alongside fish or meat. Now she does not cook so many dishes together. If fish is cooked, vegetables are dropped that day; if meat is cooked, lentils or another dish is left out. Sometimes the next meal has to be served with the previous day's curry. Afternoon snack arrangements have also declined, because cooking more dishes runs the gas out before the month ends.
Sabnira Akter, a housewife in the Rayerbazar area, said she used to try to keep variety in meals with fish, meat, eggs and vegetables. Now meat is cooked on a special day or at the weekend. The amount of fish has also fallen. Reliance on eggs, mashed potato, lentils and seasonal vegetables has grown, and she tries to cook more at once to save gas. She said the nutrition and preferences of the children have to be kept in mind; with everything more expensive, it is not possible to give them their preferred food every day, and towards the end of the month the cooking list gets even smaller.
Jafar Molla, a small trader living in Jigatala, said his is a four-member family with his wife, one child and elderly mother, and business income is not the same every day. His wife used to plan several days' food buying fish, chicken and vegetables from the market; now the amount of shopping has been reduced. His wife Rubaiya Begum said that now some days meals end with only lentils and vegetables, other days with an egg curry or a thin fish curry. When meat is cooked, a little extra is kept so it can serve two meals. The extra dishes once cooked when guests came are no longer possible.
Rafi, a student who lives in a mess in Jigatala and studies at a university, said four of them rent a room and food is cooked through a domestic worker. They have to manage with the money sent from home. The rise in the price of gas cylinders has put huge pressure on them.
The higher LPG price has also affected the cylinder sales market. Sellers in different areas of the capital say buyers are no longer purchasing cylinders as readily as before. Nazim Uddin, an LPG cylinder seller in the New Market area, said cylinders are not selling in the quantity they used to; buyers often change their decision after hearing the price, and some request cylinders on credit. Mizanur Rahman, another seller in the same market, said buyers are calculating more than before; some wait a few days instead of buying a cylinder at once, while others look for electric stoves or alternatives for cheaper cooking, although not every family can buy or use an alternative stove.
SM Nazer Hossain, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said Bangladesh's LPG market is almost entirely dependent on the private sector. About one crore consumers in the country use LPG, about 80 percent of it for household cooking. So instability in LPG prices and supply directly affects a huge number of families. He said the LPG price rise is no longer only an energy-sector problem; it is also affecting the lifestyle and eating habits of the middle class. For families on limited incomes, even a few hundred taka of extra expense creates big pressure, and to cope with that pressure many families are having to cut the number of dishes cooked and trim their food list.
