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| This was my favorite restaurant in Penang. |
Penang is a great place for food. Some say it is the food capital of Malaysia. With Malay, Chinese, Indian, Nyonya, Japanese, and Thai food to name a few common options. And even though the cost of living is higher than other parts of Southeast Asia the food is still very affordable. It is also a good location for vegetarians like me.
Eating Out vs Cooking At Home
I've heard the argument many times from locals and expats in Asia that eating out is cheaper than cooking at home. I've never believed that. If that were really true, then why would so many people keep a food business if they lose money on each sale. They might be able to find some discounts on their ingredients if they buy in bulk, but they still need to factor in other business expenses, equipment cost, and labor costs. And I'm just thinking about street vendors here, where they wouldn't have rents (I think) and multiple employees. No, it doesn't add up.
On the other hand, if you live in Thailand for example, and live in one of the many studios that don't have a kitchen, then the amount you save on the rent may be more than the cost of eating out. Possibly. So the restaurant people may win that one, in some cases. And to be honest, eating out is much more of an experience, especially when you're in another country.
Eating Out
So while I don't believe that eating out is cheaper than cooking at home it is certainly a lot cheaper to eat out in Penang than anywhere back in the States. It's not even that much more than it costed me to cook at home in the States. And you know how cheap that was. But even though it is more expensive, and I do have a kitchen I could use, I usually eat most of my meals out. I eat most of my meals outside in sit-down restaurants. I can go to a Chinese vegetarian restaurant where I can choose what I want cafeteria-style and expect to pay between one and two US dollars (RM3 - RM6). An Indian banana leaf meal will cost somewhere in the upper end of that range. A bowl of noodles like curry mee costs RM3 or less. A roti canai will cost around RM1 per plain roti.
There aren't too many street vendors that sell vegetarian food, though there are some vendors that have something suitable. Although, street vendors are a good place to get a drink like a lime, coconut, soy milk, or sugar cane drink. I wouldn't actually recommend doing that often though, because your drink will probably come in a plastic bag with a straw which is wasteful (but fun if you've never tried!). Some vendors will have glasses that can be reused. You'll also be getting a lot of sugar in these places.
For vegetarians who don't know, www.happycow.net is a great resource for finding vegetarian food options in cities all over the world.
Cooking At Home
Using typical ERE skills I think someone who wanted to mostly cook at home could get by on a very small budget. In my case, the first thing I needed to do when I started to grocery shop here was to figure out the conversion for dollars per pound to ringgits per kilogram. I don't see any point in spending more on groceries than I did back in the States, so I look to keep things under one dollar per pound or my simple conversion of RM6/kg. But, that's the absolute top I won't go over (theoretically), if there is some super fancy tropical fruit I want to try or something. My more desirable price range is RM3/kg ($.50 per pound), which I wanted to try to see how realistic it is.
The next question is whether to shop in the "wet markets" or go to big chain grocery stores. Wet markets should be the cheapest place to buy produce, but it's not always the case. In Penang you often see wet market vendors place cardboard signs next to their produce listing the price/weight or price/piece they would like to sell their produce. I suppose bargaining is allowed (expected?) in these venues if you are willing and able. The best strategy I have in this situation is to find something with an acceptable price, pick what you want, learn the final price and round down as an offer. I don't like bargaining though. This website is a good resource for finding where the wet markets are in Penang (as well as, almost anything you could possibly want to know about the island).
If you go to discount grocers, then you might be able to find good prices on produce that beat the wet market prices. This is also where you would want to buy things like rice or oatmeal or noodles. I think my favorite grocery store is Mydin in BJ Kompleks. They have great prices and good quality produce. Another discount option would be Tesco which is an international chain, but their produce isn't the best.
The one meal I definitely eat at home is breakfast. I found oatmeal with fruit to be the best option, just like back in the States. At least at this time of year, papaya is the cheapest fruit to buy. You can buy it for RM3/kg or less even at regular grocery stores. You can find oatmeal that costs about one dollar per pound at the discount grocery stores. It's a nice breakfast and I know that at least one of my daily meals can be considered healthy.
