Evening Feast

Come on, ma'am, let's treat ourselves tonight! Let's make a night of it tonight. What do you say?

If you want to, sure.

But there's nothing in the fridge, so go get something.

What should I get?

What do you want on the table?

I don't know, a plate of sauteed liver, maybe some fried potatoes on the side, and a salad would be enough.

Maybe a cold ayran, what more do I want!

Then go to the bazaar. 

* a kilo of veal liver, 

* A kilo of onions, 

* A kilo of potatoes, 

* A kilo of tomatoes, 

* A lettuce, 

* 360 grams of the usual tomato paste, 

* a liter of sunflower oil, 

* Usual buttermilk from one-liter bottles

Come here. 

And some bread!

Do you have salt and black pepper, spices?

We have them, but we're out of garlic, buy some garlic and we'll make a sauce with tomato paste.

If you want to have a delicious soup first, buy a packet of instant soup.

Don't forget the bread!

***

Yes, how much do you think it would cost to cook for two people at home for one evening?

Not much, just two plates of food. 

With soup and salad, of course!

***

I won't write down the recipe gram by gram now, but I guess I will cook at home for one evening with the order of my wife. Maybe some will be left for the next day.

What do you think? At current prices, how much do you think it would cost for such a home feast?

We don't count the salt and pepper, the stove, the electricity, the water we use while cooking or out of necessity, and if the house is rented, we don't include the rent or the rent fee. We don't include the washing of the dishes, the detergent, the price of crockery. We don't include communication costs, the cost of going to the market, the cost of the clothes we wear.

Just the cost of shopping in the market for a one-time meal!

***

Let's see what the bill will be.

First let's go to the grocery store to buy tomatoes, potatoes, onions and lettuce.

Tomatoes cost 25 lira 90 cents a kilo. 

Of course I don't know the market prices. 

I can only access online market prices here.

Potatoes cost 19 lira 90 cents a kilo.

Onion 12 lira 90 cents. 

Look, onions have gotten cheaper! Until yesterday it was up to 30 liras a kilo!

A bunch of spring onions costs 16 lira 90 kurus, but how many grams is this bunch? At most 300 grams, maybe even less.

Look, there are also pre-packaged onions labeled as organic. 

It says 600 grams, I guess that's the price per kilo, they have written 32 lira 90 kurus under the counter, because if it's a packaged onion, this price would be very expensive.

Anyway, I'll buy a standard onion, it says new product, one kilo, that's what the lady said, 12 lira 90 kurus.

What else is left?

Yes, we were going to buy lettuce. 

Actually, we should buy peppers too, black pepper, but it's very expensive, 31 lira 90 kurus.

And the wife didn't want any, maybe there were some left in the fridge for a salad. 

Curly lettuce is also expensive, 29 lira 90 kurus a bunch. How many grams is this bunch? 400 grams at most. That's 75 liras a kilo!

They haven't given up writing the prices 10 cents short. 

One gets confused when doing the math!

*** 

What's our bill, young man?

Let me see, uncle, a kilo of tomatoes is 26 liras, a kilo of potatoes is 20 liras, a kilo of onions is 13 liras, a bunch of lettuce is 30 liras, all together 89 liras, and I counted the bag in cents.

There are 400 liras in the wallet, I hope it will be enough for my purchases. I took out the wallet and gave him a hundred. 

Here is the change, this is 10 liras and this is 1 lira. Blessings, we'll wait again Mr. Uncle.

***

You pay 100 liras, it's gone, you're left with three cents as change. 

There's still the grocery store and the butcher.

I had to stop by one more place, but where was it, I've already forgotten.

***

Yes, we're at the store. 

Let's look at the list, what should we buy here?

Tomato paste, sunflower oil and buttermilk, and the lady said to buy some garlic, so I'll add that to the list before I forget.

The tomato paste we always buy is 34 lira 90 kurus, but there is a discount on 710 grams, should I buy the discounted one? This one costs 29 lira 90 kurus? Both more and cheaper?

Anyway, I'll stick to what the lady says, she must know something. Put the regular tomato paste in the basket, 34 lira 90 kurus.

The prices of sunflower oil have gone up so much. Anyway, a liter of oil costs 48 lira 50 kurus.

What's left?

We were going to buy buttermilk, and the liter of buttermilk we always buy is 19 lira 95 kurus.

I'll also buy some garlic. Two heads of garlic cost 9 liras 75 kurus for 39 liras per kilo.

*

Oh, I almost forgot, the missus said to bring some instant soup.

Where were the instant soups? 

Okay, I found it. 

Let's see what we have:

Ezogelin, cream of mushroom, lentil, cream of tomato, cream of chicken, wedding soup, chicken noodle, mother and daughter, tomato with chicken noodle, tripe, tarhana...

Where is my mother's tarhana soup or umaç soup? 

Nowadays they say to buy instant soup. The old days were really different.

Anyway, I decided that we would have highland soup for dinner today. The package costs 14 lira 50 kurus.

***

Let's go to the vault and see how much we can get out of here! Everything is really expensive!

Tomato paste 34 lira 90 kurus, sunflower oil 48 lira 50 kurus, ayran 19 lira 95 kurus, garlic 9 lira 75 kurus, soup 14 lira 50 kurus. 

It cost 127 lira 60 kurus, sir. Do you need a bag? 

Yes please, I'll take a bag.

25 cents for the bag, 127 lira 85 kurus in total.

Credit card or cash? 

Cash, my daughter, your credit card is already maxed out.

Excuse me, even 100 lira isn't enough, even if I add the change from the grocery store.

I'll have to change the huge 200 dollar bill!

I take out the wallet and hand him the 200.

Here you are, sir, your change and your shopping receipt, 50, 60, 70 liras, this is 2 liras and 15 cents. We'll wait again.

Next! 

***

Let's see how much the liver costs!

Now for the butcher. 

I had one more stop to make, but what do I need?  

Look, I didn't put anything else on the list.

I almost forgot the soup, I didn't put that on the list either, 

Luckily I thought of it at the last second.

***

Yes, we're at the butcher's.

Mr. Hamdi, hello, how are you?

Welcome Abi, what's up, did you win the lottery? You don't visit me often.

What lottery Mr. Hamdi, would we be like this if we had a little luck?

My wife and I thought we'd have a feast tonight.

So there's a feast tonight? How's my sister-in-law? I hope she's well.

She's doing alright, but she misses the kids. 

It's hard when we're all alone, of course, you miss the kids.

What should I give my brother? Minced meat, cutlets, cubes?

I'll buy a kilo of fresh liver, beef liver. We can't afford that.

Anyway, how much do you pay for liver now?

The price of liver is close to the price of minced meat, 240 liras. 

But you're my old customer, it'll be 220 for you. That's the price on arrival.

Look, Ahmet bought it from the market yesterday and paid 245 liras per kilo. 

There was also liver at 450 liras a kilo. What kind of liver is that? The market is terrible, they've raised everything again, prices won't stop here, they'll go up again soon.

Okay, okay, you arrange it for me from there, but let me see your wallet.

I tried to do the math on my own, I got 11 liras from the greengrocer, the cashier at the market gave me 72 liras 15 kurus in change, that's 83 liras 15 kurus. There is another 100 liras left.

You can get me 183 liras from there then, I didn't take any other money with me.

Okay brother, look, this piece weighs a little more than 800 grams, just give me the 100 liras in your wallet and the paper change you have, even 170 liras will be enough, you'll have some money left in your pocket.

Here's 170 liras worth of chips and liver. 

Should I give you a bag?

No, I don't need a bag, I'll put it in a grocery bag.

Thank you.

Goodbye, thank you again.

***

I was going to visit one more place, but these prices have left no head.

Look, 400 liras flew away and I was left with two small bags with three or five pieces of stuff in them.

And only three or five cents of change left in my pocket

Fortunately Mr. Hamdi is an understanding person, he took pity on me.

And he gave me the liver at a good price. If I had bought it from the market, they wouldn't have given me a discount.

***

You're here?

Give me the bags.

How is it, is the market too expensive?

Yes, everything is expensive, it looks like we'll have to rely on pasta again this month.

You said to buy one more thing, but I forgot to put it on the list, I couldn't remember.

Is there anything missing?

Let me see, this one has onions, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce.

This one has tomato paste, sunflower oil, buttermilk and you put the liver here. 

Look, you didn't forget the garlic. And there's soup. 

Why did you get highland soup this time?

I wish you had bought ezogelin, it would have been better with the liver.

Look, you forgot the bread, where's the bread?

Yes, I just remembered, I was going to buy something else. 

I told you not to forget!

Ask him if you put it on the list before you left the house.

Anyway, the remaining coins are enough to buy a loaf of bread. 

Luckily Hamdi the butcher gave me a good price for the liver, so I had enough money to buy bread.

I run to the bakery without taking off my clothes. 

The governor's office says 200 gram bread will be sold at 5 liras, but who is listening, the bakeries have already made the bread 8 liras, they are constantly reducing the weight, I swear there is no morality left in these bakeries. There is no one controlling them! Soon they will even make bread 10 liras.

Anyway, you prepare the table, I'll run to the bakery, I'm very hungry anyway, let's eat a little early today.

***

Yes, that's how it is, when you go shopping for a simple dinner, 400 liras, or even 500 liras if you buy a few more things. 

Maybe you can make one more meal with the leftovers, or if you have a guest, it will be enough for one more person.

But does it make a difference?

How can a person earning minimum wage live with these prices? Can you imagine?

What about pensioners? If dinner for two costs 400 liras, the month is 30 days.

Do you think the pensions of pensioners are enough? 

Is the minimum wage enough for a young family?

I am not even going into the prices in restaurants. This is the cost of a decent dinner prepared at home, a little above the standard.

We don't buy meat cutlets, and we don't have any alcoholic drinks with it.

Just a simple dinner with our national drink ayran.

***

With these prices and salaries, don't we have to rely on pasta and bread?

And then the minds don't work, you forget to even buy bread at home.

What can I say, God help us, I hope things will improve one day and people with low incomes will be able to get back on their feet a little bit.

Vacation? The average vacation time is down to 3 days, and that's the average for those who can.

Uncle Hasan, Aunt Ayşe, what are you doing on vacation? Sit down and eat your pasta and bread in peace. 

But don't forget to buy bread when you go to the bazaar, otherwise you will go hungry, I'm telling you!

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow