My brother offered to take me to Union Co-op a couple of days ago to avoid the crazy rush prior to the start of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting.

He surprised me when he said that he drove to three branches of Union Co-op to check them out before coming home to take me.

He said that the crowd was unbelievable. He went three times, gave up and finally decided to take me after 11pm so I could shop in peace and avoid the crowd. 

Surprisingly, when we landed there at 12.30am, the place was still full of shoppers and there was hardly any trolley available.

We were shopping with one trolley only, but I could see couples pushing two and even three trolleys.

I saw a woman pushing a trolley, which was about to throw up as it was filled to the top and she was finding it very difficult to push it. Her two housemaids were walking behind, pushing a trolley each that were almost in the same condition. 

All three trolleys were filled with foodstuffs only.

This made me think seriously. Who will eat all this food? And what on earth made her fill up all these trolleys with food to stock at home? I don’t remember Union Co-op announcing that it will close down during Ramadan.

The holy month of Ramadan is the month of patience, forgiveness and giving.

During this month, Muslims are supposed to feel the misery of the poor who don’t find food to eat. I don’t know when did this change and this month turned into a month of eating and feasting.

The other funny thing is the discount and special offers which many hypermarkets and co-ops offer.

This I believe is ridiculous. And the evidence for this is the huge shocking bill which one has to pay to the cashier.

Despite this, families complain about the high costs of foodstuff. I am 100 per cent sure that most of this food will end up in the garbage bin as many families tend to cook lots of food and there is hardly anybody to eat it all.

I don’t know why this happens every year. The cost of living is too high, and people must use common sense.

There is no need to cook 10 to 15 types of food for the Iftar table as nobody can eat that amount of food.

I have seen tables groaning under the weight of seven types of starters, five types of main courses, many types of sandwiches and breads, five types of deserts, four types of drinks, etc.

I practice what I preach – I have to.

Because my husband has ordered me to have only salad and soup for him for Iftar. My friends envy me.

But seriously, with a little bit of planning and organising, one can save huge amounts of money that is dumped everyday on wasted food.