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Here are the numbers: Chilled pork fillets cost $16 per kg at the market, but frozen ones cost $8; chilled chicken wings go at $7 per kg, but just $4.60 frozen. Price- conscious as Singaporeans are, they have seemed slow to see the math.
Amid globally rising food prices, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pointed out last week that buying frozen food was a good way to cope.
Mr Jack Koh, head of the Meat Traders' Association, confirmed that frozen meats are up to 15 per cent cheaper to import as they are cheaper to produce and package; and since they are frozen, there is less of a rush to ship them.
Those savings can be passed on to the consumer, he said.
It was also ironical, PM Lee noted, that shoppers insist on buying chilled pork enough to last several days, only to freeze the lot since they do not go grocery shopping every day.
'So why not buy it pre-frozen, at half the price?' he exclaimed.
Doing just that has saved housewife Madam Chen Ah Kee a bundle.
The 60-year-old who cooks for her family of five buys frozen chicken and fish. She spends about $10 during each of her twice-weekly trips to the NTUC FairPrice in Ang Mo Kio, half of which goes to frozen fish fillets and chicken parts.
'I have eaten frozen food for 20 years and I don't see a difference in freshness or nutritional value,' she said, proudly waving her bill of $8.85 for meats.
Shoppers like accountant Iris Ho are unconvinced.
The 30-year-old, who also feeds a family of five, shops at an Ang Mo Kio wet market twice a week but shuns frozen fish because she believes frozen fish does not taste 'as good and sweet'.
But she pays the price: her grocery bill for the catch of the day and her other fresh buys hits $100 a week.
Taste aside, other shoppers shun frozen meat because they believe freezing leaches the nutritional value from foods, say supermarkets, wet markets and meat wholesalers.
Housewife Lim Ah Kim, 58, is uncomfortable about the difference in colour of thawed meat.
Dietitians say, however, that frozen meat is fine.
'Freezing the meat 'locks in' the minerals and nutrients, so it is as fresh as it was before it was frozen,' said Alexandra Hospital's chief dietitian Gladys Wong.
Frozen meats also keep longer. Beef, for instance, can be kept frozen for up to 12 months without spoiling.
Some people are already beginning to buy into that. Supermarkets are seeing growth in sales of frozen foods.
Main supermarket chains Giant, Cold Storage, NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong and Carrefour all logged at least 10 per cent more in sales last year.
Supermarkets are cashing in on the heightened interest by widening their frozen ranges to create more choice.
The problem though, is that wet markets, mostly in the heartland and generally favoured by the less well off, are still playing catch-up.
An ST check found not as wide an array of frozen foods there.
Tekka Market fish-monger Alex Lee said he brings in frozen fish only when fresh stocks cannot be found, and not many of his customers ask for frozen anyway.
But where demand is, supply will follow. Market stall-holders say they are prepared to switch if their customers do.
Poultry seller Mary Ong, 50, said: 'If people start asking for frozen chicken, we will definitely bring it in. After all, it's much cheaper for not just them, but for us too.'
