Thrifty mother’s extreme frugal cooking raises concerns among netizens

A TikToker from Vietnam gained attention with her frugal cooking methods on social media after it was brought to netizens’ attention she spends between 7 and 22 baht per family meal. Netizens criticised the Vietnamese mother’s approach, concerned about the potential health impacts on her children.

A Vietnamese TikToker, who currently has around 250,000 followers, garnered attention after posting budget cooking videos showing meals costing just 7-22 baht. Despite the evident thriftiness, several netizens expressed that her recipes often made them want to “cry” due to the extreme frugality, Sanook reported.

In one video, she demonstrated how to make a meal with a budget of 8 baht using small shrimps and four small leftover meat pieces from the previous day. Surprisingly, she also served plain filtered water as a soup, instead of traditional soups or broths. Her food preparation methods also received scrutiny, with many questioning her use of raw ingredients purchased from local markets, such as buying pig snouts for 8 baht or watercress for 10 baht.

Additionally, she has been seen recycling cooking oil and making a soup from leftover water by adding it to the oil, claiming it was normal to eat leftover food on one’s plate. Once, she bought a small house sparrow for her child to eat, leaving some people wondering how it could suffice as a meal. Several commenters also cautioned that her extreme budget meals could cause detrimental effects on her children’s health due to poor nutrition and lack of hygiene.

Despite the objections to her frugal cooking lifestyle and the way she manages her family’s meals, the TikToker remains convinced that her actions are justified. In one video, she stated…

“There are many people who don’t know how to save money. They don’t know how to save today; they will suffer tomorrow.”