How I Eat Out on $1 in Singapore

Eating Out
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Written by Liz

Just your regular 27-year-old, queer, super-introverted, FIRE-chasing, frugal Singaporean, who lives a pretty good life while earning only a modest salary, but still plans to retire at age 40 with $1,000,000. Click here to read more

October 25, 2020

Is it possible to eat out in Singapore for just $1?

With a few awesome money hacks, it is entirely possible.

Today, I’ll be sharing with you my favourite low-effort money hack for cheap eats in Singapore.

All you need is a credit card, and to download the Shopee app on your iPhone or Android phone. It’s also possible to use the desktop version of Shopee as well, though I prefer the mobile version.

$1 Food Deals by Shopee

Shopee regularly runs $1 food deals during their flash sales. These flash sales are usually held at 8am, 12pm, 6pm, 8pm and 12pm, though they do have other timings such as 7pm. 

If you happen to open the app at these timings, do check out their flash sales, and click on their “Food & Beverage” flash sale section. This will take you to all the top rated flash sales; usually, the $1 food deals will be right at the top. 

Here’s what it looks like:

Shopee Flash Deals for $1

While Shopee doesn’t have $1 food deals everyday, you might get lucky while checking the app.

Alternatively, you could find out when Shopee’s “Dining and Services Day” is. As you can see from the screenshot below, the next upcoming one is on 9 November. On these “Dining and Services Day”, in my personal opinion, $1 food sales are super common, and I’ve scored quite a few things on these days.

You can also look out for $1 food sales on popular shopping days, such as 10.10, 11.11, Black Friday, and more. 

11.11 Sales on Shopee

My $1 Food Sales Experience

Though I don’t always check Shopee for sales, I’ve personally scored quite a few awesome $1 deals this year. That’s why Shopee is my favourite low-effort food hack. It takes only about 5 seconds to check, and if there is a deal, it takes only another 10 seconds to make payment. Super fast, clean and easy. 

Jollibean Soy Bean and Pancakes for $1

$1 deal from Jollibean, which includes their famous soy milk and pancakes. Not bad for a few breakfasts or light lunches. I personally find their pancakes a little pricey if I have to pay full price, but their $1 deal was an absolute steal.

Jollibean Beancurd for $1

In addition to pancakes, I also managed to score $1 beancurd/soy pudding from Jollibean. I absolutely loved these puddings because they reminded me of Lao Ban beancurd. An absolute steal, and highly recommended even at full price. 

Sushi Deli Bento for $1

Here’s a $1 bento that I got from Sushi Deli, which is a concept branch opened by Jollibean. There’s plenty of vegetables, delicious fried chicken and Japanese rice.

Chewy Junior Donuts 3 for $1

Apologetically, this is a god-awful picture, because I was too hungry to put in any effort to take pictures at all. These are cream puffs from Chewy Junior; I got a set of 3 for just $1. Absolutely delightful. I went back for more even without the $1 deal.

LiHo Tea for $1

Here’s one of my girlfriend’s favourite deals – $1 Earl Grey Milk Tea from LiHo. While I usually never pay for drinks, this $1 flash deal is super worth it. I still have 3 more of these to redeem, and I usually stock up as many as I can during all of Shopee’s flash deals. 

Bubble Tea at Chun Yang

Chun Yang at Jewel Changi Airport was running a $1 promotion on their milk tea as well. My girlfriend didn’t like this though, so I didn’t buy more. But for $1, it’s definitely worth a shot.

Sashimi plates

One of my absolute favourite deals – $1 for 8 sashimi slices at Sakae Sushi. This picture shows 6 plates of 4 sashimi slices (24 in total), which set me back $3. An incredible steal. I’d love to stock up more on these, but they don’t have many outlets to redeem these. These were redeemed at Parkway Parade. 

Chulove Cafe $1 Churros

Another awful picture because I was too lazy to position the food before snapping the photo. Here’s a bowl of chocolate-covered churros, topped with ice cream and a can of coke. All for $1, at Chulove Cafe at VivoCity. 

Conclusion

The above shows only some of the $1 food deals I managed to score this year. I didn’t feature everything that I scored at $1, though I might do that in a separate post.

Hopefully the Shopee hack works for you if you’re looking to eat out on a very tight budget. 

As always, thank you for reading and supporting the blog. 

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2 Comments

  1. Budget Life List

    Those deals are amazing and the food looks delicious! I am very envious of the cheap sashimi!

    • Liz

      Thank you BuLL! The sashimi was wonderful 🙂