After taking a tour around the Sabo Yaba market, popularly known as Tejuosho. One can easily understand the reasons why staple foodstuffs have suddenly gone bunkers.

With five pieces of tomatoes going for as high as ₦500 the same can be said of red pepper apples and yams.

These foodstuffs are the basic necessities in many Nigerian homes.

Now is the time to start thinking about alternatives that also offer the same and even better.

Here are emergency alternatives to the current expensive foodstuffs in the markets.

Tomatoes Or sachet tomatoes

Arguably the most expensive of the vegetables now at the market. It’s almost impossible to make stew or soup in any Nigerian home without tomatoes.

What then can we do when it is going beyond the roof, and there is no hope at the moment? Here is an immediate and temporary alternative, the sachet tomato sells as low as ₦150 and ₦100 in some areas.

Two sachets mixed with another alternative that will be discussed below can get you going. This will not also reduce the quality of your taste and can also be stored till you need them again.

Fresh red pepper or dry pepper:

While discussing with a seller at Sabo, “A basket is almost ₦150,000 at the moment, how do we sell it, and at what rate, I might stop selling after this current one” she lamented.

How about dry pepper? lasts longer, can be stored and also gives the same taste and is not less in nutritional value.

With ₦100 you can get a tied dry pepper, with five hundred, you can get five, mix it with the sachet of tomato earlier discussed, and you already have a pot of stew.

Remember this is just a temporary alternative till things get back to normal.

Yam or potatoes:

Yam is one of the most important foodstuffs in the home. Currently, depending on the area, a tuber of yam sells for as much as ₦1500, going to ₦2000 With the same amount, you can get potatoes enough to serve a family of five.

A potato will give you the opportunity to cook the ones you need at the moment, unlike tubers of yam, which are best cooked instantly once you have peeled the skin.

Importantly, the nutritional value is not any different, as both are rich in fibre and are good sources of carbohydrates.

Apples or Watermelon:

Well, let us discuss fruit. An apple a day, they say, keeps the doctor away, but right now, as an average person, an apple a day can send you to the doctor.

One apple currently sells for ₦500, depending on how fresh it is and the person you are buying from.

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Four apples that are within the range of ₦2000 at the moment, the red and green colours.

But watermelon offers a good alternative, juicy and can go around. Watermelon can also be consumed with its seeds, according to research, indicating almost all of it is consumable.

Recall all the alternatives discussed are reliable in the interim, with the hope that things will get better. We can maintain a balanced diet, without having a headache. All we need to do is move with the tides.