5 Easy Steps to Overcome the Circuit Breaker Period in Singapore When It Comes to Buying Food
With the new circuit breaker measures going live on 07 April 2020, people will no longer be allowed to dine-in at all food and beverage (F&B) outlets in Singapore. Even though F&B outlets (including hawker centres) will be allowed to continue operations during the circuit breaker period (from 07 April 2020 to 04 May 2020) as they are a part of essential services, only takeaway options will be offered. Here are five easy steps for you to overcome this period, save some money, earn more miles and help the businesses while you are at it.
1. Food Delivery Apps - Using the Right Credit Card, Promo Codes and Apps for Cashback
Regardless of whether you are taking-away food or ordering-in, you will still be able to use your credit cards for payment. If you are thinking about ordering in, the three main food delivery apps that you can consider in Singapore are foodpanda, GrabFood and Deliveroo. Using my foodpanda referral link gives you S$10 off your next meal if you are a new user. This is also my favourite food delivery app personally since it you can typically double-dip on a free delivery offer (that some restaurants offer) as well as other promotions that banks may run. - check out SGCODE on Telegram for the latest promo codes that you can use on your orders (minimum spend may apply). Additionally, foodpanda is also on ShopBack so make sure you click through via that platform to earn some extra cashback along the way.
Regardless of which food delivery app you end up using, the DBS Woman’s World Card, Citi Rewards Card and the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card will give you 4 miles per dollar on all these online spend - there are also promo codes that you will be able to utilise if you look up that Telegram group that I have shared in the paragraph above. If you have been successful at getting 4 miles per dollar on your GrabPay Card top-up, you will also be able to use this card online to get 4 miles per dollar (earned when you top-up your GrabPay wallet balance) and up to 4 GrabRewards Points per dollar on these transactions.
Photo Credit: foodpanda
2. Takeaway Food - Using the Right Credit Card, Deals and Apps for Cashback
While you may be advised to stay home at all times, getting some fresh air while on the way to purchase some food from nearby restaurants and shops may be a good idea. Do note that some food delivery apps (including foodpanda and GrabFood) have started offering a discount to self pick-up orders. For instance, foodpanda is offering up to 20% discount for self pick-up orders across some of the restaurants and stalls (located in coffee shops). This may also be a good alternative since it allows you to tap into the strategy described in 1A above despite having to pick up the order personally.
However, if you are visiting a physical F&B outlet without pre-ordering, you may wish to consider checking out some of the ShopBack GO supersized cashback bonuses that are currently being offered. Using one of your ShopBackGO-linked credit cards will unlock additional cashback across all participating merchants (this cashback is on top of the points or cashback that your credit card earns). Additionally, if you do have a Burpple Beyond membership, you may be able to use your 1-for-1 deals across participating F&B outlets during this time (Burpple should provide an update tomorrow regarding this). Planning to visit a ShopBack GO merchant? There is now a 'Takeaway' filter for you to easily identify which restaurants offer a takeaway option during this period. If the restaurants do support contactless transactions, the best credit card you can use is probably the UOB Preferred Platinum Visa Card which gives you 20 miles for every S$5 spent (4 miles per dollar) - link it to ShopBack GO to earn additional cashback on top of your miles!
Visiting a hawker centre to buy food? Be sure to check whether you can use GrabPay or Amex Pay (since there is currently a S$1 back offer on American Express) at these outlets. If you wish to be updated on the latest American Express offers in Singapore or simply want to be notified on the best deals, follow The Shutterwhale on Telegram and these will be delivered to your mobile devices in a timely fashion, at no cost to you.
3. Support Smaller Businesses and Hawkers, If You Can
While it may be convenient to simply open up your food delivery app or walk down to the nearest restaurant to get food, it may also be a good idea to consider supporting the smaller businesses as well as hawker stalls. There is a Facebook Group (Hawkers FNB Food Delivery /Pick Up) that has been created (with approximately 73,000 members at the time of writing) to help the hawkers get their promotions out - many of them are also offering delivery services so make sure you look through these to see if there are any that may be applicable to you. Currently, the information is rather fragmented and disorganised but do keep in mind that all these hawkers have been thrown into this situation (and many of them do not have a background in social media) so do try to help them out as much as you can (even if it means forgoing miles and/or cashback!).
4. Try to Go Green - Bring Your Own Containers
Just because we have to takeaway more meals now does not mean you should not bother saving the environment. As much as possible, try to bring your own containers when taking-away food from a restaurant or the hawker centre. This reduces some costs for the operators and it contributes to a greener environment. As you can imagine, some hawkers may run out single-use plastic containers (which we should try to avoid, as much as possible) due to a surge in takeaway demand - try to help as much as you can, even if it causes a little inconvenience for you. While you can choose to forego plastic cutleries when getting food delivered to you, it is obviously a lot 'greener' for you to simply pick-up your own meals during this time, if possible.
5. Help a Friend (or even a Stranger) Out
“It will be a long fight. But if any country can see this through, it is Singapore. We have the resources. We have the determination. We are united. By helping one another through this, we will prevail, and emerge stronger.”
The upcoming circuit breaker period in Singapore will no doubt be a challenging time for everyone - it will affect businesses and livelihoods of people, so as much as possible, we should come together as one and try to help those who are in need. If you live in an apartment and you know someone who lives alone, why not gather up some courage (dutch courage is acceptable too) and ask whether he or she needs some help in getting food. Want to help out a little more? Check out Secondmeal to buy a meal for someone in need - while S$3.50 may not be a lot for most of us, it can certainly go a long way for someone who is currently struggling through this period.
Most importantly, do remember to spend time with yourself and focus on both your physical and mental health during this period (you'd be surprised at what exercising regularly can do for you!). Remember to log those workouts on your AIA Vitality and/or your Healthy 365 app to convert all those steps and MVPA points into grocery vouchers which you can then use to treat yourself to something nice. Finally, remember what the Prime Minister of Singapore has mentioned last week and stay healthy everyone!
As widely speculated, Hong Kong has just announced that it will end all mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals from 26 September, Monday. This is a change from the current 3 days of hotel quarantine required for international tourists.