pune rajmarice cholechappati potato curry soyabean curry and chicken curry undri resident atulya kasbekar recounted the meals that he and his wife have had this past weekask him why vegetables are missing from the list and he says i just cannot afford vegetables strange as it may sound buying vegetables destabilises my domestic budget i dont understand why everyone is just talking about high tomato prices when almost all vegetables cost almost the samewe have a schoolgoing son we buy small quantities of vegetables only for him it has been a long time since my wife and i have had a proper green vegetable meal kasbekar who works in a small private firm addedkasbekars are not unique many households have drastically decreased or stopped the consumption of many vegetables because of the soaring prices while tomatoes completely disappeared from most meals green vegetables too have lost favour they have been replaced by pulses grams and even nonvegetarian itemswhen i checked last week both brinjal and ladies finger were selling for rs 90 per kg a kilo of cluster beans was priced at rs 120 if i buy even a kg each of four or five vegetables as i used to do earlier i will end up spending almost rs 500 my family is big apart from my wife and two children i also have my mother and elder sister with me one kilogram of any vegetable doesnt even last a full week we did calculations and realized that we would be spending a huge sum on vegetables alone therefore i am now buying just half a kilo of a few vegetables for my children and mother while the rest of us have stopped consumption totally dhayari resident sundar parge said and added that their diet now comprises anything with potatoes lentils eggs or chicken at timesvinod kumar giri who lives with his family near the nda gate said it helps that chicken can be bought in small quantities there are several applications through which you can now order meat in any quantity you want i do ensure that my son eats vegetables but my wife and i have chicken kidney beans pulses etc fresh tomatoes have been replaced by readymade puree giri who works in a shop saidteja ram a vegetable vendor in kondhwa told toi that peoples buying pattern has changed i have customers who used to buy 78 varieties of vegetables in one go many used to buy large quantities now the same customers are ordering small quantities of one or two vegetables some customers are buying just three to five tomatoes prices of all vegetables are high and they are expected to remain that way for some time ram said