Apocalypse, Singapore-Style: One Day Without 🥛 Milk and 🍳 Eggs
My son studies at a local school, and in February 2025 I received an announcement: on February 17, as part of Total Defence Day and Exercise SG Ready 2025, students would experience a food disruption simulation.
The wider national exercise involved more than 800 organisations and many kinds of preparedness activity. The official factsheet says schools could simulate food or water disruptions resulting from a prolonged power outage. The eggs-and-dairy menu was our school’s version of it.
Sounds intense, right? Are they going to ration supplies? Introduce a survival menu? Teach kids how to grow their own food?
Not quite.
For one day, the school canteen will not serve eggs or dairy.
Yes, just for one day.
Now, I get it — Singapore is a country that depends heavily on food imports, and disruptions due to climate change, geopolitical tensions, and trade restrictions are a real concern. But if skipping omelets and milkshakes for a single day is considered survival training, what happens in a real crisis? Underground black markets for condensed milk? Secret butter exchanges?
I can already picture the classroom discussions that will follow:
“I never thought I’d live through something like this…”
“I used to take cheese for granted…”
“Now I truly understand the meaning of sacrifice…”
And to make this experience truly meaningful, parents are encouraged to discuss it with their children. I can’t wait for this conversation:
– Son, how did you manage?
– It was tough, Dad… I had to choose potatoes instead of scrambled eggs. We must stay strong.
I admire Singapore’s love of planning and preparedness. My joke is only about the gentle way this particular school exercise entered our family life: an apocalypse, Singapore-style, where the immediate challenge was a morning without a cappuccino.
What’s next? “Electricity outage drill: surviving two whole hours without Wi-Fi”? Or maybe “How to handle a Grab surge-pricing crisis”?