Ramadan shoppers flocked to the supermarkets today to secure last-minute items before the first day of Ramadan.
Families scanned the aisles across Lulu Supermarket, piling up their trolleys with Ramadan essentials.
While keeping her son, 4, secured in her trolley's child seat, Shahed Mardini rushed from one section to another collecting bottles of cooking oil, bananas, tissue boxes and cans of long-life milk.
"We consume a lot of oil in Ramadan because we fry sambousa (Middle Eastern savoury pastries) every day," she said, pointing at a three-and-a-half-litre bottle she had just purchased.
“I buy three of these three over the course of the month.”
While her family is small – Ms Mardini, her husband and son – she hosts four or five iftar gatherings at her house each year.
“We also use a lot of milk for desserts,” said the homemaker, 27, from Syria.
Egyptian budget analyst Kareem Al Deeb, 42, had a trolley piled with food – it was his third visit today.
“I keep remembering things I need to buy,” he said.
"My wife also keeps remembering things she needs for the kunafa (a Levantine cheese and pastry dessert). In Ramadan, dessert is the most important thing for me."
He is looking forward to eating goulash (an Egyptian pastry stuffed with meat) on the first day of Ramadan.
He said that he tends to spend 25 per cent more on grocery shopping during Ramadan than he usually would.
“I am suffering. I keep exploiting my budget – each trip to the supermarket I spend a minimum of DH250."
His household is usually buzzing with visitors for iftar, especially on the weekends.
“Ramadan here is very nice. I like it more than in any other country. The only place I would rather spend Ramadan would be Makkah, of course.”
He said he enjoys the religious functions held by the government – it has been traditional to host dozens of scholars from around the Muslim for majlis events since the days of Sheikh Zayed.
Mr Al Deeb is also keen to this year make Ramadan “attractive” to his four-year-old son.
"I will go now to buy a famous (Ramadan lamp) for him," he said.
Rahmat Putra and his family, from Indonesia, had a trolley that was almost full at just before 5pm, but were long from being done.
“We arrived at 3.15pm after the kids finished school, and I think we still need another hour,” said the 38-year-old oil and gas employee.
While they have been far from home here in the UAE for the past three Ramadans, the family of six have prepare traditional Indonesian dishes for almost every iftar.
"A famous Ramadan dish back home is beef randang (a dry curry), we also have a sort of barbecue chicken with rice and spices, which we will be having tomorrow," said wife Fitria Dawe, 35.
The family tries to cut out sweets during Ramadan, but a box of kutsinta (steamed rice cakes) made its way in to their trolley nonetheless.
“This is from the Philippines, but it is similar to our sweets,” she said.
“I also prepare a traditional banana dessert during Ramadan for my kids, to motivate them to fast.”
