25.02.2025 16:30
Istanbul, affected by the cold Siberian weather, experienced the coldest days of the year last week. The felt air temperature dropped to -7 degrees in the morning hours. Despite the freezing cold, the queues in front of the Meat and Milk Institution store in Beylikdüzü grew longer, influenced by the approach of Ramadan. Many retirees and numerous citizens took a number and joined the queue for a kilogram of minced meat.
The Meat and Milk Institution store located in Beylikdüzü, Istanbul, sells meat at about half the market price. Citizens wishing to shop at the store, where limited quantities are sold every day, start lining up in front of the store from the early hours of the morning to access affordable meat.
SOLD OUT BY NOON
Most citizens state that they come to buy minced meat and cubed meat sold in packages of about 1.5 kilograms, and these products are often sold out by noon.
Citizens who do not want to return empty-handed start waiting in front of the store, which opens at 08:00, as early as 05:00 despite the cold weather. Along with the queue in front of the store, disabled citizens and those accompanying them also form a separate line to buy meat.
"WE ARE BENDING OUR NECKS"
A citizen expressing that most of those in line are retirees said, "We are bending our necks, we are getting in line, we take it and go," while another stated that they came to shop for meat for Ramadan, saying, "We are retirees, how will we buy from the butcher?"