• Gqeberha spaza shops sell single teabags for 50 cents, sugar packets for R1, quarter cups of oil and single eggs.

• A customer says she buys a tomato, onion, rice and oil for under R15, enough to make one full meal.

Spaza shops in Gqeberha townships are helping struggling customers by selling everyday items in tiny portions.

In KwaZakhele, some shops sell a single teabag for 50 cents. A small packet of sugar costs R1. A quarter cup of cooking oil goes for R5. A single egg costs R3.

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Hassan owns a spaza shop on Daku Road in KwaZakhele. He says they started doing this after noticing how hard life has become for people.

"Many customers are struggling and don't have enough money to buy a whole packet of teabags," he said.

"So we make things easier for them by selling teabags loosely. We also sell sugar, salt, oil and rice in small amounts."

He says this is not new. "This has been happening for many years. I saw it when I first moved here in 2010."

One customer said she can make a full meal for under R15 using this system.

"You can buy a tomato, an onion, a small packet of rice and some oil," she said. "This is very helpful, especially now in January."

But not everyone is happy. Another shopper warned that some shopkeepers might be repackaging expired food and selling it without proper expiry dates.

"It's dangerous," he said. "Our people don't ask questions because they're desperate."

The latest Household Affordability Index shows why these small sales matter. It says low income families spend more than half their food budget on basic staples like maize meal, rice and bread.

When prices rise, families cannot stop buying these foods. Instead, they cut back on protein, fruit and vegetables, making hunger and poor nutrition more likely.