柴米油鹽醬醋茶

1. • firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea

     lit.

2. • life's daily necessities

     fig.

Character by character

• 柴(chái)surname Chai
• 米(mǐ)surname Mi
• 油(yóu)oil
• 鹽(yán)salt
• 醬(jiàng)thick paste of fermented soybean
• 醋(cù)vinegar
• 茶(chá)tea