Fear, apprehension

Every time we set out to buy some food stuff we become apprehensive and fearful. We could never accurately anticipate what sort of prices await us. We are afraid that what we carry in our wallet would not even suffice for the basic things we need in our household. Now comes the rising cost of oil from foreign suppliers. Government spokespersons claim we have “ample supply” at presumably the old price, which should translate to stable or old rates. The private sector, however, concedes there will be an inevitable hike in costs inspite of the assurance of sufficient stocks. We would like our public servants to give this much thought, as well as do strict monitoring, especially with regard to food sellers who would say “stable prices are found only in the papers” and their old supply has been exhausted. The poor consumer seems to always be on the losing end.

We had to add another P20 to an LPG tank, which jumped from P550 to P650 more than a month ago) to P670, the latest increase, in December. Eggs, medium ones, are sold at more than P5 each. A popular brand of loaf bread  now goes for P52 against its former price of P49. Onions come at nearly P15 per, large size. At this point, we are really afraid to check prices of medicine, which could shock us into having a heart attack!

Now we need to go to the Sta Cruz-Quiapo area and see what progress the Manila Mayor has achieved with regard to clearing the sidewalks of vendors. They need to be housed in decent markets or encouraged to go inside and peddle their wares where they can be protected from the elements and deadly bacteria. That would prevent them from going back to the streets. Will give you feedback as soon as we accomplish this mission.

We often find something unique when we go to South Supermarket on Filinvest avenue, Muntinlupa. This time, in the absence of our regularly preferred big-size dressed chicken, we got Avipal Halal, a frozen import from Brazil at P119.95 a kilo, certainly priced less than locally raised  free-range chicken. Our kitchen assistant noticed how clean it was, not slimy at all. Rightly so, because being halal, it had passed through rigid Islamic inspection. South Supermarket is also where one can find the beef tendon we Filipinos love to add to our nilagang karne. A pack costs P75.35, enough to add to about two kilos of boneless kenchi (P250 a kilo). We got pork lomo at P225 a kilo. As for seafood, they had fresh apahap (seabass) for over P300 a kilo. We settled for one piece, large enough for six, at P214.20.

From the chicken station in another supermarket, we got six chicken patties. We realize this is a budget item, but they are too thin – nearly cardboard thin. When we were going to fry them, we could hardly lift them from their paper base. This makes them curl up in the process of cooking and therefore one gets an unevenly cooked burger. They taste good, however. We suggest the producers make them thicker and add a few pesos to the price.

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