Easter thoughts

Happy Easter to all! We should be happy because we have the Resurrection, a season that renews our faith. Yet there is everyday living that we have to reckon with. The homemakers, particularly, have the eternal task of seeking value for their money when taking care of their family's needs. With cost of prime commodities escalating, we suggest a review of what to do, where to go, and how to stick to a budget while still getting reasonable quality. 

We are creatures of habit – we go to the same food outlets, buy familiar brands, cook and serve the same food. We noticed that by sticking to our usual brands, our budget has ballooned. This could have been avoided if we changed our buying habits. Here are our new shopping principles:

Try and stay away from popular brands. Take chicken, for example. The more popular label has been selling for more than P120 a kilo. Another was tagged at P126. On our latest grocery visit, the house brand of a hypermart was P109 a kilo. We got a couple of birds and used them for our adobo. The brood did not notice any difference in taste and smell, and we saved money.

About three brands of bread are offering packs of two at discounted prices. Look them up. In some cases, the loaves vary in size.

Savings can also be made when buying facial tissue, but you must examine the labels carefully – do they differ in price because one contains less? Let’s all be conscious of cost to stretch our peso.

We had lunch with Chit, Reena, Jeanne and Sau who are fanatically dedicated to a sustainable lifestyle. They enlightened us on what the word ‘organic’ means. As with others, we initially had the impression that to go organic is to spend more. But, if one would equate it with good health and wellness, the additional centavo or peso would be well worth it. Our friend Chit defines organic as that which is not produced with chemicals or pesticides.

It was at Le Bistro Vert in Makati that Chef Sau presented us with an array of flavorful food done with fresh, natural ingredients. He started us with tawilis salad, a perfect blend of greens with very light dressing, topped with tawilis from Taal, Batangas. We had a “sandwich” made of two pieces of grilled sole, each the size of sandwich bread, with burong dalag as filling and pechay as top garnish. Truly heavenly. Then two pasta dishes, expertly fork-rolled by Reena. One had aligue sauce with grilled prawns and the other a mushroom oriental pasta with light creamy sauce, drizzled with truffle oil. Excellent flavors. For dessert, we had calamansi cheesecake and coffee with beans directly from farmers, a cause they are espousing to protect and provide livelihood.

There are two new sections at Shopwise. At the end of the fresh meat section is a counter that serves pre-seasoned products. They have about ten types of longganisa. Beef is at P190 a kilo. They have whole roast chicken at P124.75; fresh burgers at P180; pork belly for grilling, P44.09 for 100 grams; lumpiang shanghai mix (either pork of beef); and Aussie fresh beef burger at P25.75 for 100 grams. We find tilapia comparatively cheap at P83 a kilo. Squid still commands a high price at P249 a kilo, while big prawns are at P750 and the smaller ones are at P399. They occasionally have biya and kitang, P170 and P210 a kilo, respectively. Biya is normally fried and is also good cooked in coconut cream. We think kitang is the best for sarciado.  

Across the bakery, another new section in Shopwise is the salad bar and kakanin selection. A mix of fresh local fruits is available in two sizes for P35 and P49 a cup. Other salads include potato, Russian, macaroni, buco pandan. Puto, bico and bibingka are the kakanins, from P27 to P61 each.

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at the Alabang Town Center is our favorite stop when waiting for stores to open. Their Viennese blend (P83 a small cup) is one of the strongest among those available. Their cakes (from P115 a slice) look very tempting. The muffins are P65 per. Considering we were there on the first hour of operation, we tolerated the service that was rather slow but gracious.

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