Well, doing the grocery is crazy these days. This is half a cabbage head for P95 and it's the size of my hand.
I have small hands. So that's not a lot of cabbage for that price.
Here are 4 small onions that fit in my hand. These cost almost P80. The secret of my delicious meals pa naman is lots of onion and garlic! They add that umami taste without the need for MSG. But now, kailangan i-ration ang bawang at sibuyas.
Yeah, being an entrepreneur in these times is not working out for me anymore, unlike in 2012-2017, when the economy was so strong and the country had huge money reserves under the Aquino administration that buoyed us up even when we had a change of government. But now we're drowning in debt again and will continue to be dragged down into the depths if the Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) gets approved.
The MWF is not a new concept. Many countries have also set up a sovereign wealth fund (SWF). It's a great way to preserve the transfer of a nation's wealth from one generation to the next and to stabilize macroeconomics. But the MWF bill is frighteningly not the same. According to Businessworld, here's just one reason of many:
Grabe, hindi pa nga resolved ang PhilHealth P15-billion corruption scandal under the Duterte administration, may nahanap na namang pagkakataon ang bagong gobyerno na nakawan tayo, this time using the pension funds, among others. Sana kilatisin talaga ng Senado ang bill na yan. But with pressure from the president himself, the bill speedily approved by Congress may be a law by next week.
Scary. Even the president's sister said it's a bad idea.
But I'm going to trust our Senate will do a good job! Pray for them please.
Anyway, today I'll share how I cook our meals with tipid tips I learned growing up in a 10-member household that had a P100 daily budget. Syempre, this was decades ago! And yes, that was my job - feed 10 people for just P100 a day. Here are a few tips:
1. Cut your veggies finely. Not naman minced, mga tiny cubes lang. Same with meat. More mileage yan hehe
1. Cut your veggies finely. Not naman minced, mga tiny cubes lang. Same with meat. More mileage yan hehe
2. Cut off the fat from your pork and fry that first. And that's now your cooking oil! May instant homemade chicharon ka pa after!
3. Make masabaw na ulam. Tinola, nilaga, sinigang, ganyan. Soups go a looooong way.
4. Buy canned and frozen vegetables! Mas mura. Don't be afraid of canned and frozen produce. They are processed immediately after harvest so their goodness is preserved. And you don't have to worry about your fresh veggies rotting in case you were too busy to cook.
5. In case you do have veggies that are wilting in the ref, gawin mong vegetable soup. I like roasting them and then blitzing in the blender with chicken stock. Or just roast them and meron ka nang delicious side dish! Pwede mo rin gawing atsara.
Here's my atsarang talong (pickled eggplant) recipe.
And here's my tomato soup recipe. But replace the canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes roasted in the oven for 15 minutes.
Sigh.
I'm tired of having grit and being resilient. Yes, it's an amazing quality to have. I want my kids to have these. But they also mean that life is so hard and we've had to bear it and do what we can to survive. But, honestly, in our country, life doesn't have to be hard all the time. Look at how Pasig and Iloilo are doing so well - proof that when a city is free of corruption and is transparent and accountable (no to confidential and intel funds!), the people benefit so much.
Let's not be resilient anymore. Let's demand accountability, transparency, honesty. Let's demand that all of our taxes work for us and us alone. Let's demand that the government we elected be true public SERVANTS, serving us instead of themselves. Grabe, Pilipinas, ilang dekada na tayong ganito. Mangarap naman tayo at gumawa ng totoong pagbabago. Kakasawa na. Kakasuka na.
Good luck to us all. Don't worry about me, by the way! We're still fine. I'm just trying to be more frugal these days. Buti na lang we have family and wise investments that helped us. Still, I'm in the middle of a job search because we would like very much to be able to breathe a little. Pray for me!
Pray for us all.
Hi Frances, may the spirit of Christmas bless us all with hope. I enjoyed your post, wait, what? It's mostly negative with the high prices, inflation, and massive national (potential) robbery playing before our eyes yet you still manage to exude hope and action by teaching your readers ways to cope and do something about it. My health worries are currently clouding my head and it can be scary and dark in it (my head haha) sometimes but you inspire me to just get on with it because that's life. We all carry something in us, the difference is what we do about it. Thank you for sharing. God bless you and your boys always.
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Thanks for sharing these tips :) And for your perspective on the present administration's new scheme on siphoning money from our countrymen, especially us from the working class. God save us from these crooks! God bless us all!
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