Eating Cheap in the Philippines

Eating cheap in any foreign country can be a struggle. When you’re new to a place it’s hard to figure out what or where anything is. However, eating cheap in the Philippines is fairly simple. Just follow two rules:

1. Cook when you can.
2. Eat where locals eat.

Just like in your home country, if you eat out all the time, it’s gonna end up costing you more money. To save money, try to visit a supermarket and buy some of the staples. To continue eating cheap during our trip in the Philippines, we regularly went to the grocery store for the same basic stuff.

Our Staples for Eating Cheap:

• Pandesal: bread that Filipinos commonly eat for breakfast. It tastes even better when freshly baked and bought from local bakeries; bread from small local bakeries are also often cheaper than the ones in grocery stores.
• Lily’s peanut butter: a local brand of natural peanut butter. It’s more sweet than the usual western brands. Pro tip: This goes well with pandesal.
• Pancit canton: instant noodles; favourite brand is Lucky Me.
• Eggs: inexpensive and easy to prepare. Have them with fried rice, pancit canton or even pandesal!
• Rice: it’s the Philippines, you have to have rice. It’s also inexpensive.
• Instant coffee: not a glamorous choice but buying coffee from fancy coffee shops get pricey. Can’t bear the thought of drinking instant coffee? Try some local coffee beans from Sagada or Batangas.
• Coffee creamer/ whitener: because I am a scrub and rarely drink my coffee black
• Sugar: tried mascovado sugar which seems to be all the rage lately
• Huge jug of water: even the locals don’t drink tap water; buying a big jug and refilling your own water bottle will save you money
• Stick-o: probably not a staple, but it was for us during this trip

Where to buy groceries:

1. Sari-sari Store: A small neighbourhood store, often located in front of someone’s house. You can buy the essentials here but they might not always have a big variety or the brands that you’re used to. The good thing about sari-sari stores is you can buy everything in smaller quantities. Of course this ends up costing more, but when you’re travelling and prefer not to lug around a bunch of stuff, it’s a good option.
2. Convenience stores: the common ones in the Philippines are ministop and 7eleven.
3. Grocery stores or supermarkets: some are stand alone while others can be found within malls. Common ones include:
   1. SM Hypermarket
   2. Robinson’s Supermarket
   3. Waltermart
   4. savemore
   5. Puregold (or Puregold Jr.)

How to eat like a local:

1. Local food is almost always cheaper than western food. Here are some local fast food chains you should try for quick, simple and cheap meals.
   1. Jollibee: the Filipino’s pride and joy as far as fast-food is concerned. You can’t or at least shouldn’t leave the Philippines until at least trying a chickenjoy.
   2. Chowking: Chinese fast-food. Try one of their laureate meals if you wanna try a few things or have a siopao if you’re not too hungry.
   3. Mang Inasal: you can opt for unlimited rice for an extra 14php. Need I say more? Well, the chicken and sizzling bangus was good. Again, unlimited rice for an extra 14php.
2. Try street food. Lots of people shy away from this, because they’re not sure if it’s clean. Use your own discretion, but for me, eating local street food is part of the adventure. After all, food is such a big part of Filipino culture and identity. 
3. Food markets and food parks: there are many food markets and food parks that open either in the afternoon or early evening. It’s perfect if you want to relax, grab something to drink and hangout with friends. It’s the perfect option if you’re not quite ready to eat street food.

Today’s Filipino Phrase:

Kain tayo means Let’s eat.