Saturday, June 28, 2008 Speak out: Dealing with economic pressure By Jesus Sievert
ECONOMICE pressures related to energy and food costs are impacting how consumers cook, shop, and eat outside.
It is forcing most Filipino families to be innovative in the kitchen and frugal with their expenses.
The same economic woes are making consumers rethink of their buying priorities.
Fewer luxury foods are being bought and more store brand items are being sought after.
The continuing rise in fuel cost is contributing to the decline in the number of shopping trips consumers make per week.
Never has the camote, gabi, pacudo, and cooked banana been aptly chosen to replace rice and/or mixed with rice or corn to soften the cost impact and extend the availability of the staple food.
Never has the tangkong, gay (camote tops), agbate, paliya, and kamunggay been so appreciated for its existence and for nutritional value as they are today.
We have so much to be thankful for these vegetables are so abundantly grown and commonly found.
They can even be asked for free from a kind neighbor or bought cheaply.
We also have to be grateful for the enterprising individuals who park and stay for hours in locations where pedestrians are
most likely to pass and peddle their cheap but delicious food, either for you to eat in place or to bring home.
And how can we ever thank enough those fanning the embers all day and night long and in the process inhaling even the smoke just so your favorite skewered barbecue items are ready when you come to buy it?
Buying cheap, ordinary food along the road and bringing it home are saving grace for many families, what with the price of LPG, charcoal and firewood correspondingly going up too.
Low prices and convenience in doing things are what most low-income families are after now.
Even for those who can afford, these are the overriding factors that are being considered.
Indeed, times are hard and with all the calamities befalling some parts of the world today coupled with the indifference shown by some rich countries towards the poor nations, conditions are not going to get any better soon.
It is just best that we remember and take to heart the following lines:
