I was in Robinson's Galleria last Thursday waiting for my sisters to be dismissed from class. I was just there, walking around with nothing but a hundred pesos. It made me remember a long time ago, when that much money was worth more than it is now - when a bottle of cola worth 5 pesos was not smaller than my hand. I'd go to school and 20 pesos was good money for a meal. Of course this was in the province but I'm sure Manila wasn't as expensive as now before. Inflation rates have really caught up to people, especially people in the city. Diesel used to be around 15 pesos per liter. That was around 9 years ago. A hundred pesos of gas then was a week's worth of travel. Now you can't go to the mall in a car with a hundred pesos. I've never noticed the effects of a crisis this much - and for good reason. The world really is in a tight spot now.
Anyway, since I was in a mall with nothing to do for the next 30 minutes, I decided to see if I could get a good meal with a hundred pesos. The rules I set were simple, I had to buy a good amount of rice, ulam and a drink. I could buy anything no matter how cheap or unhealthy it was as long as it wouldn't killed me - oh yeah, and no freebies. ( ruled out them water stations) Anyway, after about 10 minutes of walking around the food court I came to a food shop named "Paotsin". It was a dumpling shop but more importantly they had a "dumpling rice" meal that cost 41 pesos - cheapest so far. As for the drink, I was about to buy Zesto (for those who don't know it's one of those juice drinks sold in tetra packs) from Mini Stop but I saw some new product I haven't seen before right beside it. It was named "Vitwater" and was some kind of cheap sports drink with words like "anti-oxidants" and "isotonic" on the label. It was selling for 14 pesos and was a bit bigger than the size of a C2 bottle. That solved the drink. Now for the taste-testing.
The Dumpling rice was served in a purple Styrofoam food container. It had 4 fried dumplings, (you get to choose which kind of dumpling) flavored rice and some kind of dumpling sauce. The dumplings were okay. They didn't taste to bad but weren't the best either. The rice was good (something like but not like java rice) and there was a pretty good amount. The sauce was really just soy sauce, vinegar, calamansi and that oily chilly sauce in Chinese restaurants put together. (It tasted good with the rice by the way) As for the Vitwater, well, if I had to describe it I'd say it tasted like a dilute gummy bear solution. (the kind of gummy bears you get in candy corner) It's wasn't bad but it takes some time to get used to.
All in all I spent 55 pesos. If you'd settle for free water you'd only have to spend 41 pesos. That's 123 pesos everyday if you ate out all the time. There are, of course, cheaper alternatives outside the mall. Cooking at home might be cheaper. There's also the sardines + rice from home formula. Real cheap. Anyway, it's good to know that somehow I think a fresh grad can still survive with a 10 k salary. That is, assuming he's living, electricity and water expenses don't go past 6 k. No vices allowed either. He'll probably die at forty with all the preservatives and bad stuff that comes with cheap food though. Ouch.
Anyway, since I was in a mall with nothing to do for the next 30 minutes, I decided to see if I could get a good meal with a hundred pesos. The rules I set were simple, I had to buy a good amount of rice, ulam and a drink. I could buy anything no matter how cheap or unhealthy it was as long as it wouldn't killed me - oh yeah, and no freebies. ( ruled out them water stations) Anyway, after about 10 minutes of walking around the food court I came to a food shop named "Paotsin". It was a dumpling shop but more importantly they had a "dumpling rice" meal that cost 41 pesos - cheapest so far. As for the drink, I was about to buy Zesto (for those who don't know it's one of those juice drinks sold in tetra packs) from Mini Stop but I saw some new product I haven't seen before right beside it. It was named "Vitwater" and was some kind of cheap sports drink with words like "anti-oxidants" and "isotonic" on the label. It was selling for 14 pesos and was a bit bigger than the size of a C2 bottle. That solved the drink. Now for the taste-testing.
The Dumpling rice was served in a purple Styrofoam food container. It had 4 fried dumplings, (you get to choose which kind of dumpling) flavored rice and some kind of dumpling sauce. The dumplings were okay. They didn't taste to bad but weren't the best either. The rice was good (something like but not like java rice) and there was a pretty good amount. The sauce was really just soy sauce, vinegar, calamansi and that oily chilly sauce in Chinese restaurants put together. (It tasted good with the rice by the way) As for the Vitwater, well, if I had to describe it I'd say it tasted like a dilute gummy bear solution. (the kind of gummy bears you get in candy corner) It's wasn't bad but it takes some time to get used to.
All in all I spent 55 pesos. If you'd settle for free water you'd only have to spend 41 pesos. That's 123 pesos everyday if you ate out all the time. There are, of course, cheaper alternatives outside the mall. Cooking at home might be cheaper. There's also the sardines + rice from home formula. Real cheap. Anyway, it's good to know that somehow I think a fresh grad can still survive with a 10 k salary. That is, assuming he's living, electricity and water expenses don't go past 6 k. No vices allowed either. He'll probably die at forty with all the preservatives and bad stuff that comes with cheap food though. Ouch.
-italktocarrotsticks
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