We Filipinos traditionally blow away a huge chunk of our Christmas budgets on Noche Buena. We can cut back on gifts and decorations but not on Christmas dinner! Not even plates of lechon and sweet spaghetti can make us veer away from the traditional, lavish handaan. Filipino parents feel like they are lousy providers when they can’t at least provide hamon and queso de bola.
So, what are you personal finance enthusiasts having for Noche Buena? Are you making do with less or is the dinner still a tradition that will remain untouched despite the gloomy forecasts?
In the Duplito household where Christmas dinner is basically a simple family affair (no cousins, lolos and lolas because they live far away), adjusting is not a difficult thing because we have kept the traditions simple from the very beginning.
The only adjustment that I have made is to replace the usual seafood crab dinner with shrimp, which is more accessible and less expensive. Otherwise, we will still have ham, lechon kawali, ice cream, and fruit salad. For five adults and two children, the expense is really not that high.
How about you? What are you having? And here’s a challenge: how can you stretch a P500-budget for Noche Buena? What will you buy?
What are you having for Noche Buena?
We Filipinos traditionally blow away a huge chunk of our Christmas budgets on Noche Buena. We can cut back on gifts and decorations but not on Christmas dinner! Not even plates of lechon and sweet spaghetti can make us veer away from the traditional, lavish handaan. Filipino parents feel like they are lousy providers when they can’t at least provide hamon and queso de bola.
So, what are you personal finance enthusiasts having for Noche Buena? Are you making do with less or is the dinner still a tradition that will remain untouched despite the gloomy forecasts?
In the Duplito household where Christmas dinner is basically a simple family affair (no cousins, lolos and lolas because they live far away), adjusting is not a difficult thing because we have kept the traditions simple from the very beginning.
The only adjustment that I have made is to replace the usual seafood crab dinner with shrimp, which is more accessible and less expensive. Otherwise, we will still have ham, lechon kawali, ice cream, and fruit salad. For five adults and two children, the expense is really not that high.
How about you? What are you having? And here’s a challenge: how can you stretch a P500-budget for Noche Buena? What will you buy?
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[...] that’s her way of celebrating and my way is another way. Salve at Money Smarts is offering a challenge for a budget handaan. Is there really a budget handaan? Is this possible? Actually my children and I are not going to [...]----- PING: TITLE: Christmas and Consumerism « Frugal Living Pinoy Style URL: http://datung.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/christmas-and-consumerism/ DATE: 12/24/2008 12:04:09 PM IP: 72.233.96.150 [...] that’s her way of celebrating and my way is another way. Salve at Money Smarts is offering a challenge for a budget handaan. Is there really a budget handaan? Is this possible? Actually my children and I are not going to [...]----- -------- Read More
There's a similar challenge in the news the other day. A woman was challenged to buy noche buena for P500. She bought spaghetti, small sliced bread, small spread and some fruits.
We plan to eat out on Christmas eve dinner. It's a double celebration. I am supposed to treat my uncle on his birthday last Dec 20th but we had so much food on that day so I suggested to just go out on the 24th. It is also a pre-departure treat coz he's leaving on Dec 25th for a month-long vacation in the Philippines.
For Christmas day, I will bake cookies and prepare 2 or 3 dishes (maybe beef, chicken or seafood). I ordered ube cake in place of the traditional ube haleya. The center piece will be the pork (it's like a ham or bacon) I bought from my trip last October. I will avoid traditional christmas menu like fruit salad or leche flan just to be different.
manay!
here's wishing you a very merry christmas and a happy new year and to all your readers as well. i wish you the best of all the best and many many thanks to your blog! dios mabalos tabi!
hi, ma'am salve,
i like this topic. more than a week ago, i was actually entertaining the idea of a keso't tinapay Noche Buena, just like a famous Pinoy Christmas song suggests (and yup, got to add tinola). i notice we pinoys are so used to putting too much food on the Noche Buena table every year, whatever the situation is financially and i thought maybe we could try a simpler menu this time, but, no, it's easier said than done. there's got to be some illusion of prosperity. (i wrote about this in my blog www.condoko.blogspot.com and you may drop by, say hi and bye; i'm following your blog.) there's something about our upbringing that's difficult to dump altogether.
a super-maligayang pasko to you and the family!
For P500 I probably would buy:
-2 kilos of SM Bonus chicken (at least P260)
-2 pack chicken breading (P40)
-1 Medium pack of SM Bonus Mixed veggies for Fried Rice (P25)
-1 can SPAM (P99)
-the rest for Softdrinks
what do you think?
For tonight, since everybody in the house still has work in the morning and afternoon, the noche buena will just be very simple, we plan to have lechon on the table and spaghetti too. Other relatives might bring in some more food.
The important thing is that everybody is together and enjoy the holidays.
My first Christmas outside the country (we're in Cyberjaya) with no salary yet, me and my wife will join nearby Pinoy officemates here, then we will go home before midnight to cook spaghetti and eat ice cream. We will be online with our new webcam to see our family.
Merry Christmas to all, iba pa rin Pasko sa Pilipinas :)
Nothing extravagant for me and my family. The important thing is that we are together this Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!
i'm used to simple noche buena, when life was (so) hard but we're all together.
now that i can afford it, it's still simple noche buena :P
i prefer food i grew up with in the province: ginataang hipon with kamias, kesong puti, itlog ng carpa (my so-called paete caviar), tilapia...I don't like keso de bola (tastes like soap) and ham...and there'll always be spaghetti for nephews and nieces :P
merry CHRISTmas to you, to you-know-who and your kids...
Salve, I think it is high time for us Pinoys to reevaluate and redefine how and what Christmas is for us. Christmas is about the celebration of family and not about how much gifts we gave nor received. Let us just get back to the real root and meaning of Christmas. Only the big businesses are profiting over the idea of Christmas. I think it is time for us to rethink our values and what we deem as important.
And yes, I think a P500 handa is very possible. My article about my own budget handa can be found here > http://datung.wordpress.com/2008/11/04/celebrating-the-holiday-with-less-datung/
And my own little piece about Christmas and Consumerism can be found here >http://lifediscourse.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/christmas-and-consumerism/
paetechie, hmm. parang nagkaron ako ng idea with that ginataang hipon. yum! merry christmas to you and your family too! :)
Jake, fried chicken and spam? I think Spam is a bit expensive for the P500 budget. Personally, I would rather have juice than softdrinks. But that's just me. :)
ravioli, i like the idea for your condoko blog hehe. makes the waiting a lot less difficult, eh? and man, i loved your lechon photo!
nina, seafood! seafood! seafood! hehehe. truth is, i'm craving for some fruit salad right now :)
Hi salve, I think I changed my mind. I might prepare some buco pandan salad coz i have some gulaman and pandan essence in the cup board. I brought them from my last vacay and I want to use them now before they expire :)
I will probably prepare dishes which will make use of some of my stocks which are nearing the expiration date. This is really one thing I need to focus on. Sayang kasi minsan na-eexpire at natatapon lang. Back to basics - buy only what you need!
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