7 Christmas Grocery Shopping Tips for Wais Filipino Families

1.   Avoid last-minute shopping

Prices for decor, gifts, and ingredients increase once the holiday season kicks in. That’s why doing your grocery shopping early lets you save a peso or more. In addition, you can use the money you’ve saved for other important fundings like a savings and life insurance plan.

You don’t have to buy everything in one go; you can gradually stock up on your Christmas dinner ingredients. This also saves you from frantically running to different groceries to find out-of-stock ingredients as Christmas draws near.

2.   Plan your Christmas dinner early

Planning what dishes you’ll have for Christmas dinner and the ingredients you’ll be needing can help you along the way. Before anything else, though, you have to set a realistic budget since there are other things you have to spend on aside from the holiday festivities.

With this, you won’t have to rush back and forth from the grocery store and waste gas to buy ingredients you’ve forgotten come Christmas day. So, make sure to have your Christmas dinner checklist all checked out.

3.   Consider more affordable alternatives to traditional holiday food

It’s alright not to follow the traditional Christmas food down to the T. If you have the chance to swap one traditional dish for a cheaper alternative, go for it.

For example, you can opt for Lechon Kawali instead of serving one whole Lechon at the dinner table. That way, you won’t have to spend too much on just one night of celebration and lessen the expenses on your Christmas dinner shopping list.

4.   Choose recipes that share the same ingredients

Another benefit of planning your Christmas dinner grocery list early is identifying which dishes share the same ingredients. This can be helpful, so you won’t have to run around searching for a variety of ingredients and blow up your expenses. Aside from that, some stores offer discounts when you buy in bulk. With that, you can buy ingredients for a low price, without them going to waste.

5.   Canvas ingredient prices

Aside from choosing recipes with similar ingredients, a wais Filipino knows not to buy an ingredient at the first price you see. There are cases wherein a specific ingredient can be more expensive in one store and relatively cheaper in another. As such, checking ingredient prices in different stores can help you get the best deals for your Christmas dinner.

6.   Invite the family to a potluck celebration

For most Filipinos, having the whole clan come together to celebrate joyous occasions, such as Christmas, is a tradition. You can ask your family to a potluck celebration where they bring food for everyone to share.

Not only will you save money from whittling down your Christmas dinner food list but you can also save time and effort in preparing dishes fit for the whole family and more.

7.   Refrigerate leftovers

Filipinos tend to cook food for celebrations that fit a barangay, especially during the holiday season. Chances are, there are going to be leftovers that can last for a week.

Don’t let the food go to waste—you could refrigerate them for the following days. That bone from your crispy pata dish can still be used as an ingredient for your sopas the next day.