Hello mommies! I am aiming to start a series on budget-friendly ulam recipes for Filipino families. One of the challenges of being a homemaker is deciding what to cook for the day. Even more challenging is trying to make all the meals fit within the budget.
With this series, I am hoping to add to your arsenal more affordable ulam ideas for the family so that as early as the weekend you already have an idea what to cook for next week, and prepare accordingly in terms of including the ingredients in your weekly shopping list and respective meal plan.
2023 Budget Ulam Recipes
As for the definition of budget friendly, these recipes cost P150.00 to 200.00 for a family of five with children that can already eat adult portions. It is 2023 and food costs have risen considerably, and healthy servings could easily cost P150.00. Of course even if it adds up to Php200, it is still cheaper than ordering from Panda or Grab right?
I have written several blog posts before about P100.00 ulam ideas, however because of inflation and the several years that have passed, it would be better if we could come with an updated version of the recipes given the increase in the cost of ingredients. If you want to see the previous articles on this, please check out our budget recipes section here.
Weekly Filipino Budget Ulam Ideas
Here is our list of budget ulam ideas for the week:
1. Tinolang Manok — Tinolang Manok is highly nutritious and is not as expensive to prepare. Chicken is about P200 to 220 per kilo, you do not need to buy a full kilogram to feed a family of five. What you can do is buy half a kilo of chicken breast chopped and then half a kilo of soup pack chicken which is only at P120.00 per kilogram. The soup pack pieces add more flavor to the broth, and also comes with a bit of meat. Or you can buy one whole chicken that is not too big, and then have it chopped. The rest of the budget can go to the sayote and the ginger. I am sure you have garlic, oil and onion at home, and some malunggay from the neighbor 🙂 Here’s a quick and easy Chicken Tinola recipe.
2. Ginataang Sitaw at Kalabasa — This is another classic filipino dish that is easy on the budget. It is filling too since squash and string beans are filled with fiber. Buy 200g of Pork Giniling or Pork Panggisa which is about P75.00, then one tali of sitaw, and a portion of kalabasa. One small pack of coco mama is less than 35.00 so your budget is A-ok. Here is a recipe I previously posted.
3. Paksiw na bangus with black beans — Bangus is so endemic in the country and is inexpensive. Buy half a kilo to 3/4 kilo of Bangus and slice it. Buy an eggplant and a small amplaya as veggie or some black beans. Fry the bangus first before simmering it in a water-vinegar mixture. Add the ginger, garlic, and eggplant (My mom even likes to add ampalaya to this type of Paksiw) and then bring to a boil, and simmer for 10 minutes uncovered. Once cooked, season with salt and pepper, and add the black beans. adjust seasoning to taste.
4. Fried chicken wings and adobong kangkong — Buy about 3/4 kg of chicken wings. marinate in a bit of calamansi and patis mixture. dredge in a bit of flour to avoid oil splatters. The remaining budget can be used for a side dish — adobong kangkong.
5. Monggo guisado and daing or fried galunggong — Fry some fresh galunggong fish or its daing counterpart. Then make some monggo guisado — make sure to add either chili leaves or malunggay to make it extra healthier!
6. Yummy Tokwa or Tofu Sisig – My kids eat most veggies, and they also enjoy eating other nutritious food like tokwa, so it is easy for me to incorporate it in our weekly meals. For this recipe, use four squares of tokwa (Tokwa is cheaper than tofu). Fry it and set aside. Make the sauce by using good quality mayonnaise, oyster sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. In a pan, saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper or siling pansigang if you are adding sili. Then add the tokwa. Let the tokwa absorb the infused oil before adding the sauce mixture. Serve with a smile!
7. Deep fried salmon belly and eggplant salad –– Salmon belly flaps in our grocery sells for around P150.00. Season with salt and pepper, then dredge in a bit of flour, then deep fry or pan fry to a crunch in used cooking oil. Boil or steam or grill some eggplants, peel and then top with sliced onions and tomatoes and seasoned vinegar! You’ve got yourself a yummy lunch there!
Hope you picked up a thing or two (or everything) in our list for the week. Just a tip, I am not being haughty or proud about my parenting skills (I am far from being a perfect mom) but one of the best decisions I made as a mother is to train my children to eat veggies. This is an investment on their health, which pays off as well in terms of budget. Having said that if your kids are still very picky I suggest that you start with foregoing the urge to cook a special ulam or dish for them just to get them to eat whenever the ulam is veggie based or is something they would not eat. If they go hungry, they will eat it. 🙂 And it takes heart, patience and practice. 🙂
Food for the soul
At this point, please allow me to share with you one of my favorite bible verses as a mom. It is from the Letter of St. Paul to Titus:
“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
Titus 2:3-5
Thank you for stopping by and till next post!