00:00Food inflation substantially eased or slowed down in January at 3.3% from 11.6% in December last year,
00:08thanks to a slide in the prices of veggies, fish, and seafood.
00:13Still, working professionals who survive on a strict food budget say that buying cooked food,
00:19though pricier, can be more cost-effective over the long haul,
00:23as our Denise Osorio hashes over the latest PSA inflation report.
00:30Cooking a packed lunch at home worked out cheaper than buying rice meals after prices eased for some basic ingredients in January 2026,
00:38particularly vegetables, fish, and other seafood.
00:41The Philippine Statistics Authority says inflation for vegetables, tubers, and similar items slowed to 3.3%,
00:49down from 11.6% in December 2025.
00:52Inflation for fish and other seafood also eased back to 7.3%, from 9.0% a month earlier.
01:00The PSA says vegetable supply has started to normalize as the effects of recent typhoons, flooding,
01:06and prolonged rainfall have begun to subside, which has allowed production and deliveries to pick up again,
01:12with more produce coming in from the provinces to public markets, including in Metro Manila.
01:17But while cooking ingredients have been a little cheaper,
01:20the PSA notes that ready-to-eat and takeaway meals have become more expensive, driven by other costs.
01:26So yung mga binibili ng mga kababayan natin, di ba parang 7 million sa mga karinderiya,
01:32medyo may mga increases na more than 10%.
01:35Ang nakikita namin, of course, tumataas kasi yung raw material din, lalo na yung karne ng baboy,
01:40tumataas din yung mga energy, kasi siyempre ginagamit mo yung electricity,
01:44maybe renta, kasi yung renta sa place, tumaas din, plus maybe yung wages.
01:49Mapa added that even if eating out costs more, many people may still opt to buy cooked food,
01:55simply because they do not have the time to cook for themselves.
01:59That is what Ron Del Rey Mundo and Marjan Florita say they do,
02:02buying lunch from a karinderiya every day.
02:05For them, the main trade-off is time.
02:07Yung time, hindi mo pwedeng bilhin ng kahit anong halagayin eh.
02:13Kaya yun, kahit papano, na gumagastos kami, pero nakakatipid kami sa oras.
02:18Aside from time, they also say it is easier to budget by setting aside a fixed amount,
02:24around 500 to 750 pesos a week for food.
02:27And that means they do not have to factor in other household costs,
02:31such as LPG, or the day-to-day fluctuation of prices in the market.
02:35Hindi po makasikaso. Solo lang po ako sa bahay.
02:39Sa lunch lang po, mayigit 100 din po.
02:43Kapag kasama merienda, ano, 150.
02:46Sa ganito.
02:47Overall, even though headline inflation went up to 2.0% in January from 1.8% in December 2025,
02:55the PSA says households can still stretch their budgets further by cooking at home
02:59and brown-bagging or taking a packed lunch.
03:03Denise Osorio for the National Television Network for a new and better Philippines.
03:07Thank you so much.
03:08Thank you very much.
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