MANILA – A breakfast of scrambled eggs, rice and coffee with milk is one of three “no-frill” meals in a day that a Filipino family of five can fit in a monthly budget that the government says is enough to meet “basic” food and non-food needs.
Lunch can include ginataang monggo with malunggay, dried dilis, rice, and a banana while dinner can be fried fish or boiled pork, a vegetable dish such as steamed kangkong, and rice, Philippine Statistics Authority assistant secretary Rosalinda Bautista said.
Of the P10,727 that is needed by a family of five to meet food and non-food items, P7,528 needs to be set aside for food, according to government computations. The budget has room for one snack daily, she said.
“That is known as basic needs so no frills. No fancy items there…I’m sure many families are subsisting with that kind of budget,” Socioeconomic Planning secretary Ernesto Pernia said.
Boiled root crops and breads such as pandesal can suffice as snacks, Bautista said.
Food items considered in the meal plans satisfy the 100 percent recommended energy and nutrients intake and were based on available items in different provinces of the country, she said. (ABS-CBN News)
