Whether you're planning to spend P500 or P3,000 this Christmas eve, you can still provide a memorable and sumptuous meal for your family.
Here's how to whip up a Noche Buena on a budget!
P500 to P1,000
Instead of buying an entire Christmas ham, which range from P400 to P1,000, you can buy it by the gram. 300 grams of sliced ham only costs about P100 or less.
As for queso de bola, go for the local brands, which are usually cheaper than imported ones by about P200. You can also make cheese sticks instead of slicing up queso de bola. You can find a recipe, here.
Instead of pasta, go for good ol' Pancit Bihon, which is made mostly out of veggies. You can already make pancit that's good for 6-8 for only P500 or less.
If you want to replicate the popular festive Cathedral Window dessert, you can go for gulaman instead of cathedral jelly.
P1,000 to P2,000
At this budget, you can already choose to buy an entire ham or queso de bola. Go for the local brands, which range from P399 to P600, so you can make the most out of your budget.
Instead of Lechon, go for Lechon Kawali. Currently, 1 kilo of pork costs about P200 to P250. If you want to grill some barbecue, it costs around P15 per stick of meat.
Go for Embutido instead of the traditional Morcon. Embutido only makes use of minced meat and is thereby cheaper than Morcon, which makes use of an entire slab of beef.
If you want to serve fruit cocktail, you can buy large cans that can serve several people for less than P300, but you can save more if you buy fresh fruit and add condensed milk as well as creamer.
P2,000 to P3,000
If you have the budget, you can splurge on a fancy ham, but it's better to allot extra budget on other dishes instead, especially if you are having a big celebration.
Have a pasta station, where guests can choose from a variety of sauces: bolognese, carbonara, pesto, garlic and tuyo, etc. You can make several kilos of pasta for about P300 and various sauces for roughly P500-P600.
For dessert, whip up some crema de fruta, or fiesta float if you are pressed for time. You can find a recipe, here.
No Noche Buena table would be complete without generous servings of rice, so make sure to take that into account when choosing which Noche Buena budget you fall under.
Happy holidays!
sources: MoneyMax, ABS-CBN
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