Salape Sunday: How to save on groceries | Lifestyle

he holiday season has arrived, heralded by colorful light displays and Mariah Carey on heavy rotation on the airwaves.

But the arrival of the most wonderful time of the year also brings additional stress around money and stretching your budget to pull off presents and the cost of groceries to feed the family.

We’re here to help with some tips on how to keep costs down so you can focus on enjoying time with loved ones and all that the festive season has to offer.

Support local

“For my family (parties), we do a potluck, which is really nice. It’s not just one person doing everything,” said Kallen Perez, from Agana Heights. As a mother with young children, it can get expensive to order dishes like a tray of red rice for family parties, so Perez will often opt for staple CHamoru dishes that use affordable local produce.

“I can bring lechen biringhenas because eggplant is relatively inexpensive because it’s always sourced locally. Coconut milk is also relatively inexpensive because it comes from Asia, which is close to us. That’s pretty easy for me,” Perez said.

Ordering food to bring to parties can get pricey, so turning to classic CHamoru dishes like gollai hagon suni or gollai appan lemmai that often only require local vegetables and coconut milk is a healthy option that’s easy on the wallet.

Grocery stores often have local produce in stock.

Jessica Nangauta, from Malesso’, also recommends checking out smaller village stores or farmers markets for affordable local produce.

“I know a few places in the village, like Inarajan Market or Talo’fo’fo’ vegetable stand, or up in Dededo there’s quite a few stands, and also flea markets on the weekend, of course.

“I know that it’s more challenging for people like us who live in the south to wake up on time to get to the farmers market when they open at like 6 or 7 a.m., but it’s well worth it to support the farmers that are keeping money in our economy. It helps not only us but our island in general,” Nangauta said.

Families can also have fun and save money by growing some of their own crops. Nangauta recognizes that this is a privilege, as not every family has access to space to grow plants, but she points to some quick crop options that can be grown in containers.

“A lot of our local, native crops are good to grow because they have very little pests associated with them. Taro, dagu, mendioka — I like to grow those because they have minimal pests,” Nangauta said.

She also said that green onions, bok choy, lettuce, and kang kong are good options for families who want to experiment with growing some of their own food, since these plants grow easily on Guam and don’t need much help.

Meal prep, leftovers

For Perez, planning out her family’s meals and prepping them before the busy work week is a helpful way to come up with a grocery shopping strategy and avoid wasting money and food.

“I plan out our meals for the week and I do one big shop for meat and veggies. For example, last week I prepped estufao and made it with cauliflower and then I did Mongolian beef and made it with red bell pepper, then I did beef and broccoli, and then ravioli night and then spaghetti. Five meals — so I only buy ingredients for those meals.

“One day of the weekend, whether it’s Saturday or Sunday, I cook some stuff in advance and some stuff I just freeze raw. So it’s all ready to go on a busy weeknight,” Perez said.

The meal prep plan helps Perez to approach grocery shopping with her meals in mind, so she doesn’t get distracted buying unnecessary snacks or ingredients that will add on costs.

Perez also saves money on groceries by getting creative with her leftovers, or making multiple meals out of staple ingredients like chicken.

“A couple of nights ago, I did just like a really boring baked chicken dish because my son is really picky and he got to pick the meal that night. Then I used the leftover baked chicken in quesadillas and I made tacos for me that had veggies,” Perez said.

Buy in bulk

For Kina Lewis from Santa Rita, buying groceries in bulk and shopping around at smaller village stores to look for better prices is a useful strategy. She likes going to Agat Kim Chee Store for good deals to make quick and easy meals.

“You can get cut up chicken and they’re always chilled and not frozen, they come in smaller packs. If you’re just cooking a small meal, you can just pick stuff up at Kim Chee. I like the prices and I go there specifically to get pork chop, chicken, and more of the Asian vegetables that you can’t really find at Pay-Less,” Lewis said.

Lewis said that she doesn’t wait for specific sale days, but that she always stocks up on staples when she sees them on sale on Pay-Less. She likes to buy items in bulk that she can use for a variety of different meals throughout the week.

“I buy an 18 pack of eggs, and I can make a whole bunch of stuff with that. I buy big things of meat when I see them on sale and I use it as I need it,” she said.

Steve Aguon, the store manager of Cost-U-Less, also advises shoppers to buy in bulk.

“Cost-U-Less recommends taking advantage of great sales on bulk items and freezing leftovers if you don’t think you will consume all of it immediately. You should also stock up on easy dinner pantry items like rice or canned goods so you always have something in your pantry for a quick dinner in a pinch,” Aguon said.

Many grocery stores offer regular sales or membership programs, and keeping an eye on sales is one of the easiest ways to get the most bang for your buck.

“Every week of the month, we run in-store specials around the store, it could be from the frozen (section), dry snacks, and stuff like that. That’s how we’re able to help our customers to save money,” said Alex Miralles, assistant general manager at Super Happy Mart. Customers can refer to the store’s sales flier for the most updated offers.