MANILA, Philippines?One of my favorite posters in my staffroom when I was the school paper adviser at Manila Science High School read: Plan ahead.

At this time of rising prices, this message is most timely.

There is no room for spur-of -the-moment choices. Yet, while the homemaker has made the weekly plans for her territory, she must be versatile and flexible enough to take in and adjust to circumstances.

* So go ahead and plan what you will serve for the week, but make room for adjustments. On road trips, for example, buy what you need that you see along the way. Take advantage of what is available at the time you do your weekly shopping.

* Buy only what is necessary and consumable of perishable goods. For example, for a family of two (newlyweds or a retired couple with an empty nest) buy half a bunch of banana instead of a whole batch, half of which goes overripe fast because of the heat.

* Buying the weekly supply of vegetables can be tricky. Tomatoes, squash, sayote, for example, can be kept in the vegetable crisper of the ref for several days. Others like Baguio beans, sitaw, ampalaya are best cooked ahead and heated when to be served. Leafy vegetables are best cooked the day of purchase or at the latest, the day after.

* When it comes to nonperishables, it is best to buy in bulk, like laundry detergents.

* Plan your baking to take advantage of the oven heat. Brownies, for example. Double the recipe and you produce three gifts of two dozen brownies for people you have to gift?your rehab doctor who doesn?t charge you for consultations, the dress shop owner who fixes your skirt for free, and a grandniece who is celebrating a birthday a good three weeks later.
A friend who bakes pili tarts uses, instead of her regular oven which takes longer to heat, a huge palanggana-type container fit for her turbo broiler to bake her tarts. I use it, too, for my brownies, and reserve the use of the oven for delicate baking.

* Recycle. Oh, the plastic bags you can accumulate when you do your weekly marketing. I tell one suki to put my purchase of fish together with others I have purchased. Fish vendors usually use at least two plastic bags for every purchase. As for vegetable purchases, I tell my suki to minimize the plastic bags I get. The Happy Bags I get in the supermarket I use to line my garbage pails.

* Recycle also leftover food. I usually cook only enough rice for one meal as leftover rice easily goes bad in hot weather. But when there is leftover rice and you don?t want to eat bahaw, turn it into fried rice?simply with fried garlic, or as Japanese or Chinese Fried Rice. The lechon leftover from a party can be recycled into paksiw, or treat leftovers kept from spoiling by refrigeration as is. Have a smorgasbord of them one day a week to clear the ref of leftovers.

When I taught for one year in Zamboanga, my mother?s sister, with whom I stayed, served different food for lunch and dinner. No leftovers. Gone are those days.

Adjust, adjust, adjust.