The meat doesn’t seem too bad in Bohol. It was rank similar to the description the OP mentioned while I lived in Pagadian. It was God-awful. Not putrid, but off-putting as though it sat out warm too long. i don’t like buying from the markets either. The pork and chicken is never on ice and humans have to share the meat with all the flies
My experience is that this has to do with timing. I have had good luck at CityMall about an hour after they open. Too early and the fresh cuts are not out yet. Too late and well it's too late. The best time to go is about an hour after they have opened. The pork is sliced but still frozen and the Chicken pieces are usually very fresh between 10 - 11 am. Actually I have found all of the stores are good at this time. Only on rare occasion at this time in the morning does the chicken look yellowish. I used to go to the open market early in the morning shortly after the butchering of the animals and was able to find good cuts. I have since fallen out of the habit of going there early and have been shopping at CityMall.
This might be off topic but it's still about food, in this case cheese. We forgot to get cheese when we went shopping this week so went back yesterday for it, i don't normally pay too much attention to the price of items like that but as it was the only thing we bought i was a bit surprised to see it cost 330p for 250g, this was Bega cheese imported from Australia, we always buy it as the other types we have tried are waxy, tasteless and won't even melt properly if we make cheese on toast. To put this in perspective i checked the Asda online price for similar mature cheese and it cost £1.99 for 400g, that's 132p I know its imported from Australia but it must have come business class. Anyway we won't stop buying it but it will be sliced very thin from now on
We'll let you off this slightly-off-topic this once (or at least, I think we will) Any decent, or otherwise desired, food (imported) is often more expensive - mike's imported goods, for example, are bought at shop prices in the UK and have to pay import fees (etc.?), so often end up double the UK price. I find the best way to put this through my head is to look overall at my living costs - when cheap alcohol, inexpensive eating out, low rents, low annual property tax, minimal water rates, etc. are taken into account and offset against some high food (and other 'luxury' goods) costs, we are very much better off overall. It comes down to that saying "Don't sweat the small stuff" but look at the bigger picture. I know that in the UK (on a rough estimate) I would be paying about 70,000 pesos per month more for my 'equivalent' house costs alone (rent, tax, water) and so if I spend 5,000 extra here a month on more cheese ( ), or other food, it does not become an issue, as long as I don't compartmentalise everything. But for those from countries where healthcare is usually free, that can be a big expense here that may be impossible to balance out.
This is true, but I have observed that the various supermarkets do not compete. In fact, they will comparison shop to determine the highest price they may charge versus the "competition". In Manila the newspapers carry advertised sales--never seen one here.
