The Prize is Rice

I just got back from the Visayas Avenue branch of the NFA. Yes folks, I lined up for rice. At first I had hesitations after seeing the long lines over the weekend but my Mother-In-Law informed me that there were no lines on weekdays.

So immediately after lunch I piled the entire household into the car and drove to NFA.

True to form…there were no lines!! I had enough money to buy 2 sacks and I fully intended to keep on going back until I got those 2 sacks. Call it hoarding…call it panic buying….hey, my kids are big rice eaters so I wanted stock up for the rainy days. And by the way, it’s raining now so is that coincidence or is that coincidence.

I saw several luxury cars parked with their trunks overflowing with rice. There was even one passenger jeepney with enough rice to feed an army.

It took me 5 minutes to get my share. That’s 6 kilos per person. It costs Php110. When I saw that there were sacks upon sacks of rice I knew I could get my 2 cavans. However, the barker made an announcement that they would not take any 500 peso bills anymore due to some counterfeit bills they got yesterday. Bad!! I only had 3 hundred peso bills and the rest were 500. I had enough for 18 kilos so that’s all I got.

So here are some tips when buying your rice at the nearest NFA :

• Bring loose change. (5 kilos costs Php91.25 and 6 kilos costs Php110)
• Don’t bring a sack. Bring regular grocery bags.
• Go on a weekday.
• Go after lunch (all the restos and carinderias buy their share in the morning)

I’m thinking of going back tomorrow to get my fill.

And by the way…the rice is excellent. Rumor has it that it’s a Vietnamese variety.