Shaoxing rice wine and fish sauce are specialty items that will require a trip to an Asian market—neither Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Walmart, nor ALDI consistently stock them, though some Kroger locations may have limited selection. The recipe itself is genuinely quick and cheap once you have the three ingredients, but the initial pantry setup cost and sourcing challenge make this a starter investment for home cooks new to Asian cooking. This is an excellent finishing sauce for stir-fries and noodles that keeps for weeks, but the upfront hunt for Shaoxing wine in particular is the real caveat here.