How do I store values in EPCS?

Hello! I'm finishing up a Cyclone III design and need to store a few values in non-volatile memory on the fly. The only thing I have is the EPCS16. From what I read, NIOS II is the easiest way to get to it but I am not using NIOS II in my design otherwise and I'm not familiar with it so I was looking for another way. The other options seem to be the using the MegaWizard to drop a Serial Flash Loader into my design (I think that gives me access to the EPCS pins directly but I would need to figure out how to read/write/...), or use the AN379 files (read/write functionality but does it work with Cyclone III?), or use SOPC Active Serial Memory Interface to Avalon bus to my code, or whatever the Remote System Update is, or ???

What is the best path?

Thanks,

Allison