Snap Shot

To me, meat in NZ is the same or slightly better than UK. The lamb here is excellent, so is the beef the steak, chicken, and pork.

Fruit and veg is the same as Britain i.e. good. Cheese in nz is excellent, IMO. Mainland brand cheese vintage cheddar is delicious. NZ Edam, Brie and camembert is lovely (I only buy this at Christmas, just like in Britain. Why ? It's just the way I am !)

I understand it's personal taste for everything. However, if you only ever shop at Waitrose you won't like any of the supermarkets in NZ ! I shop at Pak & Save and if I'm careful I can get all my fresh food and most of the rest of my groceries there too. If you live out your microwave on ready meals you're going to be disappointed. Take away food is ok in NZ, well, where I live anyway.

I mean, there's only six months of the year for barbeque weather, even in NZ.

Synky

Looking it up online our rent would be a bit more in ChCh and the same would be for food. We are a family of 5 and we spend £50 a week on food but then I am very canny with my shopping (but I only buy happy animal meat).

Bo-Jangles

That's where you'll notice a vast difference, I doubt very much you'd be feeding your family of five on anything less than $150 pw being ultra frugal and you wouldn't be on the happy meat.

Synky

Will plug that into the budget thanks. Is happy meat really that expensive? I'm not talking organic just a higher standard of animal welfare I.e. free range eggs.

babybella

I am not bogged down as you say with the price of cheese. I just resent that in a island with a big dairy industry cheese is so expensive and poor quality.
Fortunatly I can afford to buy it but doesn't mean I have to like paying the price for it.
Of course your rent is half the price Christchurch/London what a comparrison.
Kaz

Pom_Chch

Yep, I will agree with you there. I'm not sure why milk and cheese are expensive, I think it baffles most people here. I have found milk on offer at the local Dairy recently. Bought a few and have frozen them!

Aware Chch and London is not a fair comparison. I was just responding to another post telling me I was dreaming!

Bo-Jangles

There is one brand of eggs in Pack N Save I get which are about $5.79 for dozen, they are ungraded so all shapes colours and sizes. Free range chook is about $18 for a small one - other free range meat not readily available in the usual everyday supermarkets except the Freedom Farms Bacon which costs more than fillet steak.

http://shop.countdown.co.nz/?banner=...nge%26page%3D2

Synky

Actually that's about the same as eggs here. The chicken is way more though - good job I like lamb!

whitesand

Have you ever really looked at the prices. and the standard of what you get for your money in NZ compared to what you get in the UK? It's disgraceful what they get away with here. For examlple, a crappy unheated, two-bedroom unit with a seventies kitchen plus a cooker from the op shop, would cost $420 dollars a week in Auckland. That's around £240! All those folks who think NZ is cheaper for rent and food mst be living somewhere I've never heard of!

love30stm

Yes but your talking about Auckland!!!! you could say the same of London

We paid £550 every 4 weeks for a crapy two bedroom terrace tiny house in the midlands (not detached) 6 years ago, before we emigrated and bought a very nice house here thankyou

whitesand

Yes, that's true, but there's still no excuse for the abysmal standard which prevails here. They wouldn't be allowed to get away with it in most places in the world.

love30stm

Well not having rented here I wouldn't know, you get what you pay for I guess

whitesand

If you've ever been flat-hunting in Auckland or even Dunedin, you'd understand what I mean. A real eye-opener!

whitesand

The point is you don't!

Robbie2010

Its simple .... Fonterra! Its owned by the dairy farmers and has a virtual monopoly of the milk market.