Justcol

Good God woman, do you think I'm some kind of heathen. 😂


I don't have a countdown. Nearest is 100km away and I refuse to pay the extortionate prices at new world (50km away)

BEVS

Well I did think it might make the bread a bit soggy . There again MrBEVS will eat the most odd combinations given half a chance. Probably would use the cheese sarnie to mop the tinned toms. .

We've not got a Supervalue. There is a Countdown in Mot.

Tom H

There's a new item that I've stopped buying due to its interesting prices

Cheese

Decent cheese that is, a good strong old piece of cheddar cheese. Something that is quite tough to find here - the closest to it is the Aged Tasty Cheddar that has been aged by 18 months.

$16.15 for a kg of this in the Rangiora Pak n Save.

Others are $12.99 for 700g and $10.75 for 500g

I probably need a few Go Fund Me pages set up to be able to afford it

I don't even want to think how much it'll be in New World or Countdown.

Charismatic

Mince too apparently.

It's just a consequence of the Reserve Bank holding rates too low for too long, we've not got an inflation problem.

derbyduck

Not Bad as NZ goes when we arrived 22 years ago tomatoes imported from Aus in winter were $10.99 a kilo and also I might add were tasteless.

Justcol

Was only a few months ago they were $21.99 a kilo

derbyduck

Wow, Ouch!

Moses2013

I absolutely don't agree with this women: https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/f...uld-we-have-to
Luckily food prices here in Ireland seem lower, but it's the exact same island mentality. We have tons of space and what about community gardens? Those who have gardens stick a large trampoline in the back, but apparently there is no space. We have a green house and with little effort (no knowledge) have enough tomatoes and cucumbers to feed the neighbours.

BEVS

I do not know where that person lives but most everyone grows some sort of produce somehow hereabouts. Can't think who doesn't apart from maybe younger folks in flat shares. There are also community gardens. Perhaps Auckland CBD might struggle. I really don't know.
There isn't just shared or sharing of produce , there is also sharing of cooked foodstuff ( kai).

Moses2013

The editor lives in Wellington and this is exactly the thinking that won't change anything either. I have no interest in condemning gardening. But growing your own produce is not the answer to our cost-of-living crisis, and nor should it be.
As any of us whose children have stood excitedly over their Little Garden pots these last few weeks knows, vegetables do not grow overnight. Gardening won’t solve any problems for people who can’t afford food today.

You could say she makes a complaint that won't solve any problems either. At least if a few more people picked up gardening and shared what they have, it would be better than it is now.

Bo-Jangles

Her point really is about the continuous response of 'grow your own' which considered to be the panacea to all money problems, up there with all those other helpul 'solutions' such as stop drinking coffee and avoid eating Avos on Toast if you want to afford a $1.5m shed. We have the shittiest rock solid clay in our garden, it simply ain't made for growing veggies no matter how hard one tries and then there's the birds, the possums and the fickle weather to contend with, either too wet or too dry.

Moses2013

I agree, but when did we stop finding solutions? We have the same shittiest rock solid clay, crows everywhere and the fickle weather:-)
And still the tomatoes thrive, the cucumbers grow and the only work I have is picking them and watering now and then.

Chocolate eclair

Quite. We have the same sort of problems with clay soil too. We have three raised vegetable beds but have gad limited success with growing our own stuff due to drought and hosepipe bans or torrential rains, citrus fruits infested with guava moth larvae despite having traps up. The birds ate a load of this year's satsumas. Strawberries have been rubbish for the last couple of years. Mildew affects pea plants. We have had success with carrots and radishes but there's a limit to how much you can eat. We do give stuff away but never noticed much coming our way from others or we are offered stuff we don't eat like feijoas 🤢.
Growing fruit and veg takes a lot of time. Frankly I agreed with many of her points.

Justcol

Sounds like it's perfect for grape vines 👍🍷🥂

BEVS

We are on Moutere clay. My parent's house was on Turbary clay. I agree , it can be rock solid to the degree you can sculpt little figures and let them dry in the sun.

The thing with clay is to add powdered gypsum. That breaks down the clay. Then it is a case of composting and mulching as and when. I've no claim to special green gardening fingers here. It is just what our parents did , in that they worked whatever ground they had; and it is what people hereabouts do. We learnt.

We have tanks for water and the new builds here must have water tanks.

I am not sure there is that much time consuming work in veg or fruit growing to be honest. I haven't found it so . Far worse trying to keep monster triffid weeds down but mulch does for that for the most part.

Anyway , encouraging the return to a productive garden and/or allotments - community gardens - is no bad thing & not just in times when produce is very expensive to buy . As was written , NZ is losing food growing space to those that must have the large new builds on the small sections. We are seeing this big-time here & it is right next door too. Then there is the matter of exporting.

None of that helps those on a breadline except that accessing the ability to grow a little bit of your own or with others is a mentally healthy thing to do.

A rise in cost of living is not easily solved; even less so during and after this pandemic. It is not going away no matter what assorted groups might say. This place has always been seasonal and expensive when it comes to fresh produce. It has always exported huge amounts out of the country , whilst the locals find themselves paying more for the same produce ( even seconds) in their own country. It has been like that ever since I arrived. It is not new. To me it should be look after all the people of a nation in this very small country , rather than corporations and big business.

Anyway, the lady who wrote the article can moan about the blah blah - and can probably afford her fresh veg - The reality remains that NZ along with many countries likely has a good 18/24 months of pain ahead really. Anyone who would suggest otherwise or that there is a quick fix is a-tellin' the porkies.