mickey_d

No, It's Pie & Chips or Surimi (Yuck) & Chips & a Red Bull.

I would say about 90% of the apple packing workforce (I work with from Feb to June) have those every dinner break 6 days a week!! Only us johnny foreigners who work there eat proper food
BP Stations are always full of pie eaters.

Persia

And planes. Last time I travelled on Air New Zealand I was given a pie.

Surimi would have been good, but not with chips

mickey_d

Oh & I forgot, the other cornerstone of the nutritional Kiwi diet - Muffins

lisamct

I found free range chicken breasts in Countdown today, not organic but at least free range.
There were only 2 packs mind you so they're now safely stashed away in my freezer

Dustybin

cant say that i find it any cheaper, just has more interetsing stuff, as for eating like a local, i'm local and i eat all sorts of things...

janek

Those 'free' car parks and all that paper those supermarkets put through your letter box are not 'free' you know, someone has to pay and its us users.
Do Asian supermarkets in Auckland supply such large pieces of real estate to park cars?, not the one of the K Road that I have been to anyway.....

weejie

I rarely buy tinned stuff.....beans and spaghetti,tomatoes,kidney beans,chick peas are about it. I make most meals from scratch and use what is in season. We have a large glasshouse and veg patch which are well used so we are getting lots of fresh produce just now. I also look at the prices and buy what we use if it is on special....have a chest freezer now which helps. The prices do vary from week to week but I have become a better shopper,and we waste a lot less than we did in the UK. As for choice I think in Uk we had too much and that just confused me more. Not had any problem here doing weekly shop.


Phyl x

Mrs Pointer

Sounds exactly what my OH would eat here if I let him.

Mrs Pointer

The price of food in the UK has been steadily rising (don't even get me started on petrol) - our weekly shop has increased by around £30 a week in the past year.

And yes while there is a lot of choice, it depends where you live. If you want to eat fresh organic food, don't live in Lanarkshire where the staple diet is lard, sugar with chips.

There are eight alcohol aisles at Asda in hamilton - it takes up more room than the fruit and veg!

don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll miss Tesco when we leave, but you do get a choice...mainly the choice of which Tesco you shop in as that's all there is.

Jan n Neil

Ignoring the price debate for a moment, yesterday a friend who has lived in ChCh for years showed me round properly (as opposed to going to Countdown to shop) and I now know where the Lebanese, Mediteranean and organic shops are. This is in addition to my favourite, the Asian warehouse.

And I bought some real Italian Parmesan, felt like a real treat!!

Good food is out there if you look, and I still don't mind not having seven aisles of chocolate

Jan

EDIT: eight aisles of chocolate

nero

Very true it is all about knowing where to go, unfortunately when you arrive you often are not shown around the city / town you end up settling in. So it can often be luck rather than judgement where you end up shopping initially and this can be for everything (not just food). But with time and knowledge it does get easier and your knowledge of where to go increases. It is out there the food that you want you just need the map to get there. Don't give up

Persia

The price of groceries for people on a very tight budget in New Zealand has risen by about 10% over the last two years. For people not watching the cents quite so closely their bills have gone up 16% with one supermarket chain.

That was before the rise in GST.

Over the same time wages and salaries have been almost static, some people haven't had a pay rise for nigh on three years.

Assanah

I don't think this is something special. That is what has been happening in Germany for years. In Germany the GST was increased to 19% in 2007, wages stagnate and prices are climbing. In fact, German wages are on the lowest level since 1986. Electricity prices climbed around 6%, gas around 9%, health insurance inreased 8%, nursing insurance climbed - and this all starting January 2011. Retirement age has also increased to 67 and they are already talking about 68 with strong warnings about increasing poverty levels for senior citizens. Now, we also have to take care of the debts of other European Union countries. Will see how this is going. And all of this while German economy is booming. I wonder what will happened if we had another recession???
BTW, I think food prices will increase worldwide. Not only that, prices for nearly all raw materials will increase. There is big competion coming - not only for NZ and Europe but also for OZ.