Am Loolah

Interesting "Like for Like" survey in Sunday's Herald showing that overall NZ comes out as more expensive than Oz, Germany and the UK for a basket of "essential" supermarket items.

Perry Groves

None of the Kiwis i know are interested in soccer! its all about the AB's

bananalana

Really? I reckon the Oz comparison must be rubbish. I live in Oz and I spend about twice what I did in NZ on a weekly grocery shop and that's without converting, i.e. I used to spend about $150-180NZD and I now spend $250-350AUD.

However, milk is pretty cheap....$3 for a 3 litre.

Am Loolah

Yep, really. I can't find the article on line. Ahh. have found paper.

It was based on bottle of Shiraz, 1l milk, 12 medium eggs, 500g butter, 100g smoked salmon slices, 100g Nescafe; Totals;

Oz (Coles) $36.01
NZ (Foodtown) $44.71
UK (Tesco) $37.35
Kaufland (Germany) $33.12

lardyl

Not sure Foodtown is a good comparison with Tesco. Always find it more expensive than New World & Pak N Shove and Tesco was always good value.
Also the Shiraz part of the equation is way too much of a variable.
However, in terms of affordability NZ must be way out ahead of the UK Oz and probably Germany in terms of how much work the average person has to do to afford their weekly shop. What with the tax regimes, salaries, etc, etc

lardyl

When was that in NZ, cause prices here are nothing like they were even 6 or 12 months ago. Everything is way too expensive, particularly dairy and meat.
Everyone is going to slow cookers, cheap cuts and vegetarian stuff, a sure sign that we are all too poor to afford real shopping

chocolate cake

Participation wise football (what's soccer?) probably rivals or even exceeds rugby participation for kids, but you only have to see the sports coverage in tv/newspapers where 80+% of it is rugby, to see rugby-centric NZ is.

lardyl

seeing your Avatar seems that you're not too serious either!

Seriously though, I know lots of Kiwis who are obsessed with football and some who hate the attention that the ABs/RWC/ITM/Super rugby gets, mainly League fans and the odd cricket fan who have that attitude (all Kiwis).

May be a skewed sample as I am in one football team, coach another and co-ordinate the coaching weekly sessions for another 5 teams.

At our club we have around 400 kids up to 8, then about the same in 9 to 12 and plenty more older kids, girls and mens/womens. Probably not as many as the local rugby club but close.

Get most of my footie tv fix from Aus, who seem to be moving faster and further than NZ in the right direction. Check out SBS on freeview satellite for Europa, Champions Leagues, European/EPL/South America Highlights, FA Cup, World Cups, etc tec

bananalana

NO wonder NZ is out in front, they used Foodtown, which is much more expensive than say countdown or woolies or pak n save.

bananalana

Yea granted it was a couple of years ago, but my friend and I were comparing prices of some thing syesterday (she shops at pak n save) and I still reckon most Oz food is more expensive.

Dairy products are cheap here (Oz) but that is really about it.

Meat, fruit and veg are ridiculous here too. Bananas at my local supermarket are currently $17 a kilo so we have stopped eating them LOL. A 3 kilo bag of spuds is like $8 - wtf?! And I pay about $6 or $7 for 4 medium sized apples (what the f***!!!!!!).

We went to the supermarket the other day just to get the absolute necessities, milk, bread, a little bt of fruit for lunches, some muesli bars, dog food and loo paper...plus a few other bits and bobs that you generally need often, but not a proper shop and it cost us $150. We bought hardly anything because we are moving in 2 weeks and it still cost us $150...

Also, for 3 of us to get KFC, it costs us more than $40 which REALLY annoys me LMAO (not supermarket I know).

I guess it's all relative though but I find food excessively priced here and often of poor quality (meat, fruit and veg only there really - especially the fruit and veg)

EDIT: However, now that I have been eating Oz food, its possible I would go back to NZ and find the quality there poor because I have adjusted to Oz food. And perhaps I may find the food expensive if I were buying it in NZ dollars.

bananalana

I meant it is the most played sport in NZ...,...and in fact, the world

DC10

at least you now have the ALDI option in many parts of Aus....

lardyl

indeed - but soon it will all be branded Countdown.
I see what you are saying on the costs of NZ vs Oz
Perhaps the NZ competition (foodstuffs) brings down the prices in NZ over those that Progressives can charge in Oz??
Most of the stuff (dry goods anyway) in Countdown (and lots in the foodstuffs stores) over here is from Oz.
So I am surprised that it costs less here as there is GST on it here unlike unprocessed food in Oz.
Maybe the market can stand higher costs in Oz, or the wage bill is just so different.

lardyl

and do people of a certain ethnicity take their M&S bags along to Aldi so that they can carry the groceries home in the right bag?

DC10

...Waitrose bags are even better!

I remember reading in TNT Mag when I first arrived: "Your choice of supermarket is considered important in Britain, as your social standing will be judged on this."

Times have changed a bit, mind. Thrift/austerity is the new virtue.