NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Companies / Retail

Great country, shame about prices

Beck Vass
By Beck Vass
NZ Herald·
20 Aug, 2010 05:30 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The lifestyle wins out but (from left) Leon Aoki-Woodruffe, Steve Dorner, Jasmine Aoki-Woodruffe and Kate Woodruffe find New Zealand expensive. Picture / Sarah Ivey

The lifestyle wins out but (from left) Leon Aoki-Woodruffe, Steve Dorner, Jasmine Aoki-Woodruffe and Kate Woodruffe find New Zealand expensive. Picture / Sarah Ivey

Is Godzone a rip-off? We tried buying an Auckland family's shopping at supermarkets in New Zealand, Australia, Britain and the US - and found we were paying more

Between them, Auckland couple Kate Woodruffe and Steve Dorner have lived and worked in Japan, the United States and Australia.

They've settled here for family reasons and to raise Jasmine, 17, and Leon, 13, but they say New Zealand is "by far" the most expensive place to live. Not that
they're complaining - far from it.

"It's a lifestyle choice and I think a lot of people feel that way," said Ms Woodruffe, 43.

"I lived away for years ... [but] I had kids and I wanted to be by my family. The salaries certainly are smaller here but it's those choices you make. I'm just lucky that what I love happens to pay reasonably well."

With Ms Woodruffe's job in public relations for IBM and Mr Dorner a lecturer at the Media Design School, the family are in the high-income bracket.

Even so, they have noticed increasing costs of milk, butter, cheese, meat and fish and are watching their spending as mortgage rates start to rise. Ms Woodruffe bakes her own biscuits, cuts icecream and junk food off the menu - apart from "a bit of chocolate" - and concentrates on vegetables and good-quality meat.

"I would like to eat more fish, but fish is ridiculously expensive ... fish is outrageous. We're surrounded by water."

The couple were not surprised when the Weekend Herald found a cut-down version of their weekly supermarket shopping list with 27 basic food and cleaning items cost $138.77 here, well ahead of $116.15 for the same shopping list in Britain and $122.52 in the United States.

Only Australia ($149.92) was more expensive.

"I've got a brother who's in London," said Ms Woodruffe. "He was always complaining, 'God, I can't believe how expensive it is here. It's so much cheaper to live in London'."

Her husband's twin brother, who lives in New York, tells a similar story.

"They can go to the markets and buy New Zealand snap-frozen orange roughy - enough for a dinner party for US$7. It's New Zealand's fish. Whereas here, even when you see it, it's like $40 a kilo."

Mr Dorner, who is from the United States, also notices the costs here - along with his friends, many of whom took pay cuts to shift to New Zealand.

"They are quite surprised at the cost of living here now ... the rental accommodation, food, the price of properties, eating out."

The former Los Angeles resident said New Zealand living costs were up there with the most expensive US cities - and yet salaries were lower. "I wonder how people can live in Auckland. It's just ridiculously expensive for anybody who's working at that lower cut of salary. You just wouldn't be able to get out and do anything.

"We are privileged and we can afford to eat healthily but if we wanted to eat cheaply we would probably have a very poor diet. The cheaper meats are also the fattiest and the cheapest foods are also the more highly-processed foods.

"It must be really hard for people who are conscious of wanting to feed the family a good healthy diet with lean meat and veges."

Ms Woodruffe said the family spent about $350 on groceries each week, including cleaning products and other items.

Mr Dorner, 52, does a weekly shop at Pak'N Save for the main items. They also visit local fruit stores and butchers for specialty meats and buy environmentally friendly cleaning products where they can.

Both emphasise that they feel fortunate to have enough money to live comfortably - and that New Zealand still wins out on lifestyle despite the high cost of living.

"It's quality of life over career choice," said Mr Dorner. "It's raising your kids, it's having nice clean beaches where there aren't hundreds of thousands of people.

"I lived in LA for four years. You'd go to the beach and it was just like a sea of people - you couldn't find anywhere to put down a towel ... it wasn't relaxing by any stretch of the imagination."

How to spend less on groceries
* If you have time, split your shopping. Do a supermarket run for the basics and buy fruit and vegetables at a specialist shop, which will often have fresher goods at cheaper prices.
* Make a list before you shop. This helps you stick to a budget.
* Buy home brands, especially for products where you won't notice the difference anyway.
* Check out specials carefully. Supermarkets use eye-catching low prices to attract customers but it's not worth it if you pay more overall.

Tell us your story
What do you think of the cost of living in New Zealand? Tell us what you think is good or bad value for money. Email newsdesk@nzherald.co.nz

Discover more

Economy

Look on the bright side - you can't spend it when you're gone

15 Jul 04:00 PM
Opinion

Peter Bills: NZ - 100 per cent Pure rip-off

15 Jul 08:40 PM
Opinion

<i>Peter Bills:</i> Don't shoot the messenger, guys

19 Jul 04:00 PM
Opinion

Is NZ a rip-off?

19 Jul 08:32 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Retail

Business|companiesUpdated

New World customers warned after ‘password spraying’ attack

12 Jul 02:39 AM
Retail

'Challenging conditions': Luxury retail giant DFS closing Kiwi stores

11 Jul 07:43 AM
Premium
Retail

Push Gummies halts sales amid creatine content controversy

11 Jul 06:20 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Retail

New World customers warned after ‘password spraying’ attack

New World customers warned after ‘password spraying’ attack

12 Jul 02:39 AM

New World's parent company Foodstuffs says none of its systems were breached.

'Challenging conditions': Luxury retail giant DFS closing Kiwi stores

'Challenging conditions': Luxury retail giant DFS closing Kiwi stores

11 Jul 07:43 AM
Premium
Push Gummies halts sales amid creatine content controversy

Push Gummies halts sales amid creatine content controversy

11 Jul 06:20 AM
Top 5 takeaways from Samsung's super-slim foldable phone and watch event

Top 5 takeaways from Samsung's super-slim foldable phone and watch event

10 Jul 05:00 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP