Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

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 / Rotorua Daily Post

'We were cooking over a candle'

By Kristin Macfarlane, kristin.macfarlane@dailypost.co.nz
Rotorua Daily Post·
16 Mar, 2013 05:00 PM2 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

Jasmine McPhee knows first-hand what it means to live in hardship.

At the height of her struggles, the former Rotorua woman, who now lives in South Auckland with her family of six, had her power cut and was forced to cook a can of spaghetti over a candle.

She can relate, like many people, to tough economic times. Now she is helping struggling families provide healthy meals on a budget.

Through Facebook she has created an online community. Her page How to Feed a Family of 6 for Under $20 has been a huge hit. It started on February 18 and has attracted more than 8000 likes - about 3000 people liked it within two weeks.

She has been surprised by the interest.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I kind of knew there was a need but I didn't realise how much," Mrs McPhee said.

She uses her page to share recipes and specials on food and to upload photos of her meals. Mrs McPhee's passion is to help other families get through tough economic times, encourage all members of the family to enjoy cooking and to show people that no matter what their budget, they can eat well. She said being honest and being someone others could relate to was an important part of her page.

"My dream is to help," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Having gone through tough times she said it was important people knew they could still make good food choices.

She said her struggles came at a time when her husband had been made redundant, they had made some bad choices and she was refusing help from her family.

Mrs McPhee encourages people to send her their food budget so she could help plan their meals and make meals suited to them.

She is glad she is helping families but has an ultimate goal of starting a charitable trust providing cooking and budgeting classes for families. She was saddened by families who filled up on food with no nutritional value such as takeaways because they were cheap. She said she wanted to help them in particular.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

'Social dysfunction at its worst': Farmer and prostitute sentenced

04 Jul 01:08 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

04 Jul 12:24 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Flooding closes BoP road, over 100mm of rain recorded

03 Jul 10:55 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

'Social dysfunction at its worst': Farmer and prostitute sentenced

'Social dysfunction at its worst': Farmer and prostitute sentenced

04 Jul 01:08 AM

Judge says Clayton Fox was by far the most culpable in teen prostitution ring.

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

04 Jul 12:24 AM
Flooding closes BoP road, over 100mm of rain recorded

Flooding closes BoP road, over 100mm of rain recorded

03 Jul 10:55 PM
Ram raid targets Rotorua store overnight

Ram raid targets Rotorua store overnight

03 Jul 10:21 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

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
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • 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