Niki Bezzant: Learn to eat well on a budget

It is easier to eat well on a tiny budget if you have the skills, and the time.

How hard is it to eat well if you're on a tight budget?

Some would say it's not hard at all. People who struggle need to learn to cook, they say, and learn to budget properly. They're making poor choices because they're lazy. Oh, and they should all plant vegetable gardens, too.

I think this kind of judgment is unfair. It typically comes from people who don't usually have to worry about how they're going to afford to feed the family for the week.

Some of the same people might be annoyed that the price of their daily coffee is going up to accommodate the recent minimum-wage increase.

This kind of judgment also assumes a lot. Mostly it assumes that all other conditions are perfect.

Yes, it is easier to eat well on a tiny budget if you have the skills. But you also need time to plan (because on a tight budget you have to plan every single meal), and to shop and cook.

To have that time you need to have reasonable working hours, reliable transport options and stable childcare. You need to have no other pressures such as debt, unexpected expenses or health problems. Is there any family where that's the case every week?

It also helps to live in an environment where cheap and healthy food is easily accessible. This is not the case for an increasing number of communities.

If you are a family with two adults on the minimum wage ($16.50 an hour), the budget is tight.

If you are renting a house in Auckland, and have average expenses when it comes to power, phone and transport, you could easily spend around two thirds of your $1128 pay each week on just those basics. Which leaves just over $400 for everything else: school expenses, car maintenance, insurance, clothing, debt repayment and, of course, food. Often food can be the only thing that's flexible.

It can mean that for some families there might only be $50 left to feed everyone in a week. Some people could feasibly spend that on flat whites in a week.

This is where cooking and planning skills do help. There are excellent groups supporting families with this.

Kai Time is a successful programme adopted by communities all over the country. It aims to empower families with cooking knowledge, so they can shop for and cook healthy, affordable kai.

The workshop teaches how to make five meals to feed six people, for under $40. The recipes are simple, based on nutrient-dense ingredients and designed to be adaptable, so if there's a cheaper substitution for an ingredient, people can swap it.

This doesn't solve the larger, pressing problem: low incomes and high living costs. But it does arm participants with practical tools, and a sense of empowerment in the face of judgment.

• Niki Bezzant is editor-at-large for Healthy Food Guide www.healthyfood.co.nz