Cost of living: Rotorua and Tauranga mums share tips for cutting food and grocery bills

The rising cost of living is hitting Kiwis hard. Today, NZME - publisher of the Rotorua Daily Post and NZ Herald - is broadening its coverage of the cost of living crisis. We will look at how skyrocketing costs are impacting us all, and seek advice from experts and locals on how to manage your finances through these tough times.

The rising cost of living has forced one Rotorua mother to “completely change” the way she shops.

Three years ago, thrifty shopper Sarah Blakey-Reichardt shared her tips with the Rotorua Daily Post on ways to cut a weekly grocery bill. Back then she was spending between $200 and $220 a week for herself, her daughter and her partner.

Now, she is spending between $250 and $270 because of rising food costs.

In a bid to guide and inform New Zealanders through these tough times, the Herald Price Tracker has been launched online today. The digital tracker looks at the price variations of different items and the average living costs of different households in New Zealand.

Blakey-Reichardt agreed to again share how she copes with rising food prices.

Blakey-Reichardt said the price of beef was “through the roof”, and staples like chuck steak, corned beef and silverside were “expensive as” and now considered a treat meal for her family of three.

According to Stats NZ figures released earlier this month, food prices increased 12 per cent over the past 12 months and soared the most since 1989 in the year to February.

Blakey-Reichardt’s daughter, 14, was a high school student and both Blakey-Reichardt and her husband worked full-time.

“We don’t qualify for any government assistance. We’re right in that middle and still rent, as many people do. We’ve got car payments, you know - there’s not much left over at the end of the week.

“I’m not sitting here in the comfort of my lovely own home, working part-time like I’d like to be in my 40s.”

Despite the challenge of the rising food costs, she said the family still managed to eat well due to her stringent shopping habits (see her shopping tips below).

Before going shopping, Blakey-Reichardt looked at everything in their fridge, freezer, and cupboards and wrote down everything they needed.

She also listed the number of meals needed for the week, and asked her family what they wanted.

“My husband will say a chicken stir fry and my daughter will say devilled sausages, and then I’ll put a dash next to those meals and think, ‘What do I need for that’?

“Double sausages, right, I need a Maggi packet; I need a packet of sausages; I’ve already got tomato sauce.”

Rotorua mum Sarah Blakey-Reichardt. Photo / Andrew Warner

Blakey-Reichardt had also started shopping around different stores, checking places such as the Mad Butcher on the way home from work if she was driving past.

“It’s a bit more of a hassle” but it helped keep costs down.

She was strict about keeping to her budget.

“I tell the checkout operator, ‘This is what I’ve got to spend this week’.

“Then I’ll actually start going, right, we don’t need this.”.

Blakey-Reichardt said initially, handing things back was “her greatest shame”, but it was essential in order to keep to a budget and that feeling had now gone.

She said a basket was kept behind the till and a staff member would place unwanted items back on the shelves.

Blakey-Reichardt steered clear of specials such as ‘five for $5′ because it was not worth buying five tins of tomatoes if she could not afford the meat to go with it.

The family avoided takeaways or going out for dinner except for on special occasions and was happy to eat leftovers on busy nights.

“Another thing that I never used to really take into consideration was the weeks that you need the expensive stuff like washing powder, dishwashing liquid, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner.

“What I try to do now is, I stagger that. I don’t just leave it to chance, [I] go around and I check everyone’s deodorants [because] we’re not all running out at the same time.

Meanwhile, Chanchal Saraswat’s food budget had doubled in three years, but she saved money in her weekly shop by buying seasonal vegetables, as well as buying in bulk and sharing with others.

In 2020, Saraswat had a weekly budget of $120 to feed her Tauranga family of four, but that had ballooned out to between $250 and $300.

“[Prices for] most of the stuff have hiked up. For example, milk, butter, fruits, vegetables, bread - almost everything,” she said.

The increase was largely due to the cost of food, she said, but their two growing sons, aged 10 and seven, were eating more than they used to.

Saraswat worked part-time and her husband full-time, and each week she plans meals and creates a list of the groceries she’ll need to feed the family and their two dogs for the week.

Tauranga mother of two Chanchal Saraswat. Photo / Andrew Warner

To help keep costs down, Saraswat bought seasonally, went to the farmers’ market, traded goods with other people and bought in bulk.

“Going to the farmers’ market is always helpful because it’s cheap and fresh and sometimes gives you a deal.”

The family, who owned a home in Bellevue, avoided buying takeaways, and Saraswat preferred cooking from scratch and avoided processed foods.

“I’ve been doing it for so long so it’s-easy peasy, but you have to want to do it,” Saraswat said. “Starting the process is a bit challenging, but once you’re into it, you know where to go, where it’s cheap.

“When you start buying bulk, you spend a lot of money in the first and second week for one product, but over a period of time, you start saving loads.”

Saraswat also shared with others via social media, finding some people often had surplus goods that could be traded or bought.

Rotorua Budget Advisery Service manager Pakanui Tuhura encouraged people to shop where the best deals were, taking into consideration travel costs.

He said people should make a shopping list and stick to it.

If people had keen gardeners, hunters, divers or fishermen in their families, they could be a good source of fresh, cheap food.

“Don’t overstock your cupboards and use up the oldest items in the cupboards first,” Tuhura said.

“Treat yourself once a month from the savings made - no one wants to eat plain-Jane kai all the time.”