For others, it means noticing the price
jump at the till but carrying on as usual.
Others cut back on what they might deem luxuries.
Or it means the Whanganui City Mission Foodbank drive collected 350 boxes of food, down from the roughly 650 the previous year.
No doubt several factors are at play here, but it is clear that more people need help putting food on the table and those who aren’t struggling have less to give.
That is the cost-of-living crisis at its starkest; people in this country are without food.
The foodbank’s manager, Antony Nobbs, called it a “significant statement about the economic times we live in”.
Tough economic times linger over New Zealand but there are signs things are improving.
Food prices increased 4.1% in the September year, the smallest annual increase since April 2025, according to figures published by Stats NZ.
And while annual inflation rose to 3% by September 30, the highest in 15 months, many economists believe the worst is behind us.
The National-led coalition Government says a focus on bringing interest rates and inflation down is the answer.
Meanwhile, Labour kicked off its 2026 policy by announcing the New Zealand Future Fund, intended to invest in local businesses to keep good jobs and wealth in the country.
Policy change won’t help the immediate and acute need Whanganui’s foodbank drive highlights.
Instead, communities are having to get it done themselves.
In Kaitāia, Maryjane and Tane Manukau, who run MJ’z Seafood and Whānau Kai, set up the Koha Cafe after witnessing the impact of the cost-of-living crisis first-hand.
Meals are either free, paid forward by other patrons or affordably subsidised.
Meanwhile, Whanganui’s Kai Hub is a food rescue organisation collecting and distributing donated food to 21 community charity organisations and five storehouses.
As manager of Community House Whanganui Shelley Loader wrote recently in her column for the Whanganui Chronicle, “The demand for food aid is becoming too great to rely solely on community funding and goodwill.
“Any solution must include both strengthening food aid in the short term through immediate support for food banks and tackling poverty and inequality through longer-term policy initiatives,” she wrote.
The first of those is being taken care of at the grassroots.
The second will be one of the key battlegrounds in next year’s election, with many competing solutions hoping to achieve the same outcome.
The results of Whanganui City Mission’s foodbank drive show just what’s at stake.
