Sonya Bateson: Food prices should be lower - despite extreme weather

The prices of produce such as grapes, watermelon and stone fruit has been a hot topic online, writes Sonya Bateson. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

Summer birthdays are the best.

I should know, I’m a summer baby. An Aquarian, if you’re into that sort of thing. A classic example of one too, I’m told, but that’s beside the point.

Having a summer birthday was awesome during my school years. There were so many fun things to do to celebrate – the weather was almost always stunning, the water was warm, there weren’t a lot of sports at that time of year to try to co-ordinate around, and the food was always delicious. And, thanks to delicious summer fruits, abundant. So much food.

That’s mostly due to my family’s tendency to over-cater events, though, I admit. A trait I seem to have inherited.

It happens every time. I’ll send out the invitations, get the RSVPs, calculate the amount of food I’ll need plus a little extra just in case, and then get to shopping. At the supermarket, I’ll be filling the trolley and “oh, I should probably grab some chips and dip too for a snack while people are waiting for the food”, or “one bag of sausages should be enough, but I’d better grab another just in case people are really hungry”.

Then we’re eating leftovers for the next week. Not that I mind that part, mind, leftovers are great.

But in this economy, it pays to shop a little wiser.

I attempted that for my kid’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. I truly did. I made a lot of the food myself – baked and decorated his cake, crafted some beautiful (if I do say so myself) cookies shaped as helicopters that I spent hours decorating with royal icing, and made vanilla cupcakes with piped mountains of chocolate buttercream icing.

I was rather proud of that effort, but I knew I’d still need other foods. Especially given the weather forecast – hot, clear skies, little wind.

Off to the supermarket I trotted with the intention of buying some refreshing fruit, some barbecue meat and a selection of drinks. It’s the last thing I wanted to do on a public holiday but needs must.

Hoo boy.

I thought fruit was supposed to get cheaper in the summer. How is it that apples, an out-of-season fruit, are still pretty much the cheapest option at the moment? Apples and imported bananas.

The internet has been awash lately with posts from people sharing the most outrageously-priced produce they can find. It’s almost a game.

“Mum’s ballin’,” on a photo of a half watermelon bought for $14.59.

“My mum purchased grapes at $20 for a bunch,” on a thread about the price of apples.

“‘Has anyone found stone fruit cheaper than $7 a kilo?’ ‘Nah, can’t even get apples for that price mate’,” went another conversation.

Intellectually, I get it. Extreme weather events have long-lasting effects, particularly on produce. All that flooding last year did a number on our country’s horticulture, and that drives prices up. Makes sense.

But from what I have seen and heard, I believe I’m far from alone in thinking that prices of some food and grocery items should be lower than they are, even considering the extenuating circumstances.

And, to add to the general discourse about high prices for produce, the Commerce Commission has announced it has opened an investigation into allegations of Fair Trading Act breaches by the major supermarket chains.

Consumer NZ complained to the commission in August and chief executive Jon Duffy said Consumer NZ’s range of concerns included differences in price on shelves to what people pay at the checkout, and multi-buys where it costs more than buying a single item.

Duffy said the act’s penalties were not stiff enough, citing a recent fine of $78,000 for a supermarket with different till pricing to the advertised shelf price. “[That’s] just a few hours’ turnover for a business that large,” Duffy said.

Spokespeople for Woolworths (previously Countdown) and Foodstuffs (New World and Pak’nSave) both said the supermarkets would co-operate fully with the investigation.

It’s kind of sad to hear all this discourse.

Most of the people I knew growing up were always loyal to a particular supermarket based on things like the quality of customer service, the involvement the owners had in the community, or the local growers the supermarkets supported.

I’m sure there’s still a bit of that today. But, more commonly, it seems some people choose their grocery store based solely on price or convenience. I know I do, especially during a cost-of-living crisis when fruit becomes a rationed snack rather than a dietary staple.

I miss the good old days of snacking on watermelon from dawn to dusk, leaving a trail of sticky handprints and black seeds wherever we went.

I hope they’re not gone forever.

Sonya Bateson is a writer, reader and crafter raising her family in Tauranga. She is a Millennial who enjoys eating avocado on toast, drinking lattes and defying stereotypes. As a sceptic, she reserves the right to change her mind when presented with new evidence.