Meal kit delivery service freezes prices for “stressed” parents.
The soaring cost of food has left more than half of Kiwi parents feeling stressed and exhausted, a new survey has found – and has led to Bargain Box freezing the price of its meal prices.
In a study commissioned by Bargain Box, its Dinner Time Check-In reveals 51 per cent of parents are feeling this way when thinking about the cost, time and hassle of putting a hot meal on the table.
Mark Winter, CEO of Bargain Box’s parent company, My Food Bag, says the research also shows that weekly food bills have increased by $50 to $149 over the last year for 67 per cent of Kiwi parents: “This (finding) is quite confronting; this cost-of-living crisis makes it very clear the price of food has tipped Kiwis over the edge.”
The survey, which was carried out in February and questioned 600 Kiwi parents across New Zealand who have children living at home, comes as Bargain Box has committed to a price freeze on its meals for at least six months.
“This is our way of acknowledging that times are tough; it also shows we are working hard for our customers and we think it’s important for Kiwis to know this offer is out there,’ Winter says.
Bargain Box also conducted a price comparison with two of its supermarket competitors, Countdown and New World – a step it referred for review to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER).
The comparison revealed that over a recent 11-week period Bargain Box was, on average, 4.4 per cent cheaper than both supermarkets’ delivery options for a like-for-like basket. This equated to an average saving of $7.02 per week, or $77.22 across the full 11-week period.
Pak’n Save was not included in the comparison because it does not deliver online orders.
Winter says the comparison was with food included in Bargain Box’s most popular four-person, five-nights-a-week recipes. These cater for all members of the family.
He says the research shows the most common pain point for parents is the financial sacrifice they must make with their shop (95 per cent) and changes to lifestyle (63 per cent) to provide dinner for their family.
“As a result, 21 per cent of parents are swapping out what meat they are buying, reducing the amount of meat (34 per cent) and only buying items that are on special or discounted (25 per cent),” he says.
“With the Stats NZ food price index highlighting a 12.1 per cent increase in food prices in March compared to the same time last year, there are no signs of this slowing down.”
He says the idea for the price freeze was born out of the findings from the research and is designed to give parents some certainty around their food budget for the next six months. “They’re busy and they’re looking for solutions because their food bill has increased and this, together with fluctuations in prices, makes it hard to plan and budget for.
“They not only want some certainty in their life, but savvy ways to refine their household budget – not being tempted to pop additional items in the trolley at the supermarket – all while trying to feed their family a variety of nutritious meals.”
“As well as now having a fixed cost and certainty with their budget, parents will benefit from the convenience of their meal planning being done for them which takes away a lot of the stress and hassle,” Winter says. “And with the pre-portioned ingredients being delivered to their door they save on fuel, time and even food waste.”
When asked what the most important factors are when deciding what dinners to cook, 43 per cent said making sure meals are nutritious and healthy for the family, while 26 per cent said cooking a variety of different meals was vital – all of which Bargain Box enables people to achieve.
Winter says the unknown in food prices means that people might plan their weekly food shop based on the grocery budget, only to find prices have changed by the time they get to the supermarket.
He says more than 100,000 Bargain Box meals are delivered to Kiwi homes every week. Prices vary depending on what meal selections are made, but prices start as low as $6.60 per plate.
# NZIER was commissioned to review the Bargain Box approach and findings on the data provided by MFB.
It found that New World was more expensive most of the time and Countdown 50 per cent of the time. Including delivery, the average savings over Countdown were 2.95 per cent and New World 5.93 per cent. The delivery fee for Bargain Box was $9.99 per week compared to $14 for both Countdown and New World for orders of the same value.
For more information go to: www.bargainbox.co.nz