[Caroline and Dave]

As most of you know we are back in the UK temporarily and I came across a till receipt from New World in NZ and I was curious to compare it like for like with A UK supermarket (Tesco). I have converted the NZ Dollar to UK pounds using the rather naff exchange rate at the moment so bear in mind if the rate goes up again you should get more for your money.
However before I give you the figures please realise that although food is cheaper,most other things are comparable with the UK.Clothing,electrical goods,furniture etc are similar prices to the UK and some things like paint,building materials etc are generally dearer.The wages are lower so do not let the lower price of food fool you into thinking it is generally cheaper in NZ.However most of the dept stores do have 1 or 2 day sales every now and then so savings can be made. My advice re Briscoes( Who stock household goods,small appliances etc) is to use this store when they have their sales days which are fairly common. They often have up to 50% off on these days but most goods are between 10 to 30% off.We had to return an item when the sale was not on and we were the only people in the store.
One thing we did notice ,there are a lot of interest free credit offers.Check very carefully when the interest free period expires as the interest payments are then extortionate.
With regards to electrical appliances we managed to get a 20% discount by buying several items at once.
Back to the shopping list.I am not going to list the individual prices only the total.

Weetbix (Weetabix substitute) 24
Red Grapes 1 KG
Diet Coke 2litre uk 2.25 litre NZ
Nescafe coffee 100g
Bananas 1 Kg
Whole pineapple
Potatoes 10 kg
Gala Apples
Coleslaw 450g
Leg lamb
8 x beef sausages
Pork pies x 4
Edam Cheese 1 kg
Fresh pasta 400g
Fresh soup 600g
Wholemeal bread
Tea bags x 100
packet pasta strips 375g
extra virgin olive oil 500ml
Finish auto dishwasher powder.
Nivea body lotion 400ml
Twin pack ultra paper towels
Vo5 Shampoo/conditioner 300ml
Heineken 330 ml bottles x 12

New World price £39.22
Tescos £73.56

As you can see food is cheaper but as I have already said other items are about the same,but you can save on getting a deal on more than 1 item or attending sale days.

One thing we could not seem to get anywhere was non stick pots. Plenty of non stick frying pans but nowhere does non stick pots.

Anyone know where you can get some?
Hope this helps

Kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

[BaldyBeardyBloke]

Good work and very interesting. Thanks for that.

[Danny & Julie]

I bought a great non stick fry pan in briscoes and yes it was a sale day with 50% off:yes I've not seen any non stick pans and I looked everywhere, but I ended up with some really good quality pans. I've learnt when buying household goods to always look out for offers & sales days. You can save a fortune.
When buying furniture always ask for a discount, I felt cheeky doing it the first time but it saved me $300.00. Its the norm here to go from shop to shop and get them to price match or beat each other.
Hope this helps
Julie

[jubjub]

You can get pans in Farmers, Warehouse and Briscoes, I have been looking for one too! Also Farmers do discount days quite frequently too, not bought anything for full price from there in ages!

[liamnrach]

Dave and Caroline

A most interesting post....but from what you say, I guess that the food really does need to be cheap given the expense of some of the other goods, such as white goods?:yes

It's really good for us to see this though as we still live in the UK at the moment, so any scrap of information we can get that gives us a better idea of what to expect (realism is such a great quality to have!), then so much the better:)

Thank you:nice1

Liam n Rach

[xanctus]

NZ is never been cheaper IMHO, everything is lot more expensive the fact that NZ location is remote, so most of stuffs sold here have to cover those shipping n handling thing.
It took us a while to get used to it, cause formerly lived in US where online shopping is so much much varieties and price comparison. Now, we're totally just need to take some more time when buying stuffs.

[Lupin]

I have converted the NZ Dollar to UK pounds using the rather naff exchange rate at the moment so bear in mind if the rate goes up again you should get more for your money.

A useful comparison for tourists then.

Once earning the kiwi $ and spending the Kiwi $ I think you'll find it quite different.

[Lupin]

For example we doubled our income from GBP to NZ$, so for us a meaningful conversion rate is more like x2.

[incredible hulse]

For example we doubled our income from GBP to NZ$, so for us a meaningful conversion rate is more like x2. I tend to agree here - in that I find most goods in NZ about x2 UK prices; unfortuntely for us my salary in NZ is only about 1.4 times my UK package hence in real terms we're financially worse off

[Lupin]

I have noticed that higher earners in the UK seem to have to take bigger drop in lifestyle than lower earners. We came here straight after dh qualified as a nurse and haven't had to make much adjustment in lifestyle.

I find food shopping more expensive to get comparable quality than in the UK.

[katandbob]

I have just been to New World for a few bits

Porterhouse steak (3 small ones ) $7.88
Beef Mince1kg $11.56
budget bread white $0.90
Vogals grain bread $2.79 (on special)
Vogals sunflwr bread $2.79
spinnich $2.59
Spagetti 450g $2.29 (decent stuff not budget)
spag sauce $3.80 (have to be careful which brand you buy most have too much sugar - Yuk!)
soup mix - for homemade soups $1.99
ditto - chicken/veg flavor $1.99 these were on special
budget baked beans $0.65
breadmaker yeast $3.05
duracell battery for fire alarm $5.69
fresh ranchslaw (red cabbage etc to make your own coleslaw) $4.39
hair band $2.85
shampoo (on special) $4.99
Conditioner (on special) $4.99
Chicken/apricot quiche for lunch $2.95
Scones x4 (on special) $2.49
Total of $70.63 and I got a 0.04c docket off petrol or diesel at a BP garage and Flybuy points

now at the exchange rate
70.63 NZD = 26.8145 GBP

New Zealand Dollars United Kingdom Pounds
1 NZD = 0.379648 GBP 1 GBP = 2.63402 NZD

$70 for a basket full of shopping on NZ wages is a lot, and a business client who did his tax return this week - commented that his household shopping had gone up $900 since last tax year - and they still buy the same things at the same shops! - unfortunately the mortgages have gone up too, but NOT the Wages!

anyone fancy seeing if they can get this at say Mark's or tescos non budget range which would work at a decent comparison.

one thing you do need to be careful with when buying in KG/Grams - I got stung by some nuts - I saw a special offer of 2.92 - thought ooh i'll get some - everything around it was priced at the KG but the nuts were for 100g! so I ended up paying $28 for a bag of nuts:( - I have been told not to get them again! (too much of a luxury!) xmas day only....but its sunny then and I don't fancy them at that time:roll LOL

[Milliemoo]

ooohhhhh I love threads like these :D

I've just fished out my New World reciept out the bin from this morning.

We are 2 x adults (+ 1 fat cat), never buy meat, cook from scratch, try to buy organic as much as possible. I budget $800 per month for food shopping (incl wine) and housekeeping (incl cleaning products, toiletires etc) and spend less than that most months, but will always go over that if we have a big party or Christmas or something.

I buy smoked fish (usually a couple of big chunks of Tuna and some Gem) from the market and also pressed apple juice and posh cheese if I'm feeling naughty.

I buy all my wholefoods (lentils, chick peas, mung/kidney/black eyed beans etc) from an organic whole foods store in Auckland.

In general, I buy what I want from the supermarket, so don't really buy "in season" as such, but I do try to make the most of what ever is on special/in season at the time.

Anchovy Fillets 80g $4.15
Pressed Apple Juice $2.75 (normally buy from market - $4.50 2L)
6 x Jumbo Free Range Eggs $2.99
Fabric Softener 1L $2.99
2 x Boxes of Large Tissues $3.98
Budget Cat Litter 4.5L $4.39
Capers 100g $2.65
Glad Tidy Bags $4.69
Best Foods Lite Mayo $5.45
Natural Muesli 662g $5.23
Organic Low Fat Milk 1L $2.29
Flat Mushrooms 227g $2.73
Button Mushrooms 227g $2.27
Large Leek $1.99
Telegraph Cucumber (the really long ones) $3.29
Potatoes 690g $1.38
Braeburn Apples 775g $2.26
Onions 510g $1.02
Red Kummara 260g $1.56
Oranges 945g $4.72
Carrot .34c
Bananas 1.170kg $3.27
Basil Plant $2.29
Lemon (although I think she charged me for lime) .60c
Tomatoes 360g $3.24
Garlic .90c

Total $73.32

I'll go to the shops again on Sunday and probably spend another $30/40 and also about $55 at the market for 1 months supply of pressed juice and enough smoked fish for a fortnight.

Milliemoo

[Pip]

useful thread - thanks guys! (hope you are managing back there!)

Also mental note to self, have not been to briscoes yet, so will have to start looking out for sales days!

in terms of the income discussions, I think the biggest factor is how much money (capital) you can bring with you. If we sold our UK flat, we would be mortgage free here, which would make a huge difference to our lifestyle, because at the moment, we have enough income to live on and a reasonably similar standard of living - nothing extravagant, but we can pay the mortgage/ bills and eat out from time to time, however at the end of the month, we have nothing left over for pensions/holidays/emergencies etc which is the main difference from the UK and I'm not sure if thats sustainable for ever (for us) anyway. I guess we need to figure out whether everything we've gained outweighs that, which is what we intend to spend the next two years doing....

I read lots of threads about income/expenditures/cost of living, and I think its important to look at the bigger picture. It is going to be easier to live off a lower salary, if you have no mortgage / or a small one. I guess its our own fault for not making that last committment and selling our UK flat - but I guess we're just cautious by nature!

[incredible hulse]

one thing you do need to be careful with when buying in KG/Grams - I got stung by some nuts - I saw a special offer of 2.92 - thought ooh i'll get some - everything around it was priced at the KG but the nuts were for 100g! so I ended up paying $28 for a bag of nuts:( - I have been told not to get them again! (too much of a luxury!) xmas day only....but its sunny then and I don't fancy them at that time:roll LOL :D Cracked me up that as I did the same thing on Sunday with some cashew nuts. Only got about 3 handfuls and it was coming to 14 dollars - chucked them back in the serving container and took a single scoop for 3 dollars ! That said I still managed to spend 258 dollars in Pak n Save for less than a weeks shopping :confused:

[Caroline and Dave]

I have just been to New World for a few bits

Anyone fancy seeing if they can get this at say Mark's or tescos non budget range which would work at a decent comparison.

Hi Kat.I have got the individual prices but am a bit short of time at the moment but I came up with $117.08 compared to $70.63. As has been said taking into consideration the low wages this works out dearer than the UK which makes all the white goods,etc, extortionate.
Another thing I have noticed Kat,is that you seem to be paying more for your mince in Invercargil than we do in Albany. We paid $9.99 1kg for steak mince at New World. Does this mean the less population or further South you go, the dearer the groceries?
I have redefined my question re frying pans. What we are after is non stick pots/saucepans. Everywhere does non stick frying pans,but no pots/saucepans.There must be somewhere that does them. The man in Briscoes said he didn't know you could get such a thing to which I replyed"You should come to England".

Kindest regards

Dave and Caroline

[jaycee]

How about:
http://www.thekitchenshop.co.nz/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=261004
http://www.gourmetlifestyle.co.nz/Gourmet%20Non-Stick%20Collection.htm
http://www.stoffels.co.nz/index.cfm/page/sitemap/thiscat/117

Might cost a bit more than Briscoes though!

Saucepans were one thing I priced up properly when doing my shipping inventory - decent ones are hard to find and expensive.

There's a kitchenware shop in Queens Arcade in Auckland that might do them as well - I haven't been in there - I know I'd be tempted ;)

[Caroline and Dave]

Thanks Jaycee. I think I will wait until I get our container over here and stock up on Non Stick saucepans as there is definetly a shortage on them over here.(At a decent price anyway)

Kind regards

Dave and Caroline

[mossum]

spag sauce $3.80 (have to be careful which brand you buy most have too much sugar - Yuk!)

agreed ! they are rancid . I don't even chance it any more - just use tinned tomatoes & herbs etc - would use chopped ones - but I think that they are extortionate !!!

vic x

[KerryS]

Caroline and Dave - you can get non-stick saucepans in KMart, which are made of that anodised black stuff. (Really technical here!)
No idea of the cost, but I imagine they'd be pretty reasonable in there.

[aberdian]

I just did an online shopping comparison between Sainsburys and Foodtown. Our weekly shop was £132 in UK and £89 in NZ for pretty much exactly the same items....... A worthwhile exercise.

[Lupin]

I just did an online shopping comparison between Sainsburys and Foodtown. Our weekly shop was £132 in UK and £89 in NZ for pretty much exactly the same items....... A worthwhile exercise.

Can I ask how you converted from GBP to NZ$? If you multiplied by the exchange rate (about 2.6) then you'd need to have an income as many times greater in NZ for the comparison to be meaningful.

[StevieD]

Not got a problem with the shopping here. Like everywhere, if you look around you can get the stuff. Saying that, we used to have to shop like that in the UK, no extravagance for us there.
We can eat well here, not on brilliant wages either, but it is difficult to "convert" and often dangerous to do that. We are finding after 3 months in that we are starting to convert less and less.

Good post though guys! Interesting to see Tesco being twice the price for comparable foodstuffs, but as you mentioned the wage gap is so much lower so horses for courses methinks - and as the saying goes *every little helps":nice1

[Jo Jo]

This is fascinating to me. I completely get what Lupin77 is saying that you cannot just compare £ for $ if you are earning dollars, but as I will still be earning £s to start with it's quite useful to see how the prices compare.

[aberdian]

Can I ask how you converted from GBP to NZ$? If you multiplied by the exchange rate (about 2.6) then you'd need to have an income as many times greater in NZ for the comparison to be meaningful.

Did it the other way round. Our normal weekly shop here in Aberdeen was £132, the Foodtown equivalent was $232, or £89 equivalent (using 2.62 exchange rate). It's a useful tool for us for budgeting, knowing that we'll need about $1000/month for food alone, based on a normal weeks shop. It all goes into the how-much-do-we-need-to-earn spreadsheet :)

Ian

[Lupin]

With my new job our weekly food budget is up to $170 :D

Here's today's shopping from Napier Pakn'save

BUDGET PENNE 500g $0.99
DIET COKE 1.5L 2@ $1.80 $3.60
GREGGS TOM. SAUCE $2.38
ORG. NOODLES $2.39
HUBBARDS light&right CEREAL $3.98
TOOTHBRUSH $1.08
MOLENBURG BREAD 2@$2.85 $5.70
SPICY FRUIT MUFFINS $2.49
KID'S TOOTHBRUSH 2@$1.08 $2.16
BAKED BEANS 2@$1.22 $2.44
RASPBERRY JAM $3.74
OLIVE OIL 500ml $5.60
SOY&LINSEED PITTA $3.48
REDBUSH TEA $2.58
PASTA SAUCE $2.58
SAKATA $1.98
BIODEGRADABLE WET WIPES $1.98
CHEWY BARS 2BOXES@$1.98 $3.96
6 litres pure JUICE $5.96
TOFU S/DRIED TOM SAUSAGES $6.53
12 YOGHURTS $5.96
CASHEW DIP $1.48
1kg COLBY CHEESE $8.06
small pot CREAM $1.12
4l MILK $5.34
3 PIZZA BASES $3.21
HOMOUS $2.68
1kg VANILLA YOGHURT $2.98
4 KUMARA $4.98
2.5KG BRAEBURN APPLES $4.48
2.78 kg BANANAS $4.93
500g NZ GREEN BEANS $5.50
BAG OF TOMATOES $5.98
BAG OF PEARS $3.98
WHOLE BUTTERCUP SQUASH $1.68
1kg MANDARINES $3.28
1kg CARROTS $1.29
CUCUMBER $2.98
EGG PLANT (HUGE) $4.98
500g GARLIC $3.88
5kg POTATOES $3.78
500g MUSHROOMS $4.74
600g PARSNIPS $3.23
B/EYE TUNA CAKES $6.39
CORN CROQUETTES $3.82
LENTIL BURGERS $4.35
GRATED PARMESAN $2.98

Plus two things I can't for the life of me identify! Comes to about $170 and will feed the four of us for the week. As you can see I don't really buy meat and my cupboards are full of dried and tinned pulses and other staples (huge bags of flour, sugar etc).

Most of the things are comparable in quality to what we ate in the UK but garlic is frequently rubbish and cheese is like rubber unless you've a little more in the budget.

[Lupin]

If I use our income converter it equates to about 85GBP and we used to spend about that so we're around about on budget for shopping. It's our rent (and mortgage to be) that have proven the biggest problem.

[Sam B]

Something tells me you haven't fully converted to the whole meat eating philosophy Lupin!

[Lupin]

No, not at all, lol! The thought of it makes me feel ill; I just don't call myself a vegetarian anymore!

[Sam B]

Very cunning! I might try that, "I'm not a vegetarian, I just don't eat meat... now pass me another tofu and sun-dried tomato sausage please".

[srivett]

Thanks everyone for this very useful topic! Your shopping lists are a great basis to compare my spending in Toronto vs. what I can expect in NZ. From what I can see, it looks fairly comparable on most items. The two of us usually live on $300CAD/month for groceries (not including cat supplies) and have lived on less when we had to. Lots of grains and veggie stirfrys go a long way. Although am I right to say that there's a lot more fresh fruit and veggie buying going on in NZ? That's going to be very tempting! :)

Does anyone come from N. America who could confirm the $ - $ conversion, or knock me over the head with the hard truth if I'm way off base?