Households struggle in face of rising food prices
Following Statistic New Zealand’s report of the Food Price Index (FPI) students are being forced to buy ever cheaper foods and being healthy is getting harder.
The traditional Monday night lamb chop and potato dinner has turned into a guilty pleasure for most Waikato households.
The six per cent hike in food prices over the year reported in the most recent Statistics New Zealand media release hides the worse news of a 23.3 percent annual rise in the price of lamb chops.
And if you fancy a few potatoes with that chop, you’ll be paying 31 percent more than this time last year.
On top of that, every household’s fridge necessity – fresh milk – rose 9.3 per cent in the past year.
Already feeling the pinch, Wintec student Rachel Thomas says food is losing its taste because she has to tighten her wallet and avoid all expensive treats.
“You just have to buy in bulk as much as you can. We use cheaper brands that aren’t always the nicest.
“We like to buy Fair Trade bananas but because of the price we have to buy the commercial ones. The other ones taste better in the sense we’re not eating the “bad” bananas.
“Last year I paid $29 a week for groceries with two other people and this year I pay $40 a week [with three other people] and we are still falling short,” Rachel says.
However, with winter upon us, students and flat dwellers can take comfort in knowing their canned soup has dropped by 13.5 percent.
Student Amelin Ngancjoye-Madjou said it was very hard as he and his flatmate (his brother) try to be healthy but it is that food which is expensive.
“I am just on my way to buy some apples to make some apple crumble but it is not easy with everything so dear,” he said.
The troublesome price hike coincides with last February’s introduced change to the goods and services tax (GST) rate.
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