Holy guacamole, the price of avocados has dropped!
Millennials rejoice, you can have your mortgage and eat your smashed avo on toast too. Just as long as it’s homemade says millennial homeowner and mum Jessica Dalton.
Millennials rejoice, you can have your mortgage and eat your smashed avo on toast too. Just as long as it’s homemade, says millennial homeowner and mum Jessica Dalton.
According to Stats NZ food prices have risen 2.5 per cent over the year but the cost of fruit and vegetables dropped 4.7 per cent in October. These figures include avocados which are at a record low at $7.54 per kilogram in October compared to the record high of $28.67 in May.
It’s the lowest they have been since Australian millionaire, Tim Gurner, said millennials needed to stop spending so much on coffees and smashed avo toast in order to get onto the property ladder in 2017. Comments made by demographer and baby boomer Bernard Salt, bemoaning hedonistic hipster cafe spending, were similar.
But for Jessica and Wyatt Dalton, homeowners and parents to one year old Freya, the avocado price drop is a chance to indulge in a treat following their weekly grocery shop.
The couple purchased their first home earlier in the year and survive on one income. Like most Kiwi families who have managed to scratch together a house deposit the hard part is managing living costs with a mortgage.
Photo: Esther Burnett.
“Things are super tight, we are lucky that my parents helped us at the start. But now it’s a luxury to buy nice toilet paper,” explains Jess.
And all those fancy lattes Mr Gurner mentioned are nowhere to be seen.
“We go out for coffee maybe once a month, and if we get food it might be a scone we share. But we try and eat beforehand. I have my instant Moccona at home now.”
Mr Salt would be thrilled to know that eating out is not an option for the family anymore either.
“For dinner it has to be a special occasion. We’ve only been out once this year. We have to save for weeks in advance. We wouldn’t just go out to eat because we felt like it.”
Groceries are well planned and food prices are compared to ensure the couple stick within their budget.
“We have $130 a week for groceries and that’s not including meat, we are very lucky that my parents give us meat. But a lot of our meals are vegetarian to save costs too.”
Carbohydrate rich dishes make meals more filling and planning is fundamental to saving money while missing meals is not uncommon.
“Sometimes Wyatt skips lunch to save money because he knows we need things for dinner or Freya. Our mortgage is the same price as it was when we were renting but there’s insurance costs that add $200 dollars extra.”
Photo: Esther Burnett
Jess knows they’re lucky to be on the property ladder but admits it’s a struggle living week by week.
“Having a single income is hard. I feel guilty because I feel like I should be at work but I also feel it is important for me to be with my child. I want to be there for her in her most important years.
“In our society today mums are expected to work like we don’t have kids and parent like we don’t have work.
“It’s not the same like it was back in the day. You either live extremely tight like us or you both work and sacrifice other things. If our parents weren’t supportive we couldn’t do any of this.”
Jess loves being a mum but realises that having children isn’t easy with the current cost of living.
“We chose to have Freya, and we love being parents but I can see why people choose not to have children to save money. We’d definitely have more chocolate and wine on the shopping list otherwise,” she laughs.
For now though, Mr Gurner would be pleased, it’s indulging in homemade smashed avo on toast with a Moccona latte in hand.
Mr Salt would be equally delighted.
