Sustinence

Yes, lets talk about food. Anyone who knows me knows I love food...and treats especially chocolate and cookies of any kind. So, the food scenario has been a bit of an adjustment for me!

In my ignorant state, meaning before we moved here, I assumed a few things about the food here. Most of which have turned out to be false. I assumed with a maritime climate, lots of land, an island in the south pacific would be similar to California in it's produce production. Dead wrong about that one. I assumed fish would be cheap and we would try lots of different kinds. Also, wrong. Fish is more expensive here than in Utah by a lot. Go figure? And, I assumed grocery stores were similar to the US. Wrong again.

The grocery stores are much smaller with an even smaller selection. The produce section is small. Really small. If it doesn't grow in New Zealand right now it's probably not there. The cereal aisle is ten feet with three shelves. Napkins are really hard to find. They don't refrigerate the eggs.....eeek! The quick mix for baking items are rare and if they are available they are super expensive. I have yet to find high fructose corn syrup in anything so everything tastes really sweet. Almost too sweet sometimes. You have to pay for your plastic bags as well.

A funny side note, I sort of forgot that even grocery products would use the metric system. I think I spent more time trying to figure that out than I did actually putting the groceries in the cart. I got some seriously funny looks for how long I was standing there trying to figure out how many grams are equivalent to whatever.

My first grocery bill for one week totaled 325.00. And seriously, when I got home and loaded our empty fridge and pantry it still looked empty. So needless to say the treats have been kept to a minimum which make of course makes me sad. I have now officially tried all of the grocery stores in town and have been able to shrink my bill to 200 a week. Hooray!!!

So, just for fun here's a few common grocery items and their New Zealand prices.

Bread $4.50 for the cheapo kind

Milk $5.95 for (3.8 liters to a gallon) We average 3-4 a weeks right now

Tomatoes $12.00 a kg

Cereal $7.00

Eggs $4.00 per dozen

Diapers $45.00 for 72 diapers (painful, seriously painful)

Yogurt $5.00 for a 6 pack and they are small

strawberries $6.00 for about 6...if you can even find them

Mascara $25.00 basically no makeup products under 20.00

Ramen $2.50 for a 5 pack

Mac n Cheese $3.89 per box and it's not even Kraft

Chicken $12.00 for two medium sized breasts...I can't remember how much per kg it is, but a lot!

Pringles $4.50 one can

Cake mix $6.00

Ok, that's enough of that. I'm seriously getting depressed going through Target and Costco withdrawals. I think I will kiss their floors when we get back!!!

On the flip side I did find a few bargains. This is all relative of course. I think these things are still cheaper in the states.

Avocados $.50 from the kid on the street on the way home from church

Toilet Paper $5.00 for 12 double ply rolls

Honey $4.50 for a big tub and it tastes amazing!!

Ice cream $3.99 for about a pint and it is tasty!

*So my new treats are honey and crackers, guacamole and ice cream! YUM!!