Bluebirds on the Ground. Jen in New Zealand.

I am pleased to have Jen in New Zealand report today.   Jen has school aged children and she is a wonderful baker which greatly adds to her home economy!   

Over to Jen...

I first came to know Annabel through her older blog, The Bluebirds are Nesting. I already followed Mimi’s blog A Tray of Bliss, and one day she referenced a homemade gift guide that Annabel had written. I went over to read it and found it so useful. So from there I became a regular reader.  I live in the North Island of New Zealand. 

In NZ we have daily media reports on inflation and the cost of living. We have a general election in October this year, and cost of living is considered to be one of the biggest areas that voters are interested in. 

I actually began writing this report a couple of months ago, but had to put off finishing it. I went back to add to it and realised much of what I had written was already outdated. It is Autumn here and the mornings and evenings are noticeably cooler and darker. Most days are still sunny and warm. 

Groceries: these have gone up pretty much across the entire shop. Meat is very expensive. There are still specials to be found, but even the ‘reduced for quick sale’ meat is not discounted as generously as it used to be. 
Fruit and vegetables are much more expensive than they used to be. This has not been helped by major flooding earlier this year in parts of our largest city and a devastating cyclone that caused major damage in a part of our country that provides a lot of fruit. This year at the end of tomato season you could buy ‘preserving tomatoes’ for $5/kg at my local greengrocer. In other years the same tomatoes have been $1/kg. I buy 10kg sacks of potatoes. This time last year the price was $10 for a sack. The cheapest I’ve seen them this year is $19. They are still a cheap vegetable compared to others, but an example of just how much a total grocery bill has increased due to individual price rises. 
I think I probably buy a fairly limited range of items, there are whole aisles in the supermarket I don’t shop from. But even on the basics the increases are noticeable. Tomato paste used to be $2 a jar. It’s now $2.50. That’s a 25% increase. And it was in one hit, not a gradual rise. I used to buy condensed tomato soup as a base for curry. Again, overnight it went from $1.90/tin to $2.80. A 47% increase! Dried pasta has increased from $1/bag to $1.50/bag. A 50% increase. On an item that many people would be buying every week. These increases are far higher than the rate of inflation. 
This year new rules came into effect around the conditions that chickens must be kept in for egg production (these changes were decided on years ago, in the interests of animal welfare). This has caused limits to be applied in many shops as the supply has been impacted. The cheapest eggs I can buy at the moment are $0.55 per egg. I buy trays of 20, people who buy smaller cartons would be paying more per egg. 
There are still limits in some stores on items like toilet paper, cheese, bread, dried fruit. Unfortunately these limits often apply to the best value products, so in order to get the amount I need for my family I have to make more than one trip. 


I received notification this week from our power company that power prices will be increasing from May 1st. This is both to the daily charge (approx $12/month increase), and the usage charge (different for each household dependant on how much power they use). These price increases occur in the last month of Autumn, so Winter power bills will be impacted. 

Petrol prices increased dramatically last year, the government introduced a fuel subsidy of 25c/litre. This has been extended a couple of times and I believe it is to be phased out at the end of June. As incentive to use public transport this was also subsidised by 50%. 

Interest rates have more than doubled for many people who have refixed in the last few months. This must be particularly difficult for recent buyers who are heavily mortgaged. The housing market has slowed down a lot. Rent is also increasing in most areas. 

I have read each of the reports from around the world, and I regularly read the comments section. There are so many wonderful examples of how other bluebirds make the most out of the resources available to them that I feel a bit out of place trying to give any tips! But I’ll try to add some ideas that maybe haven’t been covered so far… 

To make meat go further: 
If I buy sausages I always make them into a meal (toad in the hole, devilled sausages etc) and I slice the sausages once they’ve browned. This way everyone gets sausages but I don’t need to make sure I have 2 or 3 per person. 

I look for vegetarian recipes like pasta bakes or curries, then add a little bit of meat to them. This pleases the meat lovers in the house. I have literally served the same curry once with no meat, the next time with less than 200g of chicken (for 8 people), 
and the reaction was completely different because the meat version was ‘better’. 

I make milk from powdered milk. I have three 1 litre glass bottles, and I make it up and we use that. Initially I only bought powdered milk to use in recipes that required a lot of milk like macaroni cheese. I also used Cath’s recipe for making condensed milk - you have to try it if you haven’t already! But then I made some up one evening as we’d run out, everybody used it and nobody commented so I switched from buying fresh to powdered permanently. 

I am fortunate to have 3 supermarkets on the same street, plus two butchers and a greengrocer all within walking distance of each other. So I whenever I shop I work out where is cheapest to buy the things on my list and I go to each one if I need to. This also allows me to check for ‘quick sale’ items. 

I work out the cost of our favourite meals, so I know which ones are better value. This is good for knowing how often to have certain meals. For example, nachos costs a lot more than shepherds pie. So we might have nachos once a month, whereas shepherds pie could be weekly in winter. I also do this for baking recipes. When I read the gifting book Annabel wrote all those years ago, she talked about how baking shortbread is much cheaper than making fruit cakes. I remember this when baking for school shared lunches/camps etc. I tend to make simple recipes that don’t cost too much and save more expensive recipes for special events.  

I have a pool of recipes I can use if I run out of eggs, or butter etc. The kind that might be particularly useful in the days before a trip to the supermarket. 

We walk a lot. My children all go to school/kindergarten within walking distance of our house. We are within walking distance of supermarkets, the library, a shopping centre, parks, the pool etc. So if I can avoid using my car I do! 

We do our birthday parties at home. As they get older they might do an activity with a couple of friends and come back to the house to eat. I buy some treats we don’t normally have, and make special ‘birthday party food’.  The kids choose their own special dinner and dessert on their birthday and I make a cake that they choose (subject to my ability to actually make what they want. I don’t have Chloe’s decorating skills lol). 

I have a present box with items for birthday parties that I’ve found cheaply throughout the year. They still get to choose what they give like at the shop, but from the gift box instead. I don’t buy wrapping paper. We reuse gift bags, I pick them up for 50c or less at op shops sometimes, or I quickly sew a fabric bag if I need to. 

I keep an eye out throughout the year for second hand school uniforms. It is hundreds of dollars per child for uniform if bought brand new, so if I am able to source jackets/jerseys second hand I can make a huge saving there. 

Overall I would say at the moment I am definitely feeling the weight of the extra cost of living, I’m finding it harder to stock up the pantry because there is less cash available after buying regular grocery items. But I am trying to find at least one really good deal a fortnight and make the most of it. I’ve spent a lot of time revising our budget, particularly trying to put aside money for upcoming expenses. Obviously events like Easter, birthdays and Christmas are the same every year, but this is often true of expenses like car registration, sports fees too. I know when they will come about because they’re the same each year, so I try to budget for them in advance. I’m spending as much time now as I’ve ever spent on budgeting, searching for grocery specials online, and meal planning. But I feel like this is time well spent in order to make the most of the money we have. 

Thank you so much Jen this is wonderful!  I really appreciate the time you put into this.  xxx

The gift making guide Jen mentioned is here A gift to you.

I have some more reports coming but I also would like some more.  If you would consider writing a report from your area please email me at brinkzi21@hotmail.com  Any location is ok but I am especially wanting a report from South Africa  and more from Europe.   These posts have been incredibly helpful and I have learned something from each of you!  Thank you so much! xxx