In the latest in our Supermarket Confidential series, a 55-year-old Tauranga woman struggles to get by on her small income, with sometimes as little as $20 to spend on a week’s groceries.
How many live in your household? Just me.
As well as your benefit you have a part-time job, what's that? I'm a caregiver. I look after an adult woman with the mentality of a two-year, so I have to change nappies and stuff like that sometimes.
How much money comes into your household after tax? I get $150 a fortnight for my job ($75 per week). And my benefit, after the money I owe WINZ is taken out, is about $325. (A weekly total of about $400)
How much do you put aside for groceries? I don't put any aside. I get groceries out of what's left, and that can be anywhere from $20 to $50 a week.
Do you supplement your grocery shopping with food from with foodbanks or anything? I try to do it on my own. But this week I got foodbank. Sometimes I go to the local community centre, just to get bread.
What are the essentials that you always buy first? Washing powder, toilet paper, bread, milk, butter – they’re my basics.
You buy butter? More like margarine.
On the weeks where you have a bit extra, what would be a luxury you'd allow yourself? Maybe a chocolate bar or a bag of chips to eat while I’m watching the movies.
Do you buy meat? Now and again but I’m finding I'm doing more vegetarian.
What veggies do you buy? Mainly carrots and cabbage or frozens.
Do you ever buy takeaways or takeout coffees? I used to get takeaways once a week. Now that's dropping down to once a month if I’m lucky. It’s usually fish and chips or McDonald’s – something on special from the app.
Have you specifically noticed the cost of living rising over the past couple of years? Yeah, going to the supermarket, everything is nearly $10. So if I've got a $50 budget that week, I can only get five things. But a few years ago, everything was more like $5, and it’s been a shock.
Also petrol, I put $20 in my car and that even doesn't go much off the E (for empty). And with me having health problems, I've got doctor’s bills, and my doctor's a bit further away so I have to make sure I've got the petrol to get there. I'd like to get another part-time job but it's hard to get work when you're getting older and have health problems. (I'm on a job seeker's benefit. I don't qualify for the sickness benefit. I need regular medicals from my doctor to say I can only work so many hours.) I'd like to be 21 again.
What does a box from the foodbank have in it? You get no choice. The one I got this week had one big, huge toilet roll, a little bag of washing powder, three tiny cartons of milk, a mid-size pack of Weet-Bix, and you got tins of baked beans, sweet corn, spaghetti and tomatoes. A little bag of rice, two potatoes, one onion, two carrots, three eggs. A choice of peanut butter or jam, one loaf of bread and a bigger carton of butter than I’d normally have.
You can also choose four things off the board: I got soap, Exit Mould, cat food and tomato paste so I can make pizzas or something.
You help yourself to fruit. Oh and I got some frozen meatless nuggets (that's dinner tonight).
Sometimes you get a tin of fruit, not this week. But if I get that I'll use it for baking or something.
Do you like cooking? Yes, I do. But before I went to the foodbank, I'd gone two days with just a Cup A Soup and one day with absolutely nothing.
That must be really hard when you're working. Yeah, one night I went into work and I felt really weak. And it’s like, “I can do it. I can do it.”
Did you learn budgeting from your parents, growing up? I didn't really learn budgeting. But I learned how to not waste food. If you got given something that was starting to go off, you’d cut around that part. And I learned how to make different meals last. Like when I had my kids at home and they had all their friends over, my go-to was stir-fried mince and I’d put every veggie in the fridge in it, and their friends used to think it was absolutely wonderful.
But now mince is just as dear. Sausages are really dear, so you’ve got to shop around for meat. I feel so envious of these people that can go and put two or three packets of meat in their trolley.
What would you buy if you could buy whatever you wanted? I'd have my freezer and fridge and cupboard so stocked with food. Meat, ice cream – all the unhealthy things probably. Yogurts, bacon. Oh yes and cheese, that's a once-in-a-blue-moon thing in my house.
And I'd get my hair done.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
SHARE ME