A redundancy left this rural dweller with a tight food budget, but skills learned in childhood hold her in good stead.
How old are you, and what do you do for work? I’m 41 and I’m a rural professional, I work in the ag sector. I was made redundant a couple of years ago and I’ve been doing consulting and milking to keep a steady income. The job market’s terrible so I just kind of do whatever work I can get at the moment.
How many people live in your household? Just me.
How much money comes in on a typical week? My hours vary, but it's probably, on average, $500 or $600, after tax.
How much would you spend on groceries on a typical week? I actually try not to go to the supermarket every week, so I would probably spend anywhere between $70 to $100.
Do you shop around? I just go to Pak’n’Save. I manage to keep [my spend] really low by making heaps of stuff myself. I do a lot of my own baking and make all my own meals and I freeze everything. I'll buy 500 grams of meat, and I can get between four and seven meals off that. I'm very old school, but that's kind of how I was brought up, with my mum and my nana.
I know butter is expensive, but I can make a slice or a batch of biscuits and freeze them, and so I don't tend to buy a lot of processed stuff. I've just started making is my own muesli bars because they're getting so small and so expensive, and not actually tasting that great. I found a recipe online, and now I can make a tray and that's going to keep me going for ages – and I can freeze them.
And like, citrus is booming at the moment, so I've had a lot of that for months. If anyone offers me fruit from their trees, I’m the world’s biggest squirrel. The farm I'm [working] on offered me eggs a while back, so yes, I took that.
And because there's only me, I don't rip through heaps of cleaning products or toilet paper or any of that stuff.
I know that a lot of things go on price cycles. So I put stuff like toilet clear on a list – most of the time it’s not essential – and if it's not on special this week, I can wait till next week.
What are the absolute essentials that you always buy and replace when you run out of them?
Milk, fruit, and veggies. Those are probably my main ones. Dairy products. I'm quite stingy because I make so much of my own stuff. I find there’s a lot of stuff the Pak’n’Save doesn’t stock, so I’ll make all my own bread – not that I eat heaps of bread – but that's one thing I started making because I got annoyed by what was available in the supermarket. Like a couple of times I wanted bread rolls, but they only had hamburger buns. So I'd just make my own.
I’ve also got one of those EasiYo yoghurt makers, and it's cheaper to buy those sachets and make your own yoghurt than it is to buy it.
Do you buy cheese?
Yes, but a block lasts me quite a long time, probably two months.
What luxuries do you allow yourself?
One thing I do splurge on is salon shampoo – I’ve got quite difficult hair. So that’s about $70 for shampoo and conditioner. But the beauty of the internet is I can find out where it’s cheapest and then order it.
Do you grow any food?
I do grow lettuces in the summer – I'll buy [seedlings] at Mitre10, because there's one down the road, and that keeps me in lettuce for about three months.
Do you drink coffee or tea?
Not really. I will have hot chocolate most days, at home.
Do you go out for weekend brunches or dinner?
Very, very rarely. I'll go out for dinner once every couple of months. Again, it's just got so expensive.
What about takeaways? Every now and again I might get Thai or fish and chips. We don't have a lot of options here.
Do you buy alcohol?
Very occasionally. I've actually been given a few bottles of wine over the last year, and I'm not a big drinker.
Do you have people around for dinner?
Yep, probably once a month or every couple of months I'll have friends round. I love entertaining and cooking.
Is there anything in the supermarket you’d love to buy but can’t afford?
Um, not particularly, and I know that sounds really weird. Probably the only thing would be the fancy ice cream or the ice creams on sticks. I just buy regular ice cream, but one [tub] lasts me quite a few months.
It sounds like you quite enjoy living frugally...
I find I can do better or tastier if I make things myself. There's quite a lot of crap out there, and it's super expensive. My advice would be to get the cookbooks out, and go back to basics. There's heaps of Kiwi cookbook authors who've got websites with recipes for quick, easy, tasty meals.
It sounds like you've managed pretty well since you lost your job...
Oh don't get me wrong, there's been some tough moments. Definitely some tough moments. But I guess I can probably thank my parents for some good habits.
Okay some quick questions: Brown bread or white? Brown.
Marmite or Vegemite? I don't do either.
Beer or wine? Wine.
Chocolate or ice cream? Both.
Two, three or four ply toilet paper? Three. And always the long roles.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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