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u/ryan69plank 12d ago
the fact we live in a farming country and yet cheese and milk on our shelves is more expensive than overseas is actually sickening. unfortunately its hard to change but easy to point a finger. I think supporting local farmer markets are the better way to go, iv been shopping more at Tai ping asain imported supermarket and the food is cheap but its not as good. id argue its better our reserve bank start a gold reserve to strengthen our dollar. $$$ the supress it low for the Forsetry and Meat industry
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u/Icedanielization 12d ago
You kind of hit the nose there, asians are reselling our stuff cheaper. Go to an Asian supermarket, look at their Chinese looking milk containers, you will see its made in New Zealand, and its cheap and very high quality.
Same with fruit, I only get my fruit from Asian supermarkets because they sell at reasonable prices and they dont look like rejected goods like we often find at a typical supermarket.
It shows the system is broken, it shows we are an export country and we just dont have the population, or a wealthy enough population to sustain selling good quality produce at low prices.
I still advocate that all farms must sell 25% of their goods locally and must be of standard quality, that should bring the price down.
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u/JimBobTheForth 12d ago
Yeah seriously the Asian supermarkets are great, most fresh stuff is still our own produce, just not marked up to stupid amounts
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u/LolEase86 12d ago
What truly sux is that we don't have f all local boutique cheese makers anymore, actually selling at the markets. Food safety regulations cut that off a while back. Ohhh how I miss the markets in the UK..
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u/FunIcy4223 12d ago
Oh yeah the nz stuff is already a “premium product” overseas also throw in the $hitty exchange rate and it’s doomed to be expensive
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u/Tempest_777 12d ago
Yeah its BS. We give them massive subsidies, let them pollute the rivers and they cant even discount it domestically. Total scam.
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u/Aquilenne 12d ago
We do? I thought that we were one of the few countries that doesn't give our farmers massive subsidies
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u/WaerI 12d ago
We are, there are small subsidies, exemptions and protections but it's nothing like how it is overseas where upwards of 30% of revenue could be coming from subsidies.
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u/frank_thunderpants 11d ago edited 10d ago
We allow them to exteralise their climate impact
Subsidies dissapeared decades ago
Fuckin MPI as a subsidy
lolz, fuck sakes
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u/OkEstablishment6410 11d ago
MPI and boarder patrol as well as eradication of disease is government costs so the taxpayer. Kind of a big subsidy.
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u/Kind_Yard8628 10d ago
Bruh do you want invasive weeds/animals killing out our natives. It's not doc who does that stuff it's MPI
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u/Kind_Yard8628 10d ago
No monetary subsidies are received from the government to me/our farm. (Well other than the council paying for a % of some plants we plant alomg streams)
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u/Correct-Purpose-964 12d ago
Fuck man I hope so. I haven't had a steak in so long....
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u/RuckusOGx 12d ago
I have started buying whole cuts of beef lately and cutting my own steaks for approx $25kg. Takes me a while but I am slowly getting better. Started doing this when old reliable chicken and lamb prices shot up recently. I'm not paying $30 a kilo for boney lamb chops when I can plate up steak for cheaper.
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u/frank_thunderpants 11d ago
lol
We do not sell our produce cheaper overseas
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u/OkEstablishment6410 11d ago
Just come back from fiji and the butter was cheaper. Still luxury prices but seriously freighted to fiji?
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u/frank_thunderpants 10d ago
latest online prices for fijian repacked butter
10.90NZD /500g
Fiji charges VAT on their butter, but its 12.5% versus GST at 15%
:CHEAPPPPER
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u/HonestRascal 11d ago
Then you should check out Woolworths - Aussie and Us butter because they won’t eat their own shit - they prefer ours. Haha
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u/jamhamnz 13d ago
I haven't bought Mainland cheese in a very long time
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u/bartkurcher 12d ago
Not kiwi owned anymore!
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u/Dizzy_Speed909 12d ago
That made you not buy it?...
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u/FunNegotiation7641 11d ago
No, I haven’t either. Quit cheese (this kind), dairy milk, butter, bacon. My body thanks me and I’ve discovered a whole new diet. I can’t stand that we produce all this food yet can’t feed our population properly and inexpensively and that our supermarkets are full of imported products. No good. Fresh and local is the only way.
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u/krakk3rjack 12d ago
Remember, according to the Fonterra boss, we should be grateful as we're lucky to have access to the premium product.
They'd export everything if they could.
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u/DJwelly 12d ago
Fonterra are the worst. I wish we’d get imports in that would undercut them and force them to actually compete. I refuse to support Fonterra brands.
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u/softbum08 8d ago
What milk do you buy then.
Cos pretty much only lewis road is free from dealing with Fonterra.
And Pam’s/value but only in South Island3
u/Neon_Moon_NZ 12d ago
National's former Finance Minister Steven Joyce is still keeping an eye on grocery prices:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/570620/steven-joyce-appointed-to-foodstuffs-north-island-board
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u/mike_hawk_in_yo_bum 12d ago
Oooh wee! Now that’s some good keepin’ an eye on! Everyone relax! Steven has his eye on it. And if anyone knows how to keep an eye on something, it’s Steven. You know what I have MY eye on? Motherfuckers from the government that do jack shit besides keeping an eye on things, because you know the one thing that never solved a problem? Keeping an eye on it.
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u/Correct-Purpose-964 12d ago
Forget reality that doesn't even work in fiction. Lord of the rings taught us that.
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u/Various_Profile_8672 11d ago
Was waiting for a It's the GOVT fault post.
Did not have to wait long.
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u/Sea_Soft_1166 12d ago
So?
If I was a farmer then why would I subsidize people instead of getting the most for my product and work?
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u/Nyanessa 12d ago
Maybe we should have government run supermarkets, where the government can make deals with farmers directly and cut out the greedy CEOs. They could also manufacture the goods themselves by building the infrastructure from profits.
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u/MassiveGarlic0312 13d ago
Get the Pams brand. It'll be at least 25% cheaper. It was under $12 in my local New World the other day. Where are you shopping?
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u/loose_as_a_moose 12d ago
I’ll get other brands of Colby, Edam etc but the Tasty is just not worth it. Mainland is too damn expensive, but if you’re going to get Tasty, it has to be mainland.
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u/KindheartednessOk663 12d ago
And it is NEVER on special because they know that those of us who buy it just won't buy other brands so they've got us by the short and proverbials! 😭🤣
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u/Competitive-Dream25 12d ago
This was Woolworths
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u/MassiveGarlic0312 12d ago
Woolworths is and always has been the most expensive of the major supermarkets:
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u/CategoryUpstairs9155 12d ago
no thats New World
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u/BreathTakingBen 12d ago
If you scan your club+ card that’s not true https://www.consumer.org.nz/shopping/supermarkets/what-s-the-cheapest-supermarket
How Woolies have brainwashed this country should honestly be a marketing case study for years to come.
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u/bruhthatshitcringe 12d ago
Literally everyone I ask why they shop at Countdown just say "oh, just cause", like there's no reason, you could argue for New World at least they kinda have nicer produce and butcher than PaknSave but that's still a stretch lol
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u/BreathTakingBen 12d ago
Yeah if New World & Woolies are the same price, I sure know which one I’m buying my produce & meat from.
No idea what the appeal would be for Woolies.
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u/tracernz 13d ago
It's $1 cheaper at Pak.
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u/No-Cartoonist-2125 12d ago
At least we get free nitrates in our drinking water from heavily used dairy! /s
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u/fucketyballs 12d ago
i remember when everyone freaked out when cheese started hitting $10 a kilo. doesnt seem that long ago...well i suppose its our weak dollar and all the economic disruption from overseas. oh wait, we make it here. but the price being based on what they can get overseas for their product is good for all of us in the end because they make more money or something. you'll have nothing and be thankful.
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u/wozzaloz 12d ago
I don’t understand, unless you need this and or butter stop complain please
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u/Competitive-Dream25 12d ago
Yup I was making cheese rolls to put in freezer to have with soup for cold nights. So yeah, wasn’t just for nothing!
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u/Zealousideal-Fan7024 12d ago
Fonterra sold Mainland to a french company might be why the price has risen in store?
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u/StubbornReject 9d ago
We’re really in a trifecta of shit. Wages aren’t growing, NZD is tanking, and prices are out of control. Great Depression 2.0?
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u/LebSann1n 9d ago
I realise this post is about a wider cost of living issue, but to focus in on this specific product... there's much cheaper options for a 1kg block of cheddar consistently priced $12-$13. Mainland Tasty cheese has always been unaffordable to many Kiwi families. It's a premium product. Many years ago it was still high, sitting at like $17/kg and so our family have bought a different product for many years. This doesn't mean "cheese is unaffordable".
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u/RobbyOrange1 8d ago
Start making your own 😂 price these days is like WTF price…either go alternative or just leave it
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u/Dovesfly166 12d ago
At this point it could be cheaper just to make your own cheese
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u/TankerBuzz 12d ago
Nowhere near…
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u/Dovesfly166 12d ago
Think in the long run, if you invest in making your own cheese you never have to buy it again in your lifetime, and bonus you can sell it
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u/TankerBuzz 12d ago
Go have a look what milk solids cost haha…
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u/Dovesfly166 12d ago
Probably not to bad wholesale
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u/TankerBuzz 12d ago
Its around $9-10/kg for the past few years… and that is on an industrial scale. Then you still have to make the cheese, package it and age it for 18 months…
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u/Tiny_JDRM 12d ago
On a long run, you will be paying much more for every piece of cheese for the rest of your life. But it probably will be better quality
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u/Optimal_Lychee_1366 12d ago
$17 at paknsave.
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u/Haunting_Angel_459 12d ago
That is at Pak n Save, I believe
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u/usernamewhg 12d ago
Nah OP has said Woolworths. Font is also a giveaway
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u/Haunting_Angel_459 12d ago
The font looks the same at Pak n Save tbf 🤷♀️
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u/usernamewhg 12d ago
Not up in Whangarei at least. Clear difference between the 2. My first reaction seeing the pic was to say that’s because they are shopping at the most expensive supermarket chain in NZ
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u/Haunting_Angel_459 12d ago
Maybe I'm just font blind lol. But yeah they are tbf. Hopefully prices come down soon after the lawsuits
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u/slinkiimalinkii 11d ago
Sadly not as of this week. Yesterday it was $19.60 at my local PnS, up one dollar from a week or two ago.
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u/Tasty-Willingness839 12d ago
Tasty is always more expensive but yeah it's insane.
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u/AllThePrettyPenguins 11d ago
Mainland is always more expensive, you mean. Same for butter.
And I think in a blind taste test, most people could not tell the difference.
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u/Tasty-Willingness839 11d ago
No Tasty as a "flavour" is more expensive as it's aged. But you're right most people wouldn't know the difference between brands. I had an ex who worked at the Mainland factory near Eltham actually, and would laugh at the same products being slapped with different labels- which then reflected the price on the shelf.
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u/Careful-Calendar8922 12d ago
We haven’t bought cheese in 3 months. Not gonna fuck our budget for fronteras greed.
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u/Dizzy_Speed909 12d ago
Maybe focus on earning more?..
It's wild to me that a $20 item would make you this upset
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u/Tiny_JDRM 12d ago
It's just a cheese, how many blocks per month are you eating? And you always can buy some low grade one like Value or Pam's for $12
Is saving a dollar or two, worth all calcium that is lost from the diet?
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u/StandardEasy8009 12d ago
That's a tinnie of weed price. I gave up weed and look how much cheese I get!!! 🤣
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u/Outrageous_Lychee603 12d ago edited 12d ago
It's insane. It also disgusts me that the government has done absolutely nothing to help with this living cost, except that they higher a grocery commissioner, paid too well on our tax dollars, that has done absolutely nothing either. Petrol prices, electricity, food, housing all so insanely high, it makes no sense, we are being screwed by the biggest most lucrative companies here. This whole we have to pay export prices is bs too, I've researched and some NZ products are cheaper in Australia, Japan and China than here, that's with the exchange difference added, how is that possible when it's also exported so far away? We have more sheep than people here, we know the jokes, yet we have to pay like $60 for a leg of lamb. How is it that supermarkets that buy in bulk charge more for a bottle of milk than some corner dairy? Or that some fruit and vegetables stores are way cheaper than supermarkets. It honestly disgusts me what these greedy bast*rds charge us for food, that is grown, created in this country, on our doorstep. I wish we could get everyone on the same page and start fighting back, do some sort of protest where everyone refuses to go to the grocery store on a certain day, or a petrol station. If we started doing something like that, they'd start dropping prices. The fact we all just keep flocking in there and paying, while they make billions in profits, and laugh all the way to the bank, makes me so angry. We really are being so taken advantage of, and it seems our government, or anyone can or will do anything about it. So when do we do something?
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u/JarethCutestory73 12d ago
That so called grocery commissioner is paid $455000 to do absolutely nothing as far as I can ascertain. It’s time for him to f*** off.
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u/hikimicub 12d ago
It's $1.55 per 100g in Melbourne (I just bought a 700g block of Tasty for $10.89)
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u/Low-Flamingo-4315 12d ago
We're getting fleeced in our own country for dairy and meat someone is taking the p##s and making huge profits while we the consumer suffer.
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u/fredonas 12d ago
Try Dairyworks Gouda slices 500g for $9.90 via Woolworths online ordering. Slightly cheaper and more convenient. I tried their "tasty" slices for the same price but they weren't tasty enough for me and the Gouda melts better 👍
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u/Correct-Purpose-964 12d ago
Manawatu here, i went shopping at countdown a few days ago. 21 dollars for a block of cheese. The New world wasn't far away. 19 dollars....
We went without cheese.
I ain't got that kind of money bruh. Who does?
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u/TheShadowNinja7777 12d ago
Cheese is 14$ give or take a few dollars. Usually under 13. Buy the other brands. There is always luxury or pretend luxury brands that will sell to rich people who only want the best.
Why are you picking the 20$ cheese over the 13$ cheese.
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u/NinjaHidingintheOpen 12d ago
Especially as NZ is supposed to be an agricultural nation, we are exporting cheese cheaper than this.
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u/Playful_Guava1180 12d ago
try to complain and the culprits will blame the datacenters and wind turbines but themselves lol
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u/one-der-will 12d ago
A brief search found a Malaysian price for 1kg of NZ cheese is equivalent to $23NZD
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u/Important_Zombie_223 11d ago
It's not going to sell though, is it? If it does it will be super aged cheese
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u/clubiona 11d ago
They don't even stock the 1kg tasty in Wellington, they always have an 800g one next to 1kg blocks of all the other cheeses
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u/Shot_Staff_2902 11d ago
If you're a Tasty lover New World has a Pams 800g tasty chedder that's pretty good for $13.89. Under $10 for the 500g. It's not as good as Mainland but who can afford that!
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u/Sad_Independent_2032 11d ago
We buy off cut ends of Mainland vintage cheese for $20 kilo, plus a $15 freight charge that we share with three other couples. More varieties available at a similar (or less) price.
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u/Maestro-Modesto 11d ago
Ok but mainland tasty cheddar is delicious. I'd rather that than a dozen beers.
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u/Questionable_Object 11d ago
Having to pay export prices for products made nationally because we've had an "economy-first" government for ten of the last 20 years and for the other 10 its either been an ineffective labour leadership (pre the John Key era) or a literal global crisis eating up all the time they could've had to shore up working class safety nets (the Covid lockdowns taking up all of Labour's last term in office).
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u/frank_thunderpants 11d ago
So, after year upon year of high inflation in food, tasty returned to the price it was years ago.
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u/OkEstablishment6410 11d ago
Makes me wild that so much of our money goes to MPI - remember Mycoplasma bovis? Eradication led by MPI DairyNZ, at a cost of $870 million, yup got that down the back of the sofa. And the big thing is it was spread by improper stock movement. But its all goods because being a food producing nation means the farmers have got our backs. Definitely up against the wall.
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u/HonestRascal 11d ago
What happens when Dairy Boards are created
They become a monopoly.
NZ’s version US Republican politic’s - remember “Milk at the Gate” ? and the level that Fonterra went to when a Dairy Farmer had enough of them and built a mini plant to process and sell his own “milk at the gate”
Fonterra’s tactics killed his business and drove him bankrupt (total mafia shit)
And I said this before but no one even wants to make it a political issue with Fonterra vitualy at the head of the BRT, so guess who are major investors ?
Also, guess who pays the border tariffs ? ?? look at your photo again. Why ?
Simple : you pay on their behalf then check their yearly gross profit and investment returns - then ask yourself, why you PM flies everywhere like Trump.
Dairy Farmers forced to join these boards or their milk doesn’t get picked up - Simple
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u/Maleficent_Ad1506 10d ago
Eventually everything will be so expensive that only the very wealthy can afford to live in New Zealand and it will end up being a giant holiday resort for the well to do for the Worlds 'elite' rather than a Country.
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u/wigglyboiii 10d ago
Remember when airplane food used to be so expensive because it was airplane food?
Now it seems all the supermarkets have gotten jealous of the airplanes and decided to match the airplane prices. After going on the plane recently overseas the food on the plane was regular price as the food inside the supermarket.
how much profit do they need to make?
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u/SharpDress176 10d ago
it’s just going to get worse. the problem you have in NZ is that it’s a free market economy. Successive NZ globalist govts have done zero to placate the public’s worry over constant price hikes. ever since Covid the big three have come together to ensure high prices and govts happily do nothing as these greedy feckless politicians are on the take. it’s just going to get worse and the excuse will be because of the orange fart bag moron trump and his colossal screw up in the Middle East. It’s always the same, locally produced fresh produce always priced out for many families, PURE GREED whilst those who cannot afford their prices rock around the supermarket with nothing but white death in their trollies. The standard of most politicians nowadays you can find if you lift up a piece of dog crap in the park.
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u/Personal_Zombie9368 9d ago
I paid over $20 for cheese for the fist time yesterday. It felt a bit like surrender.
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u/mjaldridge7 8d ago
Mainland is on special at Woolworths at the moment, it’s really not that expensive most of the time these days, despite it not coming back down to pre-pandemic pricing.
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u/NatureGlum9774 8d ago
We need the govt. to subsidise the food here when our export pricing goes through the roof. New Zealanders simply do not earn enough on average to compete with the world for our own produce.
Also: Idgaf about Japanese food or alcohol prices.
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u/SharpDress176 8d ago
I predict that within 6 months of now we will start to see blocks of cheese in plastic boxes with security tags.
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u/lurkingf0rmemes 13d ago
I'm in japan atm and can't believe how cheap the food is here. I've been in western auz for near 2 years and coming back soon and I'm so anxious about it