{"id":109184,"date":"2025-10-30T17:15:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T17:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/109184\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T17:15:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T17:15:15","slug":"how-a-busy-mum-of-two-slashed-her-weekly-grocery-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/109184\/","title":{"rendered":"How a busy mum of two slashed her weekly grocery bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">Karen saved nearly $45 on a weekly shop at PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park \u2013 and it\u2019s helping her get savey for Christmas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">A busy mum with two kids aged under 10 was surprised to discover she saved nearly $45 on her weekly shop by going to PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park. <\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n         Karen,<br \/>\n         a fulltime parent with children aged 4 and 9, was the mystery shopper for PAK\u2019nSAVE\u2019s latest Shop-Off experience. To undertake a Shop-Off, PAK\u2019nSAVE works with an independent mystery shopper agency. On Friday, September 19, 2025, mystery shopper Karen, did her regular weekly shop at PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park, and then popped next door to Woolworths Highland Park and purchased the equivalent items on the same day.\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Once Karen\u2019s two shops were completed, they were analysed to ensure equivalent products were purchased. This included consideration of pack sizes, weighted products, brand differences and any out-of-stock items, before the price difference of the two shops could be calculated. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">During the shop, Karen bought family staples such as fresh fruit and veg, crackers, bread, spice mixes, spread, snacks, and cleaning products. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Her shop at Woolworths Highland Park cost $347.57, while the equivalent shop at PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park cost $303.40 \u2013 a saving of $44.17.*<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Karen says the difference in price was much greater than she expected, and with Christmas just around the corner, that kind of weekly saving can make a real difference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cLooking from one supermarket to another, I knew that it was [going to be] cheaper. But seeing exactly how much cheaper was quite eye-opening,\u201d says Karen. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">The experience was enough to change her shopping habits. Karen usually does one family shop per week at PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park, then pops into the supermarket closest to home to replenish certain items. But after discovering just how much she saved by going to her local PAK\u2019nSAVE, she now makes the extra effort to go there for everything.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cNow that I know how much money I can save by going to PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park, I make more of a concerted effort to go there for those little top up shops as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Meal-planning is another way she stretches her food budget. \u201cYou know what you\u2019re having every night, so you just buy what you need to make the meals on your meal plan for the week.\u201d It means she almost never buys food that she doesn\u2019t end up using. \u201cIf you have roast chicken, you can use it the next night to make pizzas or a chicken pie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Wraps are a popular meal in the household and also make the groceries go further. \u201cWe eat a lot of wraps,\u201d Karen says. \u201cWhatever you\u2019ve got left over, you can chuck that in a wrap the next night. Like [when we have] nachos, we have nacho wraps the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">In the lead-up to Christmas, Karen is always on the lookout for weekly savings. \u201cWe have a joint family Christmas, and we all contribute. I\u2019ll be getting whatever I need to contribute from my local PAK\u2019nSAVE. It\u2019s always nice to save money no matter what time of the year it is, but coming into Christmas, you can use [the money saved] for something that you might not be able to get otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">Karen\u2019s Shop-Off experience has confirmed that PAK\u2019nSAVE is the right supermarket for her and her family. \u201cIt just reaffirms to me that I do need to keep shopping at PAK\u2019nSAVE. I saved $44 and it all adds up. It\u2019s convinced me to make the extra effort to go there for the little top up shops as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">She also likes that PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park regularly supports the community and is involved in local causes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThey\u2019re really good at giving back to the community. I like to help out at the school that my daughter goes to and PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park supports a number of schools and groups in the local area which is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MbfQjTgmSESMkkDykl\" style=\"display:none\">* Groceries were selected by Karen to reflect a typical weekly shop for her household. Equivalent (not identical) shops conducted. Weighted products and pack sizes equalised. Visit paknsave.co.nz\/shop-off to see Karen\u2019s shopping list and other benefits received. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"flex cursor-pointer items-center gap-1.5 text-black\" data-test-ui=\"social-link--bookmark-below\" aria-label=\"bookmark\" id=\"social-link--bookmark-below\">Save<\/a>Share this articleCopy LinkEmailFacebookTwitter\/XLinkedInReddit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Karen saved nearly $45 on a weekly shop at PAK\u2019nSAVE Highland Park \u2013 and it\u2019s helping her get&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[16574,138,11776,18399,21436,30538,1364,78457,221,302,42551,2721,11692,111,139,69,1118,27952,8143,17162,78458,1326,78456,1237,6041],"class_list":{"0":"post-109184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bill","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-busy","11":"tag-christmas","12":"tag-grocery","13":"tag-helping","14":"tag-her","15":"tag-highland","16":"tag-how","17":"tag-its","18":"tag-karen","19":"tag-mum","20":"tag-nearly","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-of","25":"tag-paknsave","26":"tag-park","27":"tag-saved","28":"tag-savey","29":"tag-shop","30":"tag-slashed","31":"tag-two","32":"tag-weekly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}