Price Index Report<\/a> shows prices rose 4.7% in the year ended October 2025, from 4.1% the month before.<\/p>\nGroceries, notably dairy products, eggs and instant coffee, increased 4.9% for the year.<\/p>\n
Meat was also more expensive.<\/p>\n
Overall prices for October were marginally lower as fruit and vegetables became more abundant.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy husband and I both work, earning pretty decent money, so going to do the groceries is no real problem for us. But we\u2019ve got family members who aren\u2019t that flush, and so for them, [the price of] getting only the very basics is just ridiculous,\u201d Holtz said. <\/p>\n
She also challenged the quality of the food on offer in New Zealand supermarkets: \u201cWe\u2019re buying seconds. The food is rubbish \u2013 avocados that are rotten inside, lettuce that lasts two days, and onions that are brown in the middle. In Europe, they feed their people the best first and export the rest. Why can\u2019t we do that?\u201d<\/p>\n
She has long championed grassroots solutions, promoting ideas such as growing potatoes in cardboard boxes, propagating herbs on the porch, pooling resources with wider family or neighbours to buy in bulk, and accumulating funds throughout the year on a Christmas savings card. <\/p>\n
![\"Kirsten]()
Kirsten Holtz of Mumma’s Kitchen, pictured in 2022 at Te Puna o Te M\u0101tauranga. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Her $5-a-week pantry challenge encourages followers to stock up on staples year-round, easing the financial pressure of Christmas. <\/p>\n
However, she admits those strategies are starting to feel like survival tactics in a broken system. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have to fight this hard for basics.\u201d <\/p>\n
While she has yet to explore the avenues for challenging the supermarket duopoly, Holtz said she is considering teaming up with organisations that are already in the fight. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere has to be a serious push – the stakes are too high to stay silent.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite her move to take action, Holtz hasn\u2019t abandoned her roots. She still encourages families to plan ahead, grow what they can, look after any existing fruit trees, and make the most of what she believes are currently underutilised community gardens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about being creative, really. Some creative pushback.\u201d <\/p>\n
She recalls her childhood in Southland, where her dad – a \u201cmaster grower\u201d – used to cut only what he needed off a cauliflower or cabbage and leave the remainder to keep growing.<\/p>\n
Bottle summer fruit, freeze specials, take something you have too much of to a p\u0101taka kai (community food store) and swap it for something you don\u2019t have, don\u2019t be afraid of frozen veges, and try more vegetarian options, Holtz said. <\/p>\n
\u201cGarden as much as you can because prices here are just nuts, and we need to be as self-sustainable as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she looks to 2026, Holtz – who was surprised on her trip to have been recognised by some of her overseas followers – said she was considering how to use her platform to drive systemic change. <\/p>\n
\u201cI often wonder what value I\u2019m adding. But maybe this is it. Maybe this is the next step?\u201d <\/p>\n
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, much of which she spent court reporting. She is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pork bones are much cheaper in Europe. In Budapest, Hungary, they were FT500 (forint) per kg – about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,121720,115,68725,4194,30610,1342,564,2082,60769,24308,121722,12022,56456,11113,807,121717,111,43,139,121719,69,1523,12937,121718,1238,64675,42370,97,27406,121721,121723,1869,1530,2963],"class_list":["post-197220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-budgetfriendly","tag-calls","tag-confront","tag-cook","tag-duopoly","tag-five","tag-food","tag-for","tag-gears","tag-headon","tag-holtz","tag-host","tag-kirsten","tag-kitchen","tag-kiwis","tag-mummas","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nutritious","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-prices","tag-pushback","tag-serious","tag-shifting","tag-soaring","tag-supermarket","tag-teaching","tag-vlogger","tag-vowing","tag-whangrei","tag-years","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197220","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=197220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}