Category Archives: Save Heeeaps! Series

Everything about saving money while travelling NZ.

Save heeeaps – part 2: Supermarkets & food

Time for part two of this series – this time I’ll tell a bit about the supermarkets and generally food prices in New Zealand (based on my humble knowledge – do not expect professional information).

If you’ve been to a supermarket here before and you’re from Central Europe or the US/Canada, you’ll have noticed that food prices are significantly higher, especially when it comes to dairy products. It’s certainly odd since the dairy industry generates probably among the highest profits for the country and is generally bigger than the ones in, for example, Europe. The only logical reason is the small, almost non-existent competition on the NZ market; buying a bottle of lower-than-average quality milk will set you back by the same amount of money as average or even better quality milk over in the “Old World”. Let’s start with the supermarkets first.

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Save heeeaps – part 1: Accommodation

I already mentioned something about saving money here is coming up, and here we go. That goes out to everyone who intends to stay here for a while, no matter if it’s two weeks or six months.

Let’s keep it short and neat for the first part: Obviously you have to stay somewhere while being here. NZ offers a huge variety of hostels, which can be rated from “Uargh-disgusting-WHY-DO-I-STAY-HERE-AT-ALL?” up to “Are you sure this isn’t just a small 5-stars hotel which lacks a few services and where I have to cook for myself?”. Continue reading