Mike van de Elzen: chef and host of Eat Well for Less on the number of Kiwis cutting back on fruit and veg due to cost of living

Half of New Zealanders are cutting back on fruit and vegetables as the cost of living rises. 

A Ministry of Social Development report reveals nearly two in five Kiwis report an inadequate income, with 48 percent cutting back on produce to save money in 2023 - more than double since 2018.

Chef and host of Eat Well for Less, Mike van de Elzen, says produce isn't expensive if you buy efficiently.

"We need to kind of just step back and go - what are we buying? Are we buying stuff out of season? Because you just need to use your nut a little bit. You need to think about what you're buying and the time that you're buying it."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Few of us can afford to purchase the healthy food
that we need at the supermarket. Data from the Ministry
of Social Development shows that nearly half of us are
cutting back on our food and veggie intake at the supermarket.
Why you guessed? At cost A Living the number has
doubled since twenty eighteen. Michael Vanders sorry van der Elson,
is host of Eat Well for Less and joins me

(00:20):
this afternoon. Michael get a after Ryan, you're right, yep,
very well, thank you. Is it how hard is it
to afford healthy fruit and veggies?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, I hasnen't to not ask that question. I asked
the question of if we are not buying fruit and veggies,
what are we buying to fill our bellies? Are we
just going without? Or are we going to the likes
of fast food places?

Speaker 1 (00:50):
And unfortunately the numbers speak for themselves on that, don't they.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
So what do you reckon?

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, yeah, it's the latter. So is the supermarket? Where
do you get your your groceries from? You know, your
fruit and vegel Is it supermarkets or do you go
to a fruit and veggie shop?

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well, we grow we grow it all here on our farm.
But I was leading up to this, I was doing
a bit of research. I was just running through some websites,
having a look at some supermarkets, and you know, proptly
is two dollars fifty ahead, carrots are two dollars thirty.
Potatoes are three dollars twenty nine. Half a cabbage is

(01:30):
four dollars fifty. I don't see a crazy price in
what I would put onto a plate at nighttime. Yes,
if you're going to put grapes on there at fourteen dollars,
maybe we won't go down that road. You know, it's
kind of like dairy has gone through the roof in
the last you know, it's six months to a year.

(01:51):
Are we cutting back on the amount of butter that
we're using and we're cutting back on the amount of
yogurt that we're consuming, Yes, we probably are. But when
it comes to fruit and veg I don't see a
massive spike in prices. Maybe for the the more kind
of wanter haves, maybe the pineapples and the watermelons and

(02:13):
the plums and things that we shouldn't be eating at
this time of the year. But look at potatoes, look
at our basics, our basic fruit and vegetalles that will
pull us up. You know, bananas at three dollars sixty
nine a kilo. Has that gone bananas in the last
six months to a year in price? I don't think so.
So where where is this data coming from that they

(02:36):
are saying that it's all gone up so much? Because
I don't see it in the everyday products that we buy.
I just don't.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Is there a problem with doing frozen veggies? Are they
literal nutritious?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Not at all? Bobby? If not more because they are
snap frozen right there when they're collected. Kelo of frozen
vegetables and a supermarket just around the corner from where
we live in commune three dollars sixty nine for a
kilo of frozen vegetables. The beauty about frozen vegetables is
you use what you need. What you don't need remains

(03:15):
in the freezer. They stay good for six months. Once
thatt's gone, you go out and you buy some more
and it stays in your freezer. Frozen mixed Berry's ten
dollars for a kilo bag. You know, if you're having
you smoothie in the morning and you're having to go
without because mangoes are six dollars fifty just buy the
frozen ones. They're just as good, They're just as tasty.

(03:36):
And when they go into a smoothie, who knows if
the fresh or frozen, they're probably better frozen. So I
think when people say fruit and vegetables are to afford
or too expensive to afford, I think we need to
kind of just step back and go what are we buying?
Are we buying strawberries in winter? Are we buying plums
in winter? Are we buying stuff out of season? Because

(03:59):
from what I see when I go past the fruit
and bed shop and they've got the big blackboard out
there with all the chalk on there going two heads
a cauliflower for a dollar fifty, I buy them. You
just need to use your nuts a little bit. You
need to think about what you're buying and the time
that you're buying it, and sometimes we may not get

(04:21):
what we want at that particular time of the year.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Michael, appreciate your time. Michael Van der Elson, who's host
of Eat Well for Less fourteen after four bread read well,
how's that for a strong opinion to start the program?
How do we feel about that? Do you do you agree?
I mean, he's got a farm, so I'm sure some
of you who shop weekly will be saying thinking otherwise.
I mean, you look at the numbers from stats and

(04:44):
they have gone up. But as he said, it's seasonal stuff.
You know, you can pick and choose, and not everything
has gone up astronomically, has it? So what do you
do at your house? Nine two ninety two.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
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