The Supermarket.

The lovely New World, a short walk from my flat through the Parliament grounds.

   Here in NZ, it's the supermarket. Not the grocery store. If you say grocery, people will know you're not from here.
   Things are a lot similar, but also a lot different in the supermarket here than they are at home. The biggest difference is that foods are priced per kilogram, not pound. This will always confuse me. I have no idea if things are a good price here or not. Prices are also in NZ dollars (obviously...), which are not the same as US dollars. Yet another confusion. But, I took a trip to the local supermarket, and I've done some research. Here's some things.

   1 NZ $ = 0.807 US $ and 1 kg = 2.204 lbs. So I did some quick calculations to figure out price here relative to back home. I was surprised by the prices of a few things!

PRODUCE:

Courgettes, not zucchini. The first time I tried to buy one, I went to the self-checkout. Bad idea. I couldn't find zucchini on the list of produce, because it wasn't there. I almost had to ask somebody what vegetable I was buying!

Paw paw? There's some weird stuff over here...

Feijoas! They are like nothing I've had before, and so hard to explain!

"Capsicum," not bell peppers or green peppers or whatever you call them. Every pepper here is known as capsicum. They are $3.66 - $4.38 per pound, US dollar. Is that expensive?

Kiwis come in a 10 pack with a spoon? They mean business.

The teeny tiniest container of grapes is SO expensive : (

All the way from Cali! And only $1 a pound US!

Everything at New World is always stacked so perfectly. It's kind of scary.

I always think I'm going to topple over a whole pile of food when I try to pick something out!

Kumara is a big deal here. I still don't know what it is.

Holy smokes! Looks pricey, but they're really only $9.14 per pound US. Still expensive!

MEAT AND DAIRY:

   Chicken usually sells for $14.99 per kg, which is $5.49 per lb. This is like 3x more expensive than back home! Ground beef is almost twice as expensive, and fresh salmon on sale at New World is still a few dollars more expensive than in the US.

Wow this picture is gross. Sorry. But it's lamb. Everyone is all about the lamb here. When I was at the grocery this particular day, a man was freaking out about how cheap this lamb was. He said it was a sin not to buy it. At $10.99 per kg, or $4 per lb, I guess he was right!

This is pretty much it for cheese. Not a big selection, and it mainly comes in big blocks.

EW BACON. I don't like it, but the Kiwis sure do. And it's not like US bacon, it's more like ham.
But not Canadian bacon.

Milk only comes in 1, 2, or 3L bottles. The price here is equivalent to $6.62 per gallon US. Yikes!

PLEASE REFRIGERATE YOUR EGGS. THIS IS NOT OKAY.

OTHER FOOD:

   Potato chips are called "chippies" and cookies are called "biscuits." A loaf of bread costs $3.29 per loaf NZ, which is $2.66 per loaf US, so pretty similar. M&M's, on the other hand, are twice the price, for a bag half as big as normal in the US. What a ripoff!

SO many chocolate options. This is my weakness.

Really? That's it for the oreo selection?

There is no such thing as granola here. It's "muesli," and no, I don't know how to pronounce it.

Banana bread is too expensive. I've certainly broken my addiction.

Something I learned early on: Tomato sauce and ketchup are completely different.

Okay what? Spaghetti sandwich? One of the stranger Kiwi traditions...

THIS STUFF IS ICKY.

NON FOOD:

   Friskies cat food (Mom - the same we get at home!) is $25.61 US over here! That's for the equivalent of a 16 lb bag at home, but is over twice the price! Ouch! Also, a small bottle of Garnier shampoo (250 mL) is $4.48 US, which is a little less than twice the price of back home. The cost of living really is a lot higher here!

Nurofen or Panadol. No Tylenol or Advil here!

   I really wish I had done this post a long time ago. I feel like I finally have a grasp on how much I'm spending when I go to the supermarket. It would have been useful to know, but now I only have a little over a month of grocery shopping left!