Even the prices of some of the most basic groceries have sky-rocketed. (File photo) Photo: Unsplash/ Maria Lin Kim
Food prices are rising but people ducking out for a pint of milk or loaf of white bread have been especially hard hit by rises in the last year.
Stats NZ data shows that between June 2006, the start of the available data, and July this year, the combined cost of a loaf of sliced white bread and bottle of standard milk rose from $4.35 to $6.58.
But much of that increase was concentrated in the past year.
In July 2015, the cost was $4.45, although the bread that Stats NZ was using in its measurement at that point was 100g smaller.
Last July, shoppers were paying $4.05 for two litres of milk and $1.40 for bread, a combined $5.45.
This July, the data has shown the average price paid was $4.70 for milk and $1.88 for the bread, a combined $6.58, and a roughly 20 percent increase year-on-year.
Wholegrain bread also increased in price, from $3.19 in 2015 to $4.33
People drinking soy milk instead would have avoided the impact - the price of soy increased from $3.34 for a litre in 2015 to $3.84 this year.
Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub said the cost for many groceries had "skyrocketed".
Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub. (File photo) Photo: Screengrab / Facebook
"It wasn't that long ago that $5 would get you both of those items and now it's like $6.60… I was looking at the price of a ham and cheese sandwich… just the basics. I think the difficulty with rising food prices is it's very difficult to avoid.
"You can swap out fresh food for prepared food or frozen vegetables, that kind of stuff, but you've still got to spend… sliced bread is one of those staples, when you don't have money for anything else that's something people will use to fill up their tummies."
Other staples are also under pressure.
Stats NZ reported last week that food prices lifted 5 percent in the year to July. That was a slightly bigger increase than the year-on-year growth recorded in June.
Milk was up 16 percent annually, butter 42.2 percent and cheese 29.5 percent.
Over 10 years, the cost of a kilogram of mince has increased from $13.35 to $21.97.
Potatoes have increased in price from $1.70 a kilogram to $2.36. Rice is up from $2.48 to $3.32 per kilogram.
David Verry, a financial mentor at North Harbour Budgeting Services, said food price pressure on households had not eased.
He said the increases in costs were more, in percentage terms, than the lift people were experiencing in their incomes.
Eaqub said the price increases were unlikely to let up because global commodity prices were still high.
"Most of the prices in the supermarkets tend to take six to nine months to flow through so a lot of that is still to come… these unavoidable costs of living are still up.
"I see these rising costs of necessities as a real tax on people's disposable income. That affects people's ability to spend on other things."
BNZ chief economist Mike Jones agreed higher prices were reducing households' purchasing power.
"Added to this is the fact the labour market remains relatively soft.
"Most of the wage measures released in the June quarter showed the gap between wage growth and inflation being squeezed further.
"There is an offset for some from interest rates coming down, and perhaps also from slowing rent and fuel inflation. But the balance still leaves us cautious on the pace of expected recovery in household spending this year."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
