Food Shopping in New Zealand

One of the crucial elements of taking a campervan holiday in New Zealand is keeping the inner person fed. Food shopping in New Zealand.We have any amount of places to go food shopping in New Zealand. Anything from fast food outlets like McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hutt etc through to local farmers markets.

The one great thing about your campervan holiday in New Zealand is that you don’t have to eat in restaurants every night. You are able to and get local produce and shop at supermarkets what a saving.

Some of the common places to go food shopping in New Zealand are:-

 

4 Square – These stores are typically smaller stores, owner operated and found in a lot of small and larger towns around New Zealand. Four square stores tend to give personal service and generally are a little more expensive than the larger supermarkets. Having said the I often find there specials are very comparable with their larger counterparts.

New World – tend to be a moderate size store with an excellent range of products. At times offering some very good specials on a range of products. One great personal touch with the New World supermarkets is that they supply plastic bags and generally have someone packing your groceries items into the bags for you. New World supermarkets also add a “BP” fuel discount voucher to the end of their till receipts. New World supermarkets can be found in most New Zealand towns and cities.

Pak n Save – are large discount, no frill supermarkets that have a very good choice, usually at very good prices with plenty of weekly specials. These Pak n Save stores  are usually always busy. The down side is you have to buy bags if you want them or you can collect up the empty product boxes as you shop so that YOU can pack your own groceries into them. Or why not be environmentally conscious and take your own bags, most New Zealand Supermarkets today, sell re-usable bio-degradable bags for packing your groceries into.

At the risk of promoting one brand (which I’m not) I do love the Pak n Save TV commercials, here’s an example.

 

Fresh Choice – mainly in the South Island but have started opening stores now in the North Island are more on your moderate side, much like the New Worlds. Again offering some great specials weekly on a variety of products.

Countdown – are the main competition to Pack n Save but supply bags free of charge and generally carry a larger variety of brands and items.

The local general store or dairy (milk bar) as we call them, tend to be more expensive and carry a limited range for emergencies and concentrate mainly on sweets, ice creams, papers, cigarettes, bread and milk. These days the larger fuel service stations also sell general emergency grocery items with many also having a cafe attached to them.

As you travel around on your campervan holiday in New Zealand you are bound to come across markets, fruit and vegetable suppliers selling from just one or two items (e.g. kiwifruit  and avocados) to full-blown fruit and veggie stores, generally speaking these suppliers offer fresher and cheaper goods.

While food shopping in New Zealand, you will find beer and wine is available in supermarkets in most places. Hard liquor or spirits, including ‘alco pops’ are only available from designated liquor outlets and hotels. A point worth mentioning is that in Waitakeri (West Auckland) and Invercargill (bottom of the south island) you can not buy any alcohol from supermarkets only from liquor outlets.

Many of the supermarkets have fuel discount vouchers, on the bottom of the receipt. Look out for those and take advantage of them

Check out this awesome YouTube video on an New Zealand iconic treat

In conclusion:- It is always good to be mindful on your holiday in New Zealand of what you have in hand (in the campervan pantry), as in some of the more remote areas and small towns, shops can be far and few between with limited stocks and shorter opening hours than in the main centres. In the cities there is usually at least one 24/7 or extended hours, supermarket available. The main cities also have a number of 24/7 convenience stores that are becoming more and more popular.

So Drive safely enjoy the scenery, have fun and eat well.

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