Wellington - Post Report Question and Answers
How would you describe the availability and cost of groceries and household supplies relative to your home country?
You can get almost everything! There are even stores which specifically sell US products, but for a premium. Turkey meat is almost non-existent or very expensive. Food and goods are expensive. - Jan 2021
You can get anything and everything here. The paper towels are not great, for some reason, and everything is expensive. - Jun 2019
Large chain stores such as New World and Countdown have the basics covered. For household stores there's the Warehouse or Farmers, which bear a strange resemblance to a Sears in 1992. Food is slightly more expensive here, although you can save by becoming a regular at the local butcher or farmer's market. Household goods and clothing are generally lower in quality than you would expect, so plan to either rely on Amazon through the DPO or load up your HHE. - Mar 2016
It's expensive, and there are no turkeys in country, so if you want one for Thanksgiving it costs about US$75 for an imported one. To save costs, I used the discount grocers (Shopper's Warehouse, I think?) - but still expensive. Supplement with Amazon bulk wherever possible to save money. Shopping isn't what you'd expect - high prices, low quality. The entire shopping mall felt like being in a dollar store with outrageous prices on everything. - Apr 2015
Most things you need are available, aside from the vast majority of American brands we are used to. The cost of food however can cause heart failure... - Aug 2011
Cheap shopping for sure....less than you would pay in the USA.Now, it's been 7 years we're out of there, and I don't really know the current cost of living ....but then it was reasonable to cheap. Try the Dutch Store in Lower Hutt and the bakery in Upper Hutt; Great coffee for you coffee lovers and New Zealand wine, although the white wine was reasonable to good not to compare to Californian wines...or those from France. Groceries were relatively cheap to moderate priced. - Aug 2008
