Canterbury households spent $15,253 on food in 2024. The year before, they spent $15,016. That's a difference of $237. barely 1.6%.

Here's the contrast that tells the real story: from 2020 to 2023, Canterbury food costs jumped by nearly $2,500. Then, between 2023 and 2024, they barely moved at all. (Source: Stats NZ, food-price-index-regional)

On the surface, this looks like good news. Food inflation has slowed. The worst is over. Except there's a problem: your income didn't catch up during those brutal years from 2020 to 2023, and now that food costs have stabilised, you're still paying 21.6% more than you were four years ago.

Think about what this means in practice. A Canterbury family that was spending $12,548 on groceries in 2020 is now spending $15,253. That's an extra $2,705 a year. or $52 a week. locked into their budget permanently. The price increases have stopped climbing, but they haven't reversed. You're not getting that money back.

This is the hidden cost of inflation: it doesn't need to keep rising to hurt you. Once prices jump, they tend to stay there. A block of cheese that went from $10 to $13 doesn't drop back to $10 just because inflation slows. It stays at $13. You adjust. You buy less. You make do.

The data also reveals something else: these are nominal figures, not adjusted for inflation. New Zealand has experienced roughly 20-25% inflation since 2019. So while Canterbury households are spending more dollars on food, those dollars are worth less. In real terms, food spending may have actually declined slightly. but that doesn't mean life got easier. It means families are buying less, switching to cheaper brands, skipping meals, or cutting back elsewhere.

Here's the tension: food costs have stabilised, but household budgets haven't recovered. Wages haven't caught up. Rents haven't dropped. Power bills are still rising. The cost of living crisis isn't over just because one number stopped climbing.

Canterbury is spending nearly the same on food as last year, but that's not stability. It's exhaustion. Families have already made every cut they can. There's nothing left to trim. The plateau isn't relief. It's the new floor.