In 2020, when New Zealand locked down for the first time, the average Wellington household spent $12,357 on groceries for the year. Not cheap, but manageable for most.

Fast forward to 2024. That same household is now spending $15,246. That's an extra $2,889. or $240 a month. just to keep the same food on the table (Source: Stats NZ, food-price-index-regional).

Here's how we got here.

Between 2020 and 2021, the increase was modest: $316 for the year. Barely noticeable in weekly terms. COVID disruptions were causing havoc globally, but New Zealand's grocery bills stayed relatively stable.

Then 2022 hit. Wellington households suddenly paid $1,007 more than the year before. Supply chains were breaking. Freight costs exploded. The Reserve Bank started hiking interest rates. Food prices began their climb.

By 2023, the annual grocery bill reached $15,020. Another $1,340 added in just twelve months. Inflation was running hot. Wages weren't keeping up. Families started making choices: fewer fresh vegetables, cheaper cuts of meat, store brands instead of name brands.

And 2024? The rise slowed, but it didn't stop. Another $226 on top. The cumulative effect over four years: a 23% jump in what Wellington households pay for food.

Put another way: if you're spending $300 at the supermarket today, you were spending $244 for the same shop in 2020.

The long view makes it even starker. Go back to 1975, when Stats NZ first started tracking this, and Wellington's food costs have climbed steadily for half a century. But the last four years delivered more than half of the entire increase from 2015 to 2020.

This isn't a blip. This is the new baseline. Household budgets built around 2020 food prices are now under water by nearly $3,000 a year. Renters already stretched thin on housing costs have watched their grocery bills balloon. Parents planning their weekly shops are doing mental arithmetic at every aisle.

The data doesn't show whether Wellingtonians are buying less food, switching to cheaper options, or just absorbing the cost. It only shows what they're paying. And what they're paying is $57 more every single week than they were four years ago.

That's the cost of two decent dinners out. Or a month of kids' swimming lessons every eight weeks. Or a power bill every six weeks.

Except it's not a one-off expense. It's every week. Forever, unless something changes.