Picture an Auckland family loading their weekly shop into the car. They're spending $299 a week on groceries — roughly $15,553 a year. That's up from $12,647 just four years ago. Sounds like a dramatic jump, right? (Source: Stats NZ, food-price-index-regional)

Here's what the numbers don't tell you: inflation has run at 20-25% since 2019. Which means that $15,553 today buys roughly the same amount of food as $12,400 did in 2020. The dollar figure climbed 23%, but the actual purchasing power? Virtually unchanged.

This is the hidden story behind today's national infrastructure plan and every other policy announcement. Families aren't eating more. They're just paying more for the same trolley.

The trajectory tells the story: in 2020, Auckland households spent an average of $12,647 on food. By 2021, it was $13,021. Then $14,083 in 2022. $15,356 in 2023. Now $15,553 in 2024. That's a 23% increase in four years — almost perfectly matching the inflation rate.

Which means the real story isn't that food costs are spiralling out of control in Auckland. It's that they're treading water. Kiwi families are running harder to stay in the same place.

Look at the 50-year view. In 1975, this figure was a fraction of today's number. But adjusted for five decades of inflation, the long-term trend is remarkably flat. What's changed isn't how much food costs relative to everything else — it's how much everything costs, period.

This matters right now because every household budget decision — whether to raid KiwiSaver, whether to take on more debt, whether a second income is enough — is being made against these numbers. When communities are cut off by storms or policy priorities shift, the baseline pressure remains: $300 a week just to keep the fridge full.

The data shows Auckland food spending is up. But in real terms — in what that money actually buys — it's barely moved. That's the uncomfortable truth: wages, benefits, and household incomes need to rise 23% just to keep pace with the groceries. Most haven't.

So yes, Auckland families are spending more on food than ever before. But they're not living larger. They're paying the inflation tax, one trolley at a time.