While the government unveils New Zealand's first national infrastructure plan, there's another kind of infrastructure families in places like Nelson, Marlborough, and the West Coast are struggling to maintain: the groceries in their fridge.

In 2020, the average household in the Rest of South Island spent $12,464 on food. By 2024, that figure hit $15,380 — a 23% jump in just four years. (Source: Stats NZ, food-price-index-regional)

But here's what that number hides: those households aren't actually buying 23% more food. They're paying 23% more for roughly the same trolley.

Wind back to 2019, the last year before everything changed. Food spending sat at $12,103. Then COVID arrived. By 2021, it was $12,775 — a modest 5.6% increase over two years. Manageable.

Then 2022 hit. Russia invaded Ukraine. Supply chains seized up. Global wheat and fertiliser prices exploded. The food price index jumped to $13,795 — an 8% increase in a single year.

2023 was worse. Cyclone Gabrielle wiped out orchards and vegetable crops. Inflation peaked above 7%. Food spending climbed to $15,132. That's a 9.7% jump year-on-year.

And 2024? The number barely moved — up just 1.6% to $15,380. That sounds like relief. But adjust for the 20-25% inflation New Zealand has experienced since 2019, and families in these regions are actually buying less food than they were five years ago, despite spending $3,277 more.

This is the real cost-of-living crisis in regional New Zealand. Not in headlines about infrastructure plans or crime statistics, but in the weekly arithmetic families do at the checkout. A household in Blenheim or Greymouth is now spending roughly $296 a week on groceries — up from $240 in 2020.

That extra $56 a week? It's coming from somewhere. KiwiSaver contributions are down. Savings accounts are emptying. Discretionary spending — the Friday night fish and chips, the kids' sports fees — is getting cut.

And unlike Auckland or Wellington, where wage growth has been stronger, many of these regional centres have seen incomes stagnate. The gap between what people earn and what they spend on food is widening.

The 2024 figure — $15,380 — represents a plateau, not a victory. Prices have stopped climbing as fast, but they haven't come down. The new normal is a trolley that costs 23% more than it did in 2020, in regions where household budgets were already tight.

Five years. One number. Thousands of families quietly adjusting what "enough" means.