Ganesh Raj and Mike Van de Elzen show food-loving Kiwis where they're going wrong at the supermarket in Eat Well For Less New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Ganesh Raj and Mike Van de Elzen show food-loving Kiwis where they're going wrong at the supermarket in Eat Well For Less New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Opinion
Usually, when a show comes to New Zealand from overseas it's difficult to see the point past jumping on the bandwagon (I'm still expecting a Kiwi version of The Chase), but thankfully that's not the case with Eat Well For Less.
The British series started here last night and whileit sticks pretty reliably to the UK format, the major difference is that it's telling Kiwi stories, using Kiwi brands and, more importantly, prices.
If you're unfamiliar with the format the general gist is that a team of experts find families around the nation who are spending way too much on food which is mostly trash. They then replace the family's usual food items with cheaper and healthier "swaps" to see if the family can tell the difference between the brands they love and the alternatives which could save them hundreds.
They quickly discovered a pattern of families doing a massive weekly grocery shop full of many of the right things - fresh produce, lean meats, grains - and then putting it all in the fridge to rot while they blew hundreds on convenience snacks and takeaways.
There were even some families whose children had never even seen fresh produce - like one family who was confronted with an avocado for the first time in their lives and firmly decided it must've been a pear which had gone off.
Here in New Zealand, things are shaping up much the same as chef Michael Van de Elzen and restaurateur Ganesh Raj take over people's pantries across the country.
The first episode focuses on the James family in which everyone has a major sweet tooth - Mum buys 4 to 5 blocks of Whittaker's chocolate a week and Dad's got a major Demon energy drink problem. The problem's become so bad that their 4-year-old Gareth refuses to eat a vegetable unless it's well disguised and has a complete meltdown upon discovering he can no longer access his treats.
Ganesh Raj and Mike van de Elzen from Eat Well For Less New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Thankfully, Eat Well NZ doesn't feel as exploitatively judgemental as the UK version sometimes does. There's a little bit of poking fun at the supermarket, but in a way which feels designed to break the obvious tension.
The focus isn't on making people feel bad for not knowing what an avocado is, it's on the money and, more specifically, the savings.
The James family was spending about $500 a week on their grocery shop plus another $350 on UberEats in the same week. The Eat Well team did the math and figured out they were spending about $45,000 on food a year.
That's more than many people even make in a year.
The craziest part is that they were surprised. I've had a sneak peek at next week's episode, in which a couple is similarly stunned by their $600 supermarket bill. Which begs the question; were they just completely zoning out at the checkout before?
If my grocery bill got anywhere near $500-$600 you'd have to pick me up off the shop floor. But then the same could be said for other people who got my bill - it's all about what becomes normal.
The main culprit? Convenience.
People are - lockdown aside - working harder and longer than ever and have no time to cook delicious, nutritious meals so they grab pies, pre-packed cheese and crackers, treats to keep the kids quiet and then hit a drive-thru on the way home because it's easier and you don't even have to do the washing up.
Both families quickly discover that by swapping their usual products - not even cutting anything out - they could be saving at least $10,000 a year. Each.
The lesson is while that extra dollar or two for something a bit fancier might seem negligible at the time or worth it for the convenience, it quickly adds up without us realising.
Eat Well For Less, at least in some small part, may well wake us up to those potential savings by comparing everyday products like jam and mayonnaise to show us just how much we could save if we just ignored branding.
This is especially important because I'm painfully aware that much of Eat Well won't be relatable for most Kiwis. Spending upward of $800 a week on junk food is very much a rich people problem and most of us aren't out here buying $12 jars of yoghurt.
However, those small savings on jam or mayonnaise are savings which all Kiwis can take on board and for that reason, Eat Well For Less could fast become a Kiwi viewing staple.
