Tuesday 17 April
Easy Choice to feed Kiwi families for $60
A new free meal planner and recipe book from Love Food Hate Waste is making dinner time easier for lower income Kiwi
families as the cost of food rises.
Love Food Hate Waste has today launched Easy Choice – Family Kai, a free dinner meal planning booklet to help feed
families healthily and cheaply, while helping to reduce how much food is going to waste.
The Autumn edition of Easy Choice is the first of four seasonal booklets to be launched nationally. Easy Choice consists
of four weeks of five dinner meal plans that will feed a family of six for approximately $60 a week.
For West Auckland mother Kimberley Manning, Easy Choice was a life saver when she became unemployed and found herself
struggling financially.
“I thought I had hit the jackpot when I started using Easy Choice,” said Manning who was introduced to Easy Choice
through the pilot programme run last year.
“I was surprised that I could make so many meals for only $60. It has made a real difference to our financial situation
as the meal planner ensures that we can stick to our food budget.
“What I like most about it is that it is easy and healthy – it tells me what I need to buy and I know that I am going to
get a tasty meal. At first I wasn’t sure that I would like some of the meals that had beans instead of meat in them, but
many of the vegetarian meals have ended up being my favourites.”
Manning is so enamoured with Easy Choice – Family Kai that she is now planning to hold free cooking classes to share the
resource with other people.
“I didn’t know how to cook very well to begin with and was really struggling to work within my food budget. I know that
there are many other families out there in the same position so I’m keen to pass on the skills I have learnt and tell
other people about Easy Choice.”
Easy Choice developed out of an initiative started by the Fresh Choice supermarkets in Ranui and Glen Eden in West
Auckland that was offering all of the ingredients for the five dinners in the meal planner for a family of 6 at a
guaranteed price of $60.
Love Food Hate Waste saw the opportunity to extend the concept nationwide to allow more families to access cheap and
healthy meals no matter where they lived.
“We know how popular meal delivery services are such as My Food Bag and WOOP, which take all the work out of meal
planning but for many families they are still unaffordable,” said Love Food Hate Waste’s Jenny Marshall.
“Easy Choice makes it possible for lower income families to stick to a budget while still eating healthy and delicious
food. This is particularly valuable at the moment with the high cost of vegetables.”
Research shows that meal planning is one of the most effective ways to reduce food waste. With Kiwi families throwing
away three shopping trolleys of food a year, meal planning can make a real difference to how much money they are
spending and what they are eating.
Each week’s ingredients should cost approximately $60, although this may vary based on produce prices, the supermarket
you shop at and weekly specials.
Click here to download the Autumn Easy Choice – Family Kai meal planner and recipe book.
Easy Choice was made possible with the support of Auckland Council.
Ends.