Cost of Living: Cutting the produce bills as easy as sharing

Sunday, 26 June 2022

Hoan Nguyen, left, with neighbours Dylan Mackie and Charlotte Watkins share produce along with a number of other nearby homes which cuts back their shopping bill.

Getting fresh fruit and vegetables on to your plate doesn’t have to add to the grocery bill – and many are finding all it costs is some home baking or lending a hand.

Crop swaps, community gardens and produce sharing with neighbours are initiatives on the rise, connecting people while filling bellies.

Tāhunanui couple, Charlotte Watkins and her partner Dylan Mackie have been saving money on their shopping trips by sharing fruit and veggies with their neighbours, cutting the cost of produce by about half, Watkins said.

* Dinner Glynn's community vege stall helping to put food on the table

* Free community fruit and vege stand founder up for prize

The couple share produce with five other “friendly” neighbours, she said, including potatoes, pumpkins, broccoli, lemons, feijoas and cauliflower.

Victory Community Centre Sylvia Nevin and Steve McLuckie help supply families with the $15 Hapori Boxes containing locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables.

“It works well because everyone helps each other out with advice, help in the garden or watering if someone is away.”

And when they’re not tending to their own garden, Watkins said Mackie helped out at the local Tāhunanui community garden which saw a group meet up once a week.

Crop Swaps in the region have monthly meetings to allow people to exchange produce, baking and preserves for other items.

“They seem to have good chats, talks about gardening, then he comes home with a bit of produce.”

The Victory Community Centre also has a community garden catering to families in need, but the Kai coordinator Sylvia Nevin said volunteers were also welcome to share in the harvest.

“Anyone can come and take part in gardening at the community garden … it's about learning skills and meeting other people with an interest in gardening.”

She said it was also a great place to get children into getting their hands dirty.

“They really enjoy it; letting them put their hands in the earth and play.”

Nevin said another affordable way to get produce on the table was opting in to the Hapori Box, a joint initiative by Victory Community Centre, Nelson Marlborough Health, and the Nelson Environment Centre.

The $15 boxes contain fresh, locally grown fruit and veggies, utilising “community buying power in order to get really cheap and nutritious veggies to families”, she said.

And the cost stacked up, she said, as the two types of fruit and three to four types of vegetables was the equivalent of about $25 worth of produce from the supermarket.

Waimarama and Whakatu Nelson Crop Swap meet ups have recently sprung up in Nelson, allowing people to take preserves, garden produce, cuttings or baked goods in exchange for items of their choice.

Tuia Marama attended one of Olive Gallagher’s Whakatū Nelson Crop Swaps and came away from it able to make a variety of dishes with her haul of pumpkin, capsicum and mircrogreens, along with a jar of rhubarb jam.

And she said all it took was taking a few things from her garden, including parsley, kaffir lime branches and some sage cuttings.

Marama said most people would have something they could take along to join in on the swap.

“If you don’t have an abundance of produce, take along seeds.”