Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that have the citrus fruit, … Read more
Summer reissue: A definitive answer to a burning question: what is the best gluten-free bread of them all? First published October 21 2020 Outside of coeliac circles, not many people know that gluten-free bread is actually better than regular bread. It’s true.* After years of fastidious experimentation and perfecting, gluten-free bakers have now produced a … Read more
The Commerce Commission is undertaking a year-long study of supermarkets to see whether consumers are getting a fair deal, but it seems even the prime minister knows the answer will be an emphatic no, Justin Giovannetti reports. There might be something rotten with New Zealand’s supermarkets. Food prices are high and increasing, producers are being … Read more
A definitive answer to a burning question: what is the best gluten-free bread of them all? Outside of coeliac circles, not many people know that gluten-free bread is actually better than regular bread. It’s true.* After years of fastidious experimentation and perfecting, gluten-free bakers have now produced a product vastly superior to its wheat-filled counterpart. … Read more
Sales and discounts hook people in, but do they really live up to the hype? A recent survey found some supermarket products were on promotion so often that shoppers risked being misled about the savings they were really getting. Consumer NZ’s Belinda Castles explains what they found and why it’s time to put supermarkets under … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members here. On … Read more
Three Countdown stores are currently trialling drastically reducing plastic from their fruit and veg… but it’s a solution that comes with problems of its own. Ah, plastic. The synthetic material we love to hate. In a world where many of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis are not exactly easy to give up – … Read more
Countdown’s restriction on the sale of energy drinks to under-16s came into force this week. Near-lifelong energy drink consumer Sam Brooks writes on his relationship with the buzzy beverages, and what he thinks of the age restriction. I was seven years old when V launched in New Zealand. That radioactive green can made it look … Read more
One third of all food produced is thrown away, at the same time as one billion people go hungry. Simon Day met some of the people trying to fix our broken food system. On Monday evenings, when most Auckland restaurants rest, Gemmayze St is consistently host to more than 200 customers. While the award winning … Read more
At a central Auckland organic supermarket, where the shelves are stocked with high end specialty foods, the workers are about to strike over low pay. And they’re not the only supermarket where workers are getting fed up. Update: Strike cancelled! More here Organic. Spray free. Superfood. Gluten free. Ethical. These are some of the words … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today, voiceover artist Maria has a very special client. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
The good news is that The Real Pod team are back to talk some guff about reality TV and real life in New Zealand. The better news is that Mayor Phil Goff is listening (?). This week on The Real Pod, we continue our hot streak as The Spinoff’s most hard-hitting political podcast by doing … Read more
On Monday, supermarket chain Countdown announced a new company-wide policy to support its workers who are transgender, and those who are transitioning. Corporate affairs GM James Walker explains what motivated the decision. Countdown announced to its team this week that it has introduced a Transgender Transitioning Policy. We’ve had numerous messages and emails from people … Read more
The star of a confrontational new television commercial explains why she felt compelled to help save hens from the cruelty of battery cages. Update: Late last week, in apparent response to the upcoming SAFE ad, Countdown supermarkets announced they will remove battery-caged and colony-caged eggs from their own-brand range by 2022, the same year battery … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. There once was a Countdown in central Hamilton. It lost it’s ‘o’, and became C-untdown. How we laughed. That laughter, and the store in question, are dust in the winds of time. Judging by the quality of their wares, Countdown … Read more