A new season of Eat Well For Less NZ began this week on TVNZ – but can the show make a real difference in a world of rising grocery prices?

Exciting news, mates: the price of food is still batshit expensive. Household living costs have increased a jazzy 3.2% in the past 12 months, the price of butter rose 152% over the past decade, and even the weekly fish and chip parcel is 78% more expensive than it was in 2016. With the cost of our daily bread continuing to skyrocket while supermarkets make million-dollar profits and politicians bicker about what to do about it, it seems there’s no better time for Eat Well For Less NZ to come back to our screens.

Last night, chef Michael Van de Elzen and food educator Ganesh Raj returned to lurk in the supermarket aisles under the guise of helping New Zealand families make better nutritional choices and save some coin while doing it. The first episode of season six saw Van de Elzen and Raj help Auckland’s Anise and Dan, who are parents to three sport-loving teenagers. Food plays an important role in fuelling their active children, and their kitchen cupboards continually need to be restocked, much of it with gluten-free options. 

This means that Anise and Dan spend over half their weekly income on kai. Van de Elzen and Raj – the latter resplendent in an impressive fluorescent yellow puffer vest – watch as Anise and Dan tally up $698 on their weekly Pak’nSave shop. It’s great to see a lower-cost supermarket finally feature on Eat Well For Less NZ, but Van de Elzen and Raj also reveal that the family spends an additional $400 on eating out, food subscriptions and Uber grocery delivery top-ups. That’s an average of $1,111 on groceries a week – nearly twice the $596 that Van de Elzen and Raj say is the recommended minimum cost for a family of five to meet nutritional requirements. 

It would be great to see Eat Well For Less break that ideal $596 weekly grocery shop down for viewers, but Van de Elzen and Raj have other things on their plate. They’re here to help the family save money by shopping smarter, and, as they do in every episode, the pair encourage the kids to help cook the meals and suggest practical ways of reducing the grocery bill. Anise and Dan buy a lot of collagen supplements and protein-added foods, and Van de Elzen and Raj reckon they can save heaps by instead opting for wholefoods and more natural sources of protein. 

But despite Eat Well For Less NZ’s admirable efforts to change the way we eat and shop, the show continues to trip itself up. Mike suggests the family make a carrot cake to help fill the lunchboxes, but the recipe includes a whopping seven eggs, four-and-a-half cups of ground almonds, and two cups of walnuts. Looks delicious, but cost per (quite small) slice? $2.27. Mike also provides a recipe for a lamb shoulder roast in the slow cooker. The average shopper can buy a 2.4kg lamb shoulder roast for about $48 at the supermarket, but this meal breaks down to $7.35 a plate, or nearly $37 for one family-of-five meal. 

The economy has changed significantly since Eat Well For Less NZ began in 2020, but the series itself remains the same as it ever was. That’s a bit of a problem, particularly for viewers desperate for new ways to get more bang for their grocery buck. Still, there aren’t many shows where you can watch a panel of armour-wearing knights rank supermarket wraps. This episode’s taste test featured five medieval enthusiasts who munched on a variety of dry triangles of plain floppy flatbread, and their chosen winner (Farrah’s Premium) just happened to be the most expensive one of the lot. 

Does this all mean that it’s now impossible to eat well for less? As always, Ganesh and Mike manage to save the whānau some cash by showing them how to ditch pre-packaged products for homemade, but it’s their suggestion that the family halves their top-up Uber grocery deliveries – ie, spend less money – that means they’ll save the big bucks. Saving money by not spending it? Incredible. Eat Well For Less NZ certainly means well and always offers a useful tip or two, but can this show really make a difference for the average shopper in 2026? When so many New Zealanders are already struggling to afford the basics, Eat Well For Less NZ may well need to meet the market a little more.  

Eat Well For Less streams on TVNZ+ and screens on TVNZ1 on Mondays at 7.30pm.