Listen
Food prices have risen at their fastest annual rate in 13 years.
Data from Stats NZ shows food prices were 8.3 percent higher this month compared to the same period last year.
Countdown said it has received four times the number of cost increase requests from suppliers last month, compared to a year ago.
With grocery food prices up 8.7 percent, shoppers who spoke to Checkpoint said they are feeling the pinch at the checkout.
"The broccoli was about, I think it's $6 for a tiny little bunch, it's huge, unbelievable, actually. Yeah, just worry for other families with little kids" said one shopper.
"A big jump, more each week or fortnight, canned food, red meat is a biggie, but yes we've really noticed it," said another.
Sophie Gray runs the Good Works Trust foodbank on Auckland's North Shore.
In the last year demand has skyrocketed.
"Just absolutely mind blowing people who've never ever had to consider what they spend at the supermarket or whether or not they've got enough are now having to really weigh up what they spend and people who previously could always just scrape by currently aren't scraping by."
The food bank is facing its own challenges to put together parcels to feed a family on a budget.
Fruit and vegetable prices have jumped 15 percent.
Jerry Prendergast from United Fresh said extreme weather conditions have pushed prices up because thousands of crops were destroyed.
Inflation is having a huge impact on the cost to harvest crops.
"The pressure that growers are under with increased fertilizer costs, increased labour costs, increased fuel costs, compliance cost increases, and so on."
Prendergast said things are looking up for shoppers in the next few months.
"If the weather gods look after us, we could be seeing some quite good increases of supply of vegetables and we can expect to see a continuation of good value fruit and vegetables as we head into late spring and into the summer months."
Countdown's commercial director Steve Mills told Checkpoint it is facing supplier's cost increase requests across the board.
He said they are seeing a range of price rises, from one percent up to 72 percent. Labour and freight cost rises are behind it.
"Whatever we can do in our business to support [suppliers] to reduce costs, whether that's through logistics... Bringing products into our distribution centre and using our network to get products to the store."
Mills said he is seeing significant increases in imported products, and they try to substitute for other products where they can.
"Our focus is to support local wherever we can."