Whakapau Iti Iho in New Zealand

by John Archer, 2025

b. home-grown greens.
Dig up as much soil as you can in a sheltered sunny place and regularly plant spinach, silver beet, broccoli, parsley etc, then keep it weeded and watered.

If you live out-of-town doing only seasonal jobs, you will have the land and time to tend a large vegetable garden, and to hunt and butcher animals.

c. free coffee
An expresso machine extracts only about 80% of the caffeine in the beans. 20% remains in the grounds. But don't get old grounds from a rubbish bag, they will be stale and could contain disease germs. Ask a café worker you know to save some for you in an airtight container, like I did here. Then either simmer them just below boiling for a few minutes, or soak some overnight in cold water, then strain off the grounds and heat it for your morning coffee. I heated up two of the 'biscuits' with about 1½ cups of water for 5 minutes, let the dregs settle, poured off the clear liquid and added milk and sugar.

d. pumpkins
They have 1/3 the calories of potatoes, are packed with vitamins and minerals, keep for many months, are easy to cook and very versatile.

But ready-cut pieces of supermarket grey Crown pumpkin sell for $4/kg. In April, May, June, buy the biggest whole grey pumpkin you can find each time you shop. They all sell for about $5 to $6.50 each. Even mid-city apartment dwellers can do this. Last April I bought a 5kg grey pumpkin for $5. Store them in a cool dry place.

Or save the seeds from one, dry them out and plant in a warm fertile corner in springtime. In colder areas, start them inside in pots on sunny window sills. Keep pots well-watered.

e. hunting...
Land animals

First ask more experienced hunters about the likelihood of diseased or poisoned animals. 
Rabbits from grassland.
Wild goats, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, pheasants, black swans.
Deer and wild pigs.
Possum hind legs.

Water animals

The water may be polluted, so cook thoroughly.
Freshwater crayfish
Shellfish from beaches.
Fish from wharves, surf and from boats.
Eels from streams, rivers and ponds

Escargot, garden snails, are a gourmet treat. Feed them on rolled oats and peanut butter for a few days, then wash in salty water to remove slime. More.

...and gathering
Foraging in New Zealand by P Langlands. Read it for free on Libby.

Search for wild greens that you can safely eat (not recently sprayed or polluted); chickweed, young dandelion and red clover leaves, nasturtiums, plantain, red and green sea lettuce (Porphora and Ulva), stinging nettle (boiled in soups, stir-fries etc; not raw!) watercress (only above the waterline, and boil) 

I was given a miners' lettuce plant a few year ago. It is the perfect garden weed: very edible with no fibres, and it has now spread everywhere, suppressing other garden weeds. It can be pulled out easily, and what is not eaten can be quickly composted.

Mushrooms, brown underneath. Blackberries. Rose hips, from gardens or barren hill country. Tasty and rich in vitamin C.
There are many recipes for rose hip syrup.

Local fruit trees - roadsides and empty sections often have cherry plums or apples falling to the ground and rotting. Bottle or freeze the cooked plums.

I have been dehydrating the apples I collect: cut in thin slices, dipped in water with citric acid or lemon juice, dried, laid on mesh or bird netting on top of tray, into our oven at about 60°C until leathery.

f. train your children to cook
Give points for the low cost of ingredients, high nutritional value, a tidy kitchen when finished, tasty food, original new contents—and reward them with ice cream, meat, whatever, each time they reach a new goal.

Encourage them to go hunting and gathering too!

    FOOD - POWER - THE NET - CLOTHES - HOUSE ITEMS - FINANCE - TEETH - OLD AGE    

2. Lower Power Bills

                 Use less, change retailers, get solar panels

a. the Warmer Kiwi Homes Grant
Trusts, health boards and the NZ government recognise the impact that proper insulation and energy-efficient heat pumps have on creating warmer, drier, healthier homes. GreenSide and EnergySmart are two companies that help bring houses up to a healthy standard for all New Zealanders, using grants that provide up to 90% off the price of insulation and up to 80% off the price of heating for those who are eligible. If you are renting, show your landlord this page.

b. less hot showering.
A hot shower costs about 1 cent per litre, 10 cents a minute. We limit shower time to 10 minutes ($1) a week per per person. On other days we clean part or all our body with a basin half filled with hot water (3 cents) and a small wet towel. We have a timer on the hot water cylinder to heat it when power is cheapest (or free).

c. a dry house.
The water in a damp home absorbs a lot of heat. I pull back the curtains on the north and east of the house at sunrise and on sunny winter mornings we open the windows to let dry air in. We have an extractor fan in the kitchen, and sleep with the bedroom window  slightly open.

d. room dehumidifier
We have a very sunny house and don't need one, but others told me it might cost a dollar a day, save several dollars of heating, and stop the family getting winter coughs and colds.

e. home heating.
We dress warmly, have a heat pump in the lounge/dining/kitchen area, and in the bedrooms we have electric blankets, thick duvets and pyjamas buttoned up to the neck. On very cold nights I wear a beanie in bed. We sleep at night with the door open and sometimes with the window ajar to stop our bedroom getting damp.

f. drying clothes.
We wash clothes and bedding on sunny days when possible, and hang them outside. Even if this gets them only half dry, that cuts the electric drier time in half.

g. cooking.
We use the microwave as much as possible. When baking, we try to cook several items at once.

h. curtains.
We open them when sun comes up and close them at sunset to capture as much of the sun's heat as possible. We have thick, close-fitting curtains to stop heat loss.

When we lived in an old state house, the curtains moved when the wind blew, so I put sticky foam strips to seal the wooden window frames, and padded ‘snakes’ to close the gap under the lounge doors. The wood stove in the lounge kept it hot, but the back bedrooms stayed cold and damp. The owner installed extractor pipes above the ceiling to blow hot air from the lounge to the bedrooms. Magic!

i. lights. 
All ours are now LEDs. They use about 1/7th of the power of old bulbs.

j. boiling the jug.
An ordinary 2kW hot water jug takes about 1½ minutes to boil 500mls of cold tap water, at a cost of about 2 cents. Boiling just a bit more than you are going to drink will save a few cents every day.

Boiling a cup of water in a microwave oven is more expensive because it doesn't switch off when water boils, and there is a risk of scalding yourself when you remove it.

k. power retailers
The local lines company delivering electricity to your house will charge the same, no matter who sells it to you. So you need to compare the unit charge and daily charge of each retailer for your area. Prices change for different regions. I suggest you get a local group together, collect all your midsummer and midwinter invoices, and find someone who can use spreadsheets to figure out your cheapest retail power supplier.

We have panels, and I checked different unit and daily charges before switching to Ecotricity in July 2025.

If we did not have panels, I would have used Powershop for its low unit charge.
        

And an Aucklander made this list in mid-2025.



It may be cheapest to switch at the end of October to the retailer with the lowest daily rate — Genesis Low for Aucklanders — and at the end of March to one with a cheaper Unit cost — Meridian for Aucklanders.

l. solar panels
When buying a house, try to find one with a roof facing the sun. Our roof faces nor-west and our 22 three-year-old 350 watt panels generate about 10,500 kWh of free power each year. We sell it to Ecotricity in summer for 16 to 21 cents a kWh, and that pays for most of the power we buy in winter.

The newest panels are transparent and can generate power from light reflected back off the roof, and so produce 440 watts, giving more power for the same priced panel. Here is financial advice about installing a solar system in NZ.

   FOOD - POWER - THE NET - CLOTHES - HOUSE ITEMS - FINANCE - TEETH - OLD AGE

3. lower Internet Costs

a. Public libraries
have free wifi for your laptop etc, and also computers that you can use for free.

b. Zero.govt.nz
Zero.govt.nz will connect you to NZ government websites without you having to pay for the data you download, for example, an online educational course. The data is paid for by the government.

c. Skinny Jump
Skinny Jump is for those who don't have a broadband connection at home because cost is a barrier: for example, families with children, job seekers, those over 65, people with disabilities, prison leavers, those in social housing, refugees and migrants. You get a free modem, and pre-pay only $5 for every 35 GB you use.

d. Free computing software
Best free anti-virus for PC, Mac, Android, iOS - Total AV
Instead of renting Microsoft Office, download free LibreOffice.
Instead of renting Adobe Photoshop, use Photopea.com online.
Best free audio editor — Audacity

e. Cellphones
Companies such as Reebelo, Expert Infotech or Good Tech offer refurbished older premium brands such as iPhone, Google Pixel or Samsung, with new or 90%+ batteries, guarantees, testing, a warranty, and accepting trade-ins. In 2025 my wife was still using a 1916 iPhone 7 she bought refurbished in 2020 for $250. Or buy one on TradeMe from someone with a good rating. I bought a 2022 iPhone SE ($450 new) for $300.

f. Free library books and magazines online
Download the Libby app on iOS or Android.
Or go to Libbyapp.com on your computer.
You only need your library card number and password.
You can read library books there.
There also are hundreds of magazines, both the latest issues, and old copies.
If you haven't got a library card, you can get a card for free from your nearest public library.

i. Educational movies for students
Beamafilm/students is free if you have a library card.
Otherwise $10 a month.

ii. Classic films for culture and media students
You may legally use an archived work for educational purposes. There are sites like Youtube and Beamafilm that will distract you with junk mindfood and adverts, but there are also some sites with a selection of good full-length movies. Make sure you have your (free) anti-virus app switched on.  Russians are a cultured society (despite their dictator) and their site ok.ru has a huge selection of classic movies, no time-wasting video adverts, and it has never triggered my anti-virus software. Here are some examples from Ok.ru.

  FOOD - POWER - THE NET - CLOTHES - HOUSE ITEMS - FINANCE - TEETH - OLD AGE  

4.  Clothing

5.  House items

- 2nd hand shops, garage sales
- Councils' Zero Waste depots.

This is the former 'rubbish dump' of my little tourist town, Ohakune.
52% of what comes in to the 'dump' is now recycled and resold at token prices instead of being buried.




c. The most economical used cars, $5k to $20 picked by the AA

      

    Mazda Demio - reliable, durable, petrol, 5 lit/100km
         
    Nissan Leaf - very reliable, very low maintenance costs.

6.  Finance

The role of money mentors       Finding a local money mentor

Avoiding online scams              Withdrawing from Kiwisaver

7. Teeth

8. Old Age

Use it or lose it

a. Get ready a decade earlier
Prepare for retirement in your middle age. Just before we reached our 70s, we moved to a small, sunny house (easy to maintain and keep warm) on flat ground in a quiet street with young families and near shops, medical services, public transport etc.

Old folks' homes are expensive (and boring), and maintaining a healthy body in middle age has saved us thousands.

b. Keep your balance
Falling over and breaking bones is expensive (and not much fun) so you need to be able to keep your balance. If you can't afford to go skiing when you retire, go dancing instead, or do these Steady As You Go exercises with a weekly group, or in front of your computer.

c. Keep your wits about you
Here's how to reduce the likelihood of senile and physical decay:—

1. Eat a balanced diet (high protein and micro-nutrients, low carbs)
   
   
2. Maintain social contacts and make new ones.
   
   
3. Exercise both your mind and body by finding new challenges, from walking Te Araroa to more exercises while sitting in a chair.
   
   
4. Help others by doing what you are good at, at a stress-free pace. (Former president Jimmy Carter built houses for the poor right into his 90s)
   
   
5. Keep weight, blood pressure, cholesterol etc. at a healthy level.
   
   
6. Establish daily, weekly, monthly and annual routines to keep doing all these.
   
   
7. Keep alcohol intake low and don't smoke.
   
   
8. Protect your head.
   
   
9. Keep laughing.

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