Butter Prices

I almost had a heart attack this morning when I went to Pak n Save. 500g of butter was $5.27 and $5.11 – Rolling Meadows and Anchor I think. Luckily Tararua was on special at $3.88 for 500g. Seemingly according to Stats NZ our butter high price was in May 2010 with the price of butter falling 5.3% in July 2010. I obviously missed the whole thing! Butter has a very long fridge life (over a year) so when it is on special I stock up. I haven’t bought butter in ages and because we shop with a list we don’t stop to look at anything else so hence my surprise. The guy next to me at the supermarket also had a heart attack so I kindly pointed out the cheaper brand while we lamented over the price of butter. Coming from an agricultural country it seems obscene to be paying this much for what we have always considered a basic household staple item.