We brought a couple boxes of food -- canned goods like sauces, soups, beans, a bulk pkg of several pasta pkgs, other basics (beans, et), coffee beans, things like peanut butter, all our spices. You can find most of this here (or better), but what we appreciated is that since we were shipping a container anyway...let's fill it! and we appreciated that we shipped our goods 3 months before we shipped ourselves (thus the expense of the food stocking was 3mos earlier). so when we landed in NZ & our container arrived a few days later, it was wonderful not having to buy all the basics...staples. When you land you are bleeding money left and right, it's handy to have that expense out of the way. It's an individual preference, though.
Agree about the financial aspect - that was the worst - we dropped $700 in Pak n Save restocking again..
Really didnt believe we could get away with bringing this stuff over in the container. All the removal companies were sooo against and wouldnt pack it.. ho hum - hindsight hey??
Did you have any MAF issues with the foodstuffs?