BOOK BINNED: The changing habits of shoppers have seen dictionaries fall out of favour.

Flatbread, external hard drives and tablet computers are now considered core household items in New Zealand, while unflued gas heaters, dictionaries and envelopes have been consigned to history.

Statistics New Zealand has released its three-yearly review of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket of goods, a selection of items which will be used as the official monitor of how prices are changing.

All of the goods are thrown into a theoretical $100 basket of goods, with fluctuations used to monitor how inflation changes each quarter.

Price changes of items outside the basket have no influence on the CPI.

The latest review was based on the findings household economic survey, which surveyed approximately 3,100 households on their spending habits between July 2009 and June 2010.

Since then a team of analysts from Statistics NZ have been assessing changing spending patterns.

Today's review points to an increasing technology focus, however Statistics NZ pricing manager Chris Pike said greater use of technology had been a theme of previous reviews, with writing paper thrown out of the basket of goods in 2008 in favour of items such as heat pumps.

The selection of which food groups are included also reflects an increasingly cosmopolitan population, with flatbread being added to core household food purchases, three years after hummus was included.

Statistics NZ warned that the new basket reflected an economy emerging from recession, with spending on new housing, household appliances and cars all decreasing in importance, with the price of food, rent and electricity all increasing in relative importance.

Food accounts for $18.79 of every $100 spent, compared with $17.83 in 2008, with food prices up 14 per cent in three years.

Within the food category, increased prices of dairy products mean they now have a greater influence on inflation, while ready to eat meals and packaged coffee are also given greater weighting, reflecting changing spending habits.

Of less importance is the transport sector, as spending, relative to other categories declined.

Statistics NZ said transport now accounted for $15.12 of every $100 spent, down from $16.18 three years ago.

While the price of petrol is up 9 per cent on three years ago, Kiwis are spending less on both new and used cars.

The latest changes in the CPI basket will be used for the first time when Statistics NZ released the CPI for the September quarter on October 25.