Aldi has been crowned the cheapest supermarket in Australia for a basket of 29 essential grocery items costing just $80.75.
The latest CHOICE grocery prices survey found shoppers can save up to $64.48 just by switching from big brands to a basket of Aldi-owned budget buys.
The shopping list includes bread, milk, eggs, olive oil, tomato sauce, butter, beef mince, fresh apples, bananas, broccoli, frozen peas, coffee, orange juice, cereal, dried penne, flour, sugar, tissues, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid and more.
The 2021 results found Coles to be the most expensive supermarket of leading brands ($145.23) ahead of IGA ($142.79) and Woolworths ($141.83).
The list includes branded items such as Wonder White bread, Dairy Farmers milk, Western Star butter, Birds Eye peas, Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain, Moccona coffee, San Remo penne, Kleenex tissues, Morning Fresh dishwashing liquid and more.
Aldi has been crowned the cheapest supermarket in Australia for a basket of 29 essential grocery items costing just $80.75 (stock image)
In the budget brand category, the experts found even further savings after switching to ‘budget-tier’ supermarket brand items.
‘Bear in mind the quality and “look and feel” of the items may not be directly comparable to that of national brands but if you’re looking for savings, it’s a great place to start,’ Choice’s content producer Rebecca Ciaramidaro said.
The experts substituted items for budget versions where they were available.
Coles has since labelled its budget brand ‘Coles’ while Woolworths has rebranded its budget tier from ‘Homebrand’ to ‘Essentials’.
Aldi still took the lead with the cheapest basket costing just $67.18 for 29 items, $5 to $6 cheaper than Coles ($72.93) and Woolworths ($72.89) baskets.
‘While these prices are including specials, you wouldn’t expect the price to change too much as specials are rarely offered on budget-tier groceries,’ Rebecca said.
‘Keep in mind that within the same supermarket you could save up to $14.63 by purchasing the cheapest brand equivalent of the supermarket brand item, a decrease in cost of 17 per cent.’
Choice looked at three different categories, with Aldi named the cheapest supermarket for a basket of 29 essentials, while Coles was found to be the most expensive grocery chain
The survey found Coles to be the most expensive supermarket of leading brands ($145.23)
The big branded items at Woolworths cost an average of $141.83 (including specials)
The experts also compared the grocery prices of each state, with Queensland ($140.67) and Western Australia ($140.25) offering the cheapest average cost for a basket of big branded items.
South Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory offered the most expensive baskets at $147.20.
Surprisingly, when the experts compared supermarket brands or budget-tier baskets, Queensland and Western Australia were the most expensive.
The results were compiled after Choice sent undercover shoppers into 120 supermarkets – 35 Woolworths, 34 Coles, 29 Aldi and 22 IGA stores – in 35 locations across Australia in April 2021.
Supermarket locations were chosen to give good coverage of socio-economic status and geographic spread across the country.
In the 2021 survey, all prices recorded were ‘with special’ (or as they were on the day of the shadow shop) across all supermarkets. Therefore there is no price comparison excluding the specials price, where it was available.