Woolworths photo angers Australians | Daily Mail Online

The nagging suspicion Australians have that their major local supermarket is no longer the cheapest option for fresh food staples has been proved resoundingly true.

Escalating energy and fuel costs, plus soaring interest rates and rising rents, have created a cost of living crisis, and it’s forcing ordinary Aussies to stop and reconsider assumptions about our most basic costs.

One of those undoubtedly is the long-held belief, supported by advertising blitzes, that major chain supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths, that we might as well go to the supermarket for everything because it’s cheaper there anyway.

Daily Mail Australia bought a week’s fruit, vegetables and eggs from Woolworths and Paddy’s Market in western Sydney – using an identical shopping list and buying the same weights – and the supermarket giant was nearly twice as expensive. 

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, the retail giant admitted it isn’t cheaper, and said it was being forced to pay more for most vegetables due to reduced supply and bad weather.

‘It is well known that marketplaces, where suppliers sell [food and other items] directly to consumers … can cost less than a retailer,’ Woolworths said.

‘Currently, we’re paying a lot more to our suppliers across the vegetable category. The big reason prices are up on some varieties is the reduced supply in the market, following the east coast floods and ongoing bad weather in key growing regions.

But just how much cheaper a market can be will be shocking to some people – although not all, as thousands of savvy Aussies are already using this valuable cost of living hack.

The same trolley load that cost $109.50 from Woolworths at Leichhardt on Friday July 1 was only $59.75 at Paddy’s on the same day.

The price difference of $49.75 represented a saving of 45 per cent on the Woolworths haul, with the grower’s market cheaper on all but one of the 19 lines purchased.

Onions at Paddy’s were cheaper per kilo, but Woolworths’ cost slightly less because they weighed less.

A casual conversation with a family shopping there proved that a $50 saving on a weekly visit is actually pretty standard.

Daniel Samate and Selu Vayvaka, said they saved $60 every week by shopping at Paddy’s.

Over a year, a $60 weekly saving adds up to $3,120.

Every item Daily Mail Australia purchased was cheaper per kilo from Paddy’s stallholders than from Woolworths.

The most significant price differences were broccoli: $5kg from a Paddy’s stallholder versus $9.90 at Woolworths; tomatoes: $4kg v. $9.90; ginger $8kg v. $50kg and avocadoes 85c each v $1.40 each.

On the same day, Sydney café owner who runs popular Eugene’s at Bronte said even non-wholesale markets – where businesses shop for ingredients – are cheaper for consumers than major supermarkets.

Eugene Giesinger slammed major supermarkets for their prices and challenged people to support local small businesses.

Mr Giesinger told Daily Mail Australia that ten years of comparing prices for his business and shopping for his two boys had shown him even his local greengrocer on Belmore Road at Randwick is a cheaper option.

Paddy’s Market at Flemington is huge venue housing up to 1,000 stallholders who are a mixture of growers, retailers and other small businesses.

Daily Mail Australia’s shopping list included a kilo each of apples, bananas, oranges, mandarins, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, avocadoes, capsicum and mushrooms.

It also included iceberg lettuce, eggs, onion, garlic, ginger, and a lemon.

The shopping list did not include meat, dairy, packaged goods, junk food, laundry or bathroom items.

Realistically it is possible to save even more, too – with the city’s cheapest farmer’s market, Sydney Fresh, only open on Saturday, while the Woolworths bill included specials.

Daily Mail Australia’s Peter Vincent shows off the produce our reporting team purchased on Friday July 1 – which was comparable in size but far cheaper at Paddy’s

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Woolworths is more expensive on every line for sale at both retail outlets, just on the items we purchased.

For instance, chillis for sale at Paddy’s were up to $50 a kilogram with one seller but were between $15 and $30 a kilogram at Woolworths.

But Paddy’s stallholders also stocked bathroom and laundry items that were noticeably cheaper.

Shopping at the markets was arguably a better experience too.

While Woolworths is undoubtedly more convenient – with 1,076 stores in Australia there is usually one within a 20 minute drive from most suburbs and it has online delivery, it can be frustrating.

On the day Daily Mail Australia visited Leichhardt Marketplace Woolworths, it had 15-minute queues around midday and price labels were sometimes difficult to understand.

In comparison, the market was busy in a bustling, vibrant way, with smiling, chirpy stall holders interacting with families out shopping despite wet weather.

Notably, stallholders tended to be more generous than Woollies in addition to offering lower prices.

The price difference of $49.75 represented a saving of 45 per cent on the Woolworths haul, with the grower’s market cheaper on all but one of the 19 lines purchased.

For instance, when Daily Mail asked for one kilo of apples – which were $1.50 per kg – the bag weighed approximately 1.15kg, but we were charged no extra.

Vayvaka and Samate, both 31 and with four children, told Daily Mail Australia they drive from Campsie to do their weekly shop at Paddy’s every Friday – and reckon they save about $60.

‘It’s heaps better,’ Mr Samate said. ‘My kids like eating fruit too, instead of junk food.’

At Woolworths, retiree Tony, 66, said his weekly shop of about $60 had blown out to $80 in the past month.

He lives alone.

‘I’m a self-funded retiree but I won’t be for much longer at this rate. Everything keeps going up.’

He has resorted to buying products just before the use-by date expires as those products are often marked down.

But he’s determined to continue buying fresh food.