CHOICE reveals the supermarket that retails the cheapest grocery items and shares other tips for scoring items at lower prices
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In uncertain financial times like these, preparing ourselves for what's to come in the next few days, months, and even years is a must.
For many of us, figuring out how to make ends meet with the income that we have is the only choice that we have to cope with this challenging time.
We here at the SDC are doing our best to keep you on top of the best deals and fresh information that can help you plan your finances wisely.
With that in mind, we’d like to share with you this news about where you can score the cheapest groceries!
CHOICE Managing Editor Margaret Rafferty has revealed the group's findings about where Aussies can nab the most affordable grocery items.
CHOICE revealed the supermarket retailer that sells the cheapest groceries. Credit: AAP Image/Dave Hunt.
Talking with the hosts of The Morning Show, Ms Rafferty said that CHOICE has compared the prices between the country's biggest supermarket retailers — Coles, Woolworths, ALDI, and IGA.
Results showed that ALDI retails the cheapest products compared to the other aforementioned retailers - probably no big surprises there.
However, Ms Rafferty said that there are some factors to consider when it comes to hunting for grocery bargains...
She said: “We have to compare, like for like, and when we just look at national brands which are obviously not always available at ALDI."
“Woolworths had the cheapest basket compared to Coles, but they were very close, the two obviously do a lot of price matching so differences in prices tend to come down to weekly specials and that’s important to keep an eye on."
“But what we found was that the Woolies basket cost around $140, the Coles basket was around $144.”
The CHOICE editor spoke with the hosts of The Morning Show to reveal the group’s findings. Credit: The Morning Show.
Additionally, the editor advised opting for "in-house" or "home" brands as they are sold cheaper, noting that there was a significant drop in average basket price.
“When we looked at the cost of the supermarket brand baskets, ALDI had the cheapest, that was $80, but Coles and Woolies came right down to about $87, so a big saving there,” she recalled.
She also advised viewers to look out for the unit price of the item — the cost of an item sold per given unit (e.g. per litre, per 100 grams, etc).
Ms Rafferty explained: “That’s the price that you’ll find often on the ticket at the front of the shelf underneath the item that you want to buy and it gives you a price per 100 grams."
“We took a look at Vegemite, which is obviously a staple in many Australian homes, we found that the 560-gram jar, the biggest jar, was the cheapest as you’d expect."
“That ended up costing $1.49 per 100 grams, the other products were reasonable as well, and particularly the 380-gram jar, we found it on special when we checked it at IGA and that was just $5 so a $1.32 per 100 grams."
“It just goes to show it really pays to keep an eye out for those specials."
So, there you have it, folks! We hope these tips can help you cope with challenging times.
Do you know any other tips to score cheaper grocery items? Share them with us in the comments below!