Stir-frys are among the simplest and quickest dinner recipes to prepare on a weeknight (Or any day of the week, really!). And what's even better is that everything is cooked in a single pan or skillet, making cleaning up a breeze.

Even if you have very little experience in the kitchen, it is a dish that is difficult to get wrong.

A serving of stir fry, in addition to being simple to prepare, should also be relatively inexpensive to prepare. You can even make do with leftover ingredients from other dishes.

But sadly, as you folks might have observed (and as you’re probably tired of hearing us harp on about), everything has been getting a lot more expensive lately.

If you're like us who do all of our grocery shopping once a week, it can be hard to figure out how much a single dish of stir fry may cost these days.

A writer at news.com.au decided to conduct a specific test to determine how much a standard stir fry, without toppings like fresh chilli or five-spice, would cost the average customer from Australia's three largest supermarket chains.

Making stir fry has been becoming more expensive these days. Credit: news.com.au.​

There are many types of stir-fry out there, each with its own set of ingredients and varieties, but we have to agree that the most common (and one of the easiest to make) is a chicken stir fry.

So for this test, here are the ingredients used to determine costs:

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• Snap peas
• Red capsicum
• Onions
• Garlic
• Soy sauce
• Noodles
• Some chicken thigh fillets

Coles

The first supermarket the team went to was Coles, where they were met with some "moderately expensive" vegetables.

"We've all become accustomed to higher prices but it is still alarming to me that broccoli costs $11.50 per kilogram or $2.30 for what we needed in our stir-fry," they said.

"It only makes up a small component of the meal after all, and we had nine more ingredients to go. Something told me this was going to be an expensive dinner."

In addition to the vegetables, they also found that the mushrooms, which were priced at $5.50 for a little punnet, were quite pricey.

At $14 per kilogram, or $9.27 for what they needed, the chicken was the single most expensive item on the grocery list, but it did not appear to be that unreasonably priced.

At Coles, they spent a total of $36.23 purchasing all of the necessary ingredients to make a basic chicken stir fry.

ALDI

The next stop was at Aldi, which is conveniently situated in the same shopping complex.

The team noted that even though the store they went to had a fairly small selection and the shelves were bare of many items, a few of the ingredients on the grocery list were quite a lot cheaper than Coles.

The red capsicum, which was selling for $10.90 per kilogram at Coles, was one of the more reasonably priced items. That same item would cost you $6.99/kg at ALDI, which is a remarkably large price difference.

Aside from the red capsicum, the price of the chicken thigh was also less expensive at $10.99 per kilogram than it was at Coles, where it cost $14 a kilo.

After shopping at Aldi, they found that the total cost of the ingredients for a basic chicken stir fry would amount to $30 on the dot.

Woolworths

The last grocery store on the list was Woolies, but sadly, they admitted that there was nothing "groundbreaking" to report from their local branch, as the prices were essentially on par with Coles, give or take a few items.

Broccoli was even more expensive at $11.90 per kilogram, but the chicken was cheaper at $11.50 per kilogram.

The prices at the two biggest supermarkets were actually so similar that the difference between the two totals was only six cents. At $36.29, Woolies was slightly more expensive than Coles.

Listed below is the full breakdown of the team's shopping expenses at the supermarkets:

Coles

Broccoli $11.50/kg (200g) – $2.30

Sugar snap peas $32/kg (200g) – $6.40

Carrot – $1.50 1kg bag

Zucchini – $4.90/kg (200g) $0.98

Mushrooms – box $5.50

Red Capsicum – $10.90/kg (200g) – $2.18

Onion – $1.50 bag

Garlic -$25/kg (80g) – $2

Soy sauce – $2.60

Chicken thigh – $14/kg (500g) – $9.27

Noodles – $2

Coles total: $36.23


ALDI

Broccoli $9.99/kg (200g) – $1.99

Snow peas $27.96/kg (200g) – $5.59

Carrot – $1.79 bag

Zucchini – $8.99/kg (200g) – $1.79

Mushrooms – $3.40 box

Capsicum $6.99/kg (200g) $1.39

Onion $2.49 bag

Garlic $24.99/kg – $2.49

Soy sauce – $1.79

Chicken $10.99/kg (500g) / $5.40

Noodles – $1.79

Aldi total: $30.00


Woolworths

Broccoli – $11.90/kg (200g) – $2.38

Snow peas $35.60.kg (200g) – $7.12

Carrot $2.40 bag

Zucchini – $4.90/kg (200g) – $0.98

Mushrooms – $4.15 box

Capsicum – $10.90/kg (200g) $21.8

Onion – $1.50 bag

Garlic – $1.25

Soy sauce – $2.50

Chicken – $11.50/kg (500g) $5.75

Noodles – $1.85

Woolies total: $36.29

When it came to stir fry ingredients, ALDI was the cheapest of the three big supermarkets. Credit: news.com.au.​

So, there you have it, folks! The verdict is in and as it turns out, ALDI was the cheapest supermarket option if you're looking to whip up a few plates of chicken stir fry for dinner. No surprises there, but the price was still on the high side for this pretty simple dish.

According to the author, the ingredients were enough to feed his family of three, with one bowl of leftovers to spare. Several ingredients like the mushrooms and soy sauce were also more than enough for what they needed.

We also noticed that, at the cost breakdown of the author's shopping trip to the supermarkets, some ingredients on the list made the whole recipe much more expensive.

The snow peas were pretty pricey at over $30 per kilogram, while the broccoli and mushrooms have much cheaper alternatives.

If you don't have an Aldi location near you, we suggest heading over to Woolies or Coles and looking for their pre-packaged stir fry mix vegetables, which are much cheaper for $12.5 per kilogram at Woolies and $7.33 per kilogram at Coles.

Those items usually contain necessary veggies for your stir fry such as broccoli, red cabbage, carrot, zucchini, red capsicum, onion, and snow peas so you don't have to shop for them separately! (Plus, you get to control the portions as well.)

And if you're looking for another quick and easy stir fry recipe, this video provided below might also interest you!

Best of luck with your shopping, members!

Credit: Spice Eats​

 

[elaine41]

I make a lot of stir fry meals. Chicken thighs are much cheaper than breasts & taste just as good. Buy frozen broccoli, not fresh. The same for carrots, beans, capsicum. This makes the meal much cheaper than buying fresh vegies. Skip the mushrooms & snow peas. Celery can be added for some crunch. Use fresh onions. It is still about the cheapest way to have a good balaced meal while surviving on a pension.

 

[Julesmac]

Stir-frys are among the simplest and quickest dinner recipes to prepare on a weeknight (Or any day of the week, really!). And what's even better is that everything is cooked in a single pan or skillet, making cleaning up a breeze.

Even if you have very little experience in the kitchen, it is a dish that is difficult to get wrong.

A serving of stir fry, in addition to being simple to prepare, should also be relatively inexpensive to prepare. You can even make do with leftover ingredients from other dishes.

But sadly, as you folks might have observed (and as you’re probably tired of hearing us harp on about), everything has been getting a lot more expensive lately.

If you're like us who do all of our grocery shopping once a week, it can be hard to figure out how much a single dish of stir fry may cost these days.

A writer at news.com.au decided to conduct a specific test to determine how much a standard stir fry, without toppings like fresh chilli or five-spice, would cost the average customer from Australia's three largest supermarket chains.

Making stir fry has been becoming more expensive these days. Credit: news.com.au.​

There are many types of stir-fry out there, each with its own set of ingredients and varieties, but we have to agree that the most common (and one of the easiest to make) is a chicken stir fry.

So for this test, here are the ingredients used to determine costs:

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• Snap peas
• Red capsicum
• Onions
• Garlic
• Soy sauce
• Noodles
• Some chicken thigh fillets

Coles

The first supermarket the team went to was Coles, where they were met with some "moderately expensive" vegetables.

"We've all become accustomed to higher prices but it is still alarming to me that broccoli costs $11.50 per kilogram or $2.30 for what we needed in our stir-fry," they said.

"It only makes up a small component of the meal after all, and we had nine more ingredients to go. Something told me this was going to be an expensive dinner."

In addition to the vegetables, they also found that the mushrooms, which were priced at $5.50 for a little punnet, were quite pricey.

At $14 per kilogram, or $9.27 for what they needed, the chicken was the single most expensive item on the grocery list, but it did not appear to be that unreasonably priced.

At Coles, they spent a total of $36.23 purchasing all of the necessary ingredients to make a basic chicken stir fry.

ALDI

The next stop was at Aldi, which is conveniently situated in the same shopping complex.

The team noted that even though the store they went to had a fairly small selection and the shelves were bare of many items, a few of the ingredients on the grocery list were quite a lot cheaper than Coles.

The red capsicum, which was selling for $10.90 per kilogram at Coles, was one of the more reasonably priced items. That same item would cost you $6.99/kg at ALDI, which is a remarkably large price difference.

Aside from the red capsicum, the price of the chicken thigh was also less expensive at $10.99 per kilogram than it was at Coles, where it cost $14 a kilo.

After shopping at Aldi, they found that the total cost of the ingredients for a basic chicken stir fry would amount to $30 on the dot.

Woolworths

The last grocery store on the list was Woolies, but sadly, they admitted that there was nothing "groundbreaking" to report from their local branch, as the prices were essentially on par with Coles, give or take a few items.

Broccoli was even more expensive at $11.90 per kilogram, but the chicken was cheaper at $11.50 per kilogram.

The prices at the two biggest supermarkets were actually so similar that the difference between the two totals was only six cents. At $36.29, Woolies was slightly more expensive than Coles.

Listed below is the full breakdown of the team's shopping expenses at the supermarkets:

Coles

Broccoli $11.50/kg (200g) – $2.30

Sugar snap peas $32/kg (200g) – $6.40

Carrot – $1.50 1kg bag

Zucchini – $4.90/kg (200g) $0.98

Mushrooms – box $5.50

Red Capsicum – $10.90/kg (200g) – $2.18

Onion – $1.50 bag

Garlic -$25/kg (80g) – $2

Soy sauce – $2.60

Chicken thigh – $14/kg (500g) – $9.27

Noodles – $2

Coles total: $36.23


ALDI

Broccoli $9.99/kg (200g) – $1.99

Snow peas $27.96/kg (200g) – $5.59

Carrot – $1.79 bag

Zucchini – $8.99/kg (200g) – $1.79

Mushrooms – $3.40 box

Capsicum $6.99/kg (200g) $1.39

Onion $2.49 bag

Garlic $24.99/kg – $2.49

Soy sauce – $1.79

Chicken $10.99/kg (500g) / $5.40

Noodles – $1.79

Aldi total: $30.00


Woolworths

Broccoli – $11.90/kg (200g) – $2.38

Snow peas $35.60.kg (200g) – $7.12

Carrot $2.40 bag

Zucchini – $4.90/kg (200g) – $0.98

Mushrooms – $4.15 box

Capsicum – $10.90/kg (200g) $21.8

Onion – $1.50 bag

Garlic – $1.25

Soy sauce – $2.50

Chicken – $11.50/kg (500g) $5.75

Noodles – $1.85

Woolies total: $36.29

When it came to stir fry ingredients, ALDI was the cheapest of the three big supermarkets. Credit: news.com.au.​

So, there you have it, folks! The verdict is in and as it turns out, ALDI was the cheapest supermarket option if you're looking to whip up a few plates of chicken stir fry for dinner. No surprises there, but the price was still on the high side for this pretty simple dish.

According to the author, the ingredients were enough to feed his family of three, with one bowl of leftovers to spare. Several ingredients like the mushrooms and soy sauce were also more than enough for what they needed.

We also noticed that, at the cost breakdown of the author's shopping trip to the supermarkets, some ingredients on the list made the whole recipe much more expensive.

The snow peas were pretty pricey at over $30 per kilogram, while the broccoli and mushrooms have much cheaper alternatives.

If you don't have an Aldi location near you, we suggest heading over to Woolies or Coles and looking for their pre-packaged stir fry mix vegetables, which are much cheaper for $12.5 per kilogram at Woolies and $7.33 per kilogram at Coles.

Those items usually contain necessary veggies for your stir fry such as broccoli, red cabbage, carrot, zucchini, red capsicum, onion, and snow peas so you don't have to shop for them separately! (Plus, you get to control the portions as well.)

And if you're looking for another quick and easy stir fry recipe, this video provided below might also interest you!

Best of luck with your shopping, members!

Credit: Spice Eats​

If you check the unit price per kg of mushrooms you'd be an idiot to buy them in the little box; and even sillier to buy them in the little box pre-sliced!

 

[Ricci]

I use a bag of frozen Winter Vegetables ($3.50/kg from Woolies) to make my stir fry. I can get 3 or 4 meals from a bag, so added to my meat, usually one diced chicken thigh or 1/2 a breast it's quite economical.

 

[Neillec]

You're not using a whole bag of carrots or a whole punnet of mushrooms (and that's the most expensive way to buy mushrooms), or a whole bag of onions, or even 200g of capsicum or snow peas - unless you're feeding a very large family. Also, the soy sauce is a pantry stock item. And I would never pay $14.99 for chicken fillets (thigh fillets are usually more expensive than breast fillets these days, for some reason). If I can't get chicken fillets for less than $10 a kilo ($9 yesterday at my WW) then I would buy chicken cutlets (take the meat off the bone and use the bones for soup) or maybe pork fillet or pork steaks for this stir fry.

 

[Julesmac]

Oh yes I use the frozen often it's good value, and bulk out with something like silverbeet or cabbage - whichever is cheapest. And use thigh fillets not breast - cheaper and more flavoursome

 

[Neillec]

I make a lot of stir fry meals. Chicken thighs are much cheaper than breasts & taste just as good. Buy frozen broccoli, not fresh. The same for carrots, beans, capsicum. This makes the meal much cheaper than buying fresh vegies. Skip the mushrooms & snow peas. Celery can be added for some crunch. Use fresh onions. It is still about the cheapest way to have a good balaced meal while surviving on a pension.

I've noticed that for a couple of years chicken thighs have almost always been more expensive than breasts, and breasts seem to be on special a lot more often. I don't know why this should be, as there are the same number of thighs on a chicken as there are breasts, but that's been my observation.

 

[Julesmac]

This morning i'm due to clean out my fridge so have used up al of the veggies in a huge pot of minestrone. I think I put in 10 veggies plus pasta and chickpeas. All packed up in freezer portions and enough for 12 meals - we often have for dinner with a crusty baguette. Really economical and delicious

 

[Singomate]

2thigh fillets cut
Cup frozen peas
Grated carott
I bunch bought bok choy cut up all including the white stem
Soy Sauce
A little oil.
Not flash not expensive.

 

[Sloopy]

I make a lot of stir fry meals. Chicken thighs are much cheaper than breasts & taste just as good. Buy frozen broccoli, not fresh. The same for carrots, beans, capsicum. This makes the meal much cheaper than buying fresh vegies. Skip the mushrooms & snow peas. Celery can be added for some crunch. Use fresh onions. It is still about the cheapest way to have a good balaced meal while surviving on a pension.

Where I live, chicken breasts are $12.99kg, while thighs are $14.99kg. Has been like this for a couple of years, and although I prefer the thighs as I think they have more flavour, I reluctantly buy the breasts.

 

[BabsL]

Stir-frys are among the simplest and quickest dinner recipes to prepare on a weeknight (Or any day of the week, really!). And what's even better is that everything is cooked in a single pan or skillet, making cleaning up a breeze.

Even if you have very little experience in the kitchen, it is a dish that is difficult to get wrong.

A serving of stir fry, in addition to being simple to prepare, should also be relatively inexpensive to prepare. You can even make do with leftover ingredients from other dishes.

But sadly, as you folks might have observed (and as you’re probably tired of hearing us harp on about), everything has been getting a lot more expensive lately.

If you're like us who do all of our grocery shopping once a week, it can be hard to figure out how much a single dish of stir fry may cost these days.

A writer at news.com.au decided to conduct a specific test to determine how much a standard stir fry, without toppings like fresh chilli or five-spice, would cost the average customer from Australia's three largest supermarket chains.

Making stir fry has been becoming more expensive these days. Credit: news.com.au.​

There are many types of stir-fry out there, each with its own set of ingredients and varieties, but we have to agree that the most common (and one of the easiest to make) is a chicken stir fry.

So for this test, here are the ingredients used to determine costs:

• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• Snap peas
• Red capsicum
• Onions
• Garlic
• Soy sauce
• Noodles
• Some chicken thigh fillets

Coles

The first supermarket the team went to was Coles, where they were met with some "moderately expensive" vegetables.

"We've all become accustomed to higher prices but it is still alarming to me that broccoli costs $11.50 per kilogram or $2.30 for what we needed in our stir-fry," they said.

"It only makes up a small component of the meal after all, and we had nine more ingredients to go. Something told me this was going to be an expensive dinner."

In addition to the vegetables, they also found that the mushrooms, which were priced at $5.50 for a little punnet, were quite pricey.

At $14 per kilogram, or $9.27 for what they needed, the chicken was the single most expensive item on the grocery list, but it did not appear to be that unreasonably priced.

At Coles, they spent a total of $36.23 purchasing all of the necessary ingredients to make a basic chicken stir fry.

ALDI

The next stop was at Aldi, which is conveniently situated in the same shopping complex.

The team noted that even though the store they went to had a fairly small selection and the shelves were bare of many items, a few of the ingredients on the grocery list were quite a lot cheaper than Coles.

The red capsicum, which was selling for $10.90 per kilogram at Coles, was one of the more reasonably priced items. That same item would cost you $6.99/kg at ALDI, which is a remarkably large price difference.

Aside from the red capsicum, the price of the chicken thigh was also less expensive at $10.99 per kilogram than it was at Coles, where it cost $14 a kilo.

After shopping at Aldi, they found that the total cost of the ingredients for a basic chicken stir fry would amount to $30 on the dot.

Woolworths

The last grocery store on the list was Woolies, but sadly, they admitted that there was nothing "groundbreaking" to report from their local branch, as the prices were essentially on par with Coles, give or take a few items.

Broccoli was even more expensive at $11.90 per kilogram, but the chicken was cheaper at $11.50 per kilogram.

The prices at the two biggest supermarkets were actually so similar that the difference between the two totals was only six cents. At $36.29, Woolies was slightly more expensive than Coles.

Listed below is the full breakdown of the team's shopping expenses at the supermarkets:

Coles

Broccoli $11.50/kg (200g) – $2.30

Sugar snap peas $32/kg (200g) – $6.40

Carrot – $1.50 1kg bag

Zucchini – $4.90/kg (200g) $0.98

Mushrooms – box $5.50

Red Capsicum – $10.90/kg (200g) – $2.18

Onion – $1.50 bag

Garlic -$25/kg (80g) – $2

Soy sauce – $2.60

Chicken thigh – $14/kg (500g) – $9.27

Noodles – $2

Coles total: $36.23


ALDI

Broccoli $9.99/kg (200g) – $1.99

Snow peas $27.96/kg (200g) – $5.59

Carrot – $1.79 bag

Zucchini – $8.99/kg (200g) – $1.79

Mushrooms – $3.40 box

Capsicum $6.99/kg (200g) $1.39

Onion $2.49 bag

Garlic $24.99/kg – $2.49

Soy sauce – $1.79

Chicken $10.99/kg (500g) / $5.40

Noodles – $1.79

Aldi total: $30.00


Woolworths

Broccoli – $11.90/kg (200g) – $2.38

Snow peas $35.60.kg (200g) – $7.12

Carrot $2.40 bag

Zucchini – $4.90/kg (200g) – $0.98

Mushrooms – $4.15 box

Capsicum – $10.90/kg (200g) $21.8

Onion – $1.50 bag

Garlic – $1.25

Soy sauce – $2.50

Chicken – $11.50/kg (500g) $5.75

Noodles – $1.85

Woolies total: $36.29

When it came to stir fry ingredients, ALDI was the cheapest of the three big supermarkets. Credit: news.com.au.​

So, there you have it, folks! The verdict is in and as it turns out, ALDI was the cheapest supermarket option if you're looking to whip up a few plates of chicken stir fry for dinner. No surprises there, but the price was still on the high side for this pretty simple dish.

According to the author, the ingredients were enough to feed his family of three, with one bowl of leftovers to spare. Several ingredients like the mushrooms and soy sauce were also more than enough for what they needed.

We also noticed that, at the cost breakdown of the author's shopping trip to the supermarkets, some ingredients on the list made the whole recipe much more expensive.

The snow peas were pretty pricey at over $30 per kilogram, while the broccoli and mushrooms have much cheaper alternatives.

If you don't have an Aldi location near you, we suggest heading over to Woolies or Coles and looking for their pre-packaged stir fry mix vegetables, which are much cheaper for $12.5 per kilogram at Woolies and $7.33 per kilogram at Coles.

Those items usually contain necessary veggies for your stir fry such as broccoli, red cabbage, carrot, zucchini, red capsicum, onion, and snow peas so you don't have to shop for them separately! (Plus, you get to control the portions as well.)

And if you're looking for another quick and easy stir fry recipe, this video provided below might also interest you!

Best of luck with your shopping, members!

Credit: Spice Eats​

To stop customers stealing Broccoli heads and leaving stalks, charge separately. A bag of “broccoli heads only” at $15-20 kilo, and a bag of “broccoli stalks only” at $2-3 per kilo. That shd fix the problem for everyone. Besides, the stalks are the best and most nutritious bits!