Consumer group CHOICE has released the latest results of its quarterly survey of supermarket prices across Australia.
This quarter, in addition to comparing prices of base items that will be tracked throughout the year, CHOICE also assessed the freshness of strawberries and compared a basket of home-brand goods across Aldi, Coles, IGA, and Woolworths.
The home-brand basket was made up of cream cheese, thickened cream, puff pastry, frozen mixed berries, tomato paste, spaghetti, tomato sauce, and soy milk.
"While we know people typically buy a mix of branded and home-brand products at the supermarket - you might be a dedicated Weetbix fan, but have no issue buying a pack of home-brand pasta - we often get asked how much money you can save by buying exclusively the cheapest products. So, this quarter, we assessed the price of eight home-brand products at Aldi, Coles, IGA, and Woolworths," says CHOICE Editorial Director, Mark Serrels.
"Our basket of eight home-brand items included a mix of fridge, freezer, and shelf products from each of the supermarket's own brand range. At IGA, for example, that was either Black & Gold or Community Co," says Serrels.
"When we compared home-brand baskets without specials, Aldi was the cheapest at $20.08. They were followed by Coles at $21.30, Woolworths at $21.40, and IGA at $23.89. When including specials, prices stayed the same everywhere except IGA, where it fell by five cents to $23.84," says Serrels.
As part of this quarter's survey, CHOICE also assessed the freshness of strawberries, surveying 19 to 25 punnets from each of the four supermarkets.
Shoppers were asked to assess the state of the strawberries on day one, and again on day five, storing them in their original packaging in their fridge's crisper drawer.
"In our freshness assessment of strawberries, Coles was the winner, with 100% of punnets showing no signs of decay on day one. Woolworths came in next with 92%, followed by Aldi at 75%, and IGA at 50%," says Serrels.
"By day five, Coles was still in front when it came to strawberry freshness, with 58% of punnets containing fruit with no signs of decay. 44% of Woolworths punnets contained fruit without signs of decay, and Aldi was fairly evenly matched at 45%. Of punnets purchased from IGA, only 25% had no signs of decay after five days," says Serrels.
For the full basket of 15 items, without including specials, Aldi came in cheapest at $55.34. They were followed by Coles at $56.75, Woolworths at $57.20, and IGA at $65.56.
Editor's notes:
Supermarkets and locations
Fieldworkers priced groceries at 104 supermarkets in 27 locations across Australia in June 2025.
Grocery basket items
Our base basket, which will remain the same throughout the second year of surveys, includes:
- Full cream milk
- Sanitarium Weetbix
- Royal Gala apples
- Carrots
- Cavendish bananas
- Strawberries
- Chicken breast fillets, bulk pack
Home-brand items for this quarter were:
- Cream cheese
- Thickened cream
- Puff pastry
- Frozen mixed berries
- Tomato paste
- Spaghetti
- Tomato sauce
- Soy milk
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