Which supermarket has the cheapest groceries in our survey?

As we begin the third year of our quarterly grocery basket survey, we’ve made some more changes to the contents of our baskets. 

As always, we aim to compare like-for-like products across the major supermarkets to help you find the best value. This quarter, our mix of fresh and packaged foods is a snapshot of the sorts of products you might choose on a regular basis, as well as some that might be more likely to make their way into your basket during the colder months.

On this page:

• The cheapest supermarket in our survey
• Base basket prices
• Spotlight: The winter comforts basket
• What’s in our basket?
• How closely matched are Coles and Woolies?
• How does IGA compare
• Does where you live make a difference to grocery prices?
• What our results mean for consumers
• How we survey supermarkets

The cheapest supermarket in our survey

Without including specials, our full basket of 16 items cost $68.80 at Aldi, $77.53 at Woolworths and $78.58 at Coles. At IGA our basket cost $91.65.

We always choose carefully to ensure we’re selecting the most comparable products at each store. For this survey, that means the baskets from Coles and Woolworths contain three name-brand products (Arnott’s Tim Tams, Kleenex tissues and Chicken Tonight cooking sauce) while the Aldi basket only contains one (Tim Tams).

Because its home-brand ranges aren’t as extensive, the IGA basket had five name-brand products (Nanna’s Apple Snack Pies and Birds Eye Golden Crunch Beer Batter Chips, as well as the Tim Tams, tissues and cooking sauce).

Prices with specials

When you take into account the savings from the specials available when we shopped, the cost of our basket at Aldi stayed the same at $68.60. It cost $76.82 at Woolworths, $78.50 at Coles and $86.33 at IGA. 

During our fieldwork, we found there were specials available at some but not all IGA locations. Where the reductions were available, it gave IGA the best deal on Tim Tams, thanks to a $2 reduction. They also had discounts at some of their stores on frozen chips, cooking sauce, tissues, whole chickens and frozen apple pies. 

A special on tissues at Woolworths was responsible for the increased gap between the cost of their basket and the higher price we paid at Coles. 

It’s worth noting that when we conducted this survey in March, it was prior to military action in the Middle East that saw fuel prices soar and created the potential for a knock-on effect on the pricing of nearly all goods that rely on freight distribution. We expect to see the effect of any related increases in our next survey.  

Base basket prices

In our base basket of eight items, which in the third year of our quarterly surveys contains apples, bananas, strawberries, potatoes, avocado, milk, rice and beef mince, and without including specials, Aldi was cheapest at $37.14, followed by Woolworths $40.08, Coles $40.10 and IGA $45.42. 

Looking at our base basket list (with specials), we find that Aldi remains the same, Coles drops by eight cents to $40.02, Woolworths stays the same and IGA falls to $45.34. 

The difference between the IGA and Aldi baskets was primarily driven by four items: mince, potatoes, strawberries and avocado, which accounted for more than 80% of the total gap. The difference in prices was smaller for apples, bananas, milk and rice.

Spotlight: The winter comforts basket

If you’re changing things up a little this winter to include the kinds of items that help get you through the colder months, this survey includes some of those comfort foods and cold-weather staples you might decide to add to your trolley.

Our basket included Tim Tam Original biscuits, snack-sized apple pies, frozen chips, cooking sauce, large tissues and a whole chicken (for that comforting roast), and we rounded it out with a leek (essential for those winter soups) and green beans. 

When looking at the balance of home-brand products vs branded products in our ‘spotlight’ selection of packaged food, it should be noted that we always choose products that are as closely comparable as possible, looking at factors such as their ingredients and pack sizes. In this spotlight, the Aldi basket included one name-brand item (Tim Tams), the Coles and Woolworths baskets included three name-brand products, and the IGA basket included five name-brand products. The full list for each store is given below.

Of the five packaged foods in this selection, we bought one name-brand item at Aldi (Tim Tam biscuits) and the rest were home-brand. At Coles and Woolworths there were three name-brand products, and at IGA we included five name-brand items. Products were chosen based on the similarity of ingredients and pack sizes. The precise list for each store is given below.

Without specials, Aldi proved to be the best value for this selection of items, costing $31.46, Woolworths cost $37.45 and Coles $38.48. IGA was the most expensive at $46.23. 

When we factored in specials, neither the Coles or Aldi baskets changed, Woolworths fell by $0.71 to $36.74, while IGA had the biggest fall from $46.23 to $40.99. 

While most prices at Aldi, Coles and Woolworths were fairly consistent around the country, the variation in pricing at IGA means the average cost of our basket of goods was higher than at the other three stores. While this is an accurate reflection of the data, you may find prices at your local IGA to be closer to what you’ll pay at other supermarkets, such is the significance of the variation between prices at different IGA stores.

What’s in our basket?

In this quarter, our basket included six fresh and 11 packaged items. The products we purchased were:

• Beef mince
• Whole chicken
• Royal Gala apples
• Cavendish bananas
• Strawberries
• Avocado
• Leek
• Green beans
• Potatoes
• Full cream milk
• Basmati rice
• Honey mustard cooking sauce
• Beer-battered frozen chips
• Frozen apple pies
• Tim Tam biscuits
• Large tissues

For all items we chose, we considered a range of factors such as ingredients, country of origin, other product specifications and packaging similarities to ensure we made fair comparisons. 

When items were unavailable, we looked for the closest alternative, just as you would when shopping for your family. Fieldworkers priced groceries at 104 supermarkets in 27 locations across Australia in March 2026.

You can see the full list of the exact items we bought at each store by clicking on the blue arrow below.

Store by store lists

How closely matched are Coles and Woolies?

When comparing our base basket of eight items (apples, strawberries, potatoes, bananas, avocado, milk, basmati rice and mince) very little separates the big two.

Woolworths was just two cents cheaper when comparing prices without specials, but Coles drew ahead to be six cents cheaper than Woolworths, thanks to a special on beef mince. 

The differences were greater when we compared the full basket of 16 items: Woolworths was $1.05 cheaper than Coles (without specials) and $1.68 cheaper with specials. 

Most items at the two stores are identical or very similar in price, and although apples are cheaper on average at Coles, Woolworths had lower prices for potatoes and apple pies, and offered a special on tissues, which tipped the balance in its favour.

How does IGA compare?

IGA stores don’t have the same chain-store model as Aldi, Coles and Woolworths, with individual stores operating as independently owned franchises. That means we see quite a lot of variation between the stores in the IGA network, often due to variation in store sizes and the effect this has on the ranges.

All of this means that while some IGA stores might be more competitive, overall, our basket of 16 items (with specials) cost $17.73 more on average from IGA than the same basket of goods cost us at Aldi. 

Does where you live make a difference to grocery prices?

Our analysis found that the state you live in does make a difference to how much you pay. 

The prices in different states varied very little between Aldi stores, although we do see some differences for fruit and vegetables. Like Aldi, Woolworths prices were fairly consistent nationally, with fruit and vegetables again accounting for most of the differences between the states.

At Coles, we found more variation, with shoppers in the Northern Territory paying slightly higher prices for Tim Tams, cooking sauces and tissues. Again, differences between the states were mostly driven by variation in the cost of fruit and vegetables.

In South Australia, where Coles shoppers paid less than in other states, lower prices for apples, bananas and potatoes were a big driver of the difference.

As we’ve seen in previous surveys, IGA shoppers experienced the greatest variation in prices between states: IGA customers in the Northern Territory paid on average $33.30 more than those shopping in Victoria ($109.69 vs $76.39) for our full basket of 16 items (with specials).

What our results mean for consumers

Our shopping baskets provide a general picture of prices in the different stores and locations we visit, but they can’t reveal the whole picture. 

Smaller ranges, as we saw at some IGA stores, and special pricing can make a big difference to overall costs. We also know that between the time we survey and the time we publish our results, prices will inevitably fluctuate.

What our findings continue to highlight is that small changes add up to significant savings, particularly over the course of the year. 

Changing the store you shop at, if that’s an option for you, is one way to find those savings. But we also recommend you think creatively and carefully about what you choose to put in your shopping trolley. 

There are lots of ways to save money on your weekly shop. Here are our top tips to help you reduce what you’re paying at the checkout. 

1. Check the unit pricing: It can be hard to compare prices of different-sized products from different brands, but unit pricing lets you compare prices based on the price per unit e.g. 100g or 1L. All supermarkets are required by law to include this information in labelling, both online and in-store.
2. Shop around: Switching between stores and shopping at different supermarkets to take advantage of specials can deliver significant savings. 
3. Change your routine: Swap expensive cuts of meat for cheaper alternatives, look at frozen fruit and veg, particularly if shopping for produce out of season, and give the ugly fruit and veg a go. Also, don’t be afraid to try home-brand products. Our expert testing often finds these ranges often outperform more expensive options at all the supermarkets. 

None of these things can change the fact that we are still paying significantly more for our groceries than we were just a few years ago, but making some small changes can add up to significant savings, without compromising quality.

How we survey supermarkets

Supermarkets and locations

We sent undercover shoppers into 104 supermarkets – 27 Woolworths, 27 Coles, 23 Aldi and 27 IGA stores – in 27 locations across Australia in March 2026. 

Supermarket locations were chosen to give good coverage of socio-economic status based on ABS Indexes and geographic spread across the country. We surveyed supermarkets in clusters so that each store has local competition, and we calculate the average price of the basket of goods, both with and without specials. 

A price was deemed to be a special when we had evidence of a temporary price reduction. There were 16 grocery items in each basket (7 fresh and 9 packaged items).

For more details on how we survey, see How we survey supermarket grocery prices.

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Margaret Rafferty

Margaret Rafferty joined CHOICE in 2018 as a Content editor and since then has filled the roles of Commissioning editor, Managing editor and now Editorial consultant. Margaret has written on a wide variety of topics and enjoys making complex subjects easy to understand. With over 20 years of media experience, Margaret brings a strong storytelling background to CHOICE. She works closely with people across the organisation to help tell stories that make a positive difference to people and is passionate about uncovering bad practices and helping Australians to avoid falling victim to shonky products and services. LinkedIn

Margaret Rafferty joined CHOICE in 2018 as a Content editor and since then has filled the roles of Commissioning editor, Managing editor and now Editorial consultant. Margaret has written on a wide variety of topics and enjoys making complex subjects easy to understand. With over 20 years of media experience, Margaret brings a strong storytelling background to CHOICE. She works closely with people across the organisation to help tell stories that make a positive difference to people and is passionate about uncovering bad practices and helping Australians to avoid falling victim to shonky products and services. LinkedIn