Aldi still the cheapest for supermarket shopping, but watch the lettuce
Aldi has stayed on top as the best for shoppers’ bucks for the festive season, but there’s a catch.
Aldi is again the cheapest place to shop for groceries according to consumer group CHOICE, especially when it comes to stocking up for Christmas.
In findings released Tuesday, Choice found a basket of 20 items (without specials) cost $72.41, ahead of Woolworths at $98.98, Coles at $100.04 and IGA at $109.25.
“This quarter, we’ve chosen to focus on a basket of some of the products you might buy if you’re entertaining this Christmas,” CHOICE editorial director Mark Serrels said.
“As well as our base basket items, we’ve added in products such as crackers, olives, pretzels, hummus, and Camembert cheese,” he said.
When in-store specials were taken into account, Aldi was still the cheapest, with the price remaining the same as the basket without specials at $72.41.
You might like
The Woolworths basket with specials was $93.17, while Coles was $100.04, and $105.38 at IGA.
Soggy lettuce
This quarter, CHOICE also compared the freshness of mixed lettuce purchased across all four supermarkets.
“We often get asked which supermarket has the freshest produce,” Serrels said.
Stay informed, daily
“While we can’t answer that question for every product you might want to buy, in this quarter’s survey we asked our mystery shoppers to assess the freshness of bagged lettuce two days after it was purchased,” Serrels said.
He said while there was some evidence of decay in the mixed lettuce purchased at all supermarkets, Coles ultimately received the highest score for freshness, with 77 per cent of shoppers noting all of the leaves were still fresh after two days.
Woolworths came in second at 70 per cent, followed by IGA at 67 per cent and Aldi at 64 per cent
Fieldworkers priced groceries at 104 supermarkets in 27 locations across Australia in September 2025.
What was in the basket?
The base basket included:
- Full-cream milk
- Sanitarium Weetbix
- Royal gala apples
- Carrots
- Cavendish bananas
- Strawberries
- Chicken breast fillets, bulk pack
Entertaining essentials:
- Cherry tomatoes
- Bagged mixed salad
- Stuffed olives
- Rice crackers
- Savoury crackers
- Twisties
- Pretzels
- Dried apples
- Mineral water
- Salted peanuts
- Hummus
- Camembert
- Frozen pies and sausage rolls
The CHOICE quarterly comparison was produced after fieldworkers priced groceries at 104 supermarkets in 27 locations across Australia in September 2025.
