A first-of-its-kind weekly price check of a healthy grocery basket for a family of four, at Aldi, Coles and Woolworths. Every Thursday we show the cost at each store, where each item is cheapest, and how much a family could save by splitting the shop.
“I was surprised to see the huge savings on a recommended healthy grocery basket. The cheaper store kept changing from item to item: onions at one, cheese at another. Most families can't check three websites every week, so we will, and we'll share it every Thursday. Stay tuned.”
$52.18 a week saved by buying each item where it's cheapest, compared with paying the dearest price on every item. That could add up to over $2,000 a year.**
Even against the cheapest single store (Aldi): $18.28 a week saved.
*Weekly cost of the food a family of four eats, at minimum recommended serves. Pantry items such as oil and rice last several weeks, so your first shop costs more than one week's food. **One week × 52, an illustration, not a forecast. Test run, online prices dated 7–11 Oct 2026. Prices change, check in store. AI assisted, may contain errors. Check before buying.
The full list of 41 items, showing which store is cheapest for each, arrives with the first edition. You'll be able to tick items off, print the list for each store, and see how many packs to buy.
Every week adds a new point, so this is where the savings build up. Trends start after the second edition.
The family: two adults, a teenage boy and a young girl (NHMRC age groups: man and woman 19–50, boy 14–18, girl 4–8).
The amounts: minimum daily serves from the Australian Dietary Guidelines (NHMRC, 2013), for one week. The foods: 41 everyday items from the Healthy Diets ASAP protocol, used by Australian researchers to cost healthy diets: vegetables (fresh, tinned and frozen), fruit, wholegrain and white bread, cereals, pasta and rice, meat, chicken, tuna, eggs and peanuts, milk, cheese and yoghurt, oils and spread.
Left out: bottled water and takeaway food. Hot BBQ chicken isn't sold online, so a raw whole chicken stands in.
Online shelf prices at Aldi, Coles and Woolworths, each dated, no older than 7 days.
Compared per kg or per litre. We use the cheapest suitable product at each store, and the same products for 13 weeks.
If a store has no suitable product online, we use the average of the other stores, as the Healthy Diets ASAP protocol does.
Headline figures use usual prices; specials are shown separately. Multibuy deals are not included yet.
Amount × unit price, the method used by Australian healthy-diet costing studies. It's the cost of a week's food, not a checkout total.
We check prices against the retailer websites every week and fix errors openly in a dated corrections log.
OikosAi takes no money from supermarkets. No commissions from providers.
AI helps us collect and check prices. It may contain errors. Check before buying.
Basket based on the Healthy Diets ASAP protocol (Lee et al., Nutrition Journal 2018; 17:88), licensed CC BY 4.0, and the Australian Dietary Guidelines (NHMRC, 2013). OikosAi is not affiliated with or endorsed by NHMRC or the protocol authors.
of Australians say grocery costs are a major pressure on their budget (CHOICE Consumer Pulse, June 2026).
Most price comparisons are monthly or quarterly, cover a handful of items, or leave out a store. The OikosAi Family Basket is the first of its kind: a weekly, healthy, family-sized basket across Aldi, Coles and Woolworths, showing the best split.
A healthy diet shouldn't cost more than it has to. Seeing where each item is cheapest helps families eat well and save.
Data: the full weekly data (every item, store, price, date and product link) will be free to download from the first edition. Licence: CC BY 4.0, with credit to OikosAi.
Media: [email protected]
The figures compare a week of healthy food at different prices. Your saving depends on where you shop now and what you buy. Even against the cheapest single store (Aldi), splitting the shop saved $18.28 a week in our test run (prices 7–11 Oct 2026).
Not all of it in your first shop. Pantry items like oil, rice and cheese last several weeks, so the savings build up week by week.
No. Even switching a few items, such as fruit, vegetables and cheese, can make a difference. The Shopping list will show the best items for each store.
No. OikosAi takes no money from supermarkets.
No. It's AI assisted and may contain errors. We check it every week and correct it openly. Check prices before buying.
Online prices dated 7–11 Oct 2026. Prices change, check in store. AI assisted, may contain errors. Check before buying. OikosAi is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Aldi, Coles or Woolworths; their names are trademarks of their respective owners. This is general information, not financial or dietary advice. Independent. No commissions from providers. We keep watching prices so you can keep saving.