Wed Apr 8

Money’s tight but food prices are up. Here’s how to save on your grocery bill

Written by Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland

Another interest rate rise and a spike in fuel prices is placing increasing pressure ^[1] on household budgets. Many households are also seeing the impact of the war in the Middle East on the price of groceries.

Now the weekly food shop requires more planning, brand swaps and deciding whether to cut back on non-essentials.

So how can you reduce grocery costs without compromising taste and nutrition?

Plan meals around what’s on sale and in season

Food prices fluctuate week to week, so planning meals around what’s low-cost or on special can make a difference to grocery bills.

A simple starting point is to buy fruit and vegetables that are in season. These are typically cheaper because they are more abundant and require less storage and transport ^[2]. In cooler months, this includes vegetables such as pumpkin, carrots, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, along with fruits such as apples and pears.

A practical shift is to “reverse meal plan”. Instead of starting with a recipe, identify what foods are affordable that week and build meals around them. Compare unit prices (per 100 grams or per litre) rather than shelf prices, to identify the best-value options.

Supermarket catalogues, apps or social media accounts such as @Wholesavers and @Supermarket.swap can help identify discounts and compare prices across retailers.

Many staples – including olive oil, cleaning products and pantry items – also follow predictable discount cycles every four to six weeks, making it worthwhile to delay non-urgent purchases.

Shopping habits matter too. Spend 15 minutes before shopping to check the fridge, freezer and pantry, then write a list to limit impulse purchases.

Online grocery shopping may make it easier to track spending and stick to a list, while digital tools can help generate meal ideas using ingredients already at home, such as Woolworths’ online planning tool ^[3].

Stretch expensive ingredients and save leftovers

You don’t need to remove meat or dairy entirely to save money. Instead, combine them with lower-cost ingredients.

Mince is a good example: lean beef mince often costs around A$18–20 per kilogram, while dried lentils are closer to $4–6. In practice, this might mean using half mince and half lentils in meals such as spaghetti bolognese, tacos or shepherd’s pie. The flavour and texture remain familiar, but the cost per meal drops and fibre intake increases.

Adding vegetables such as carrots, capsicum and peas can further reduce the amount of meat used. Increase your intake of plant-based foods such as legumes is also associated with ^[4] lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Cooking habits can further extend savings. Using a “cook once, eat twice” approach – doubling recipes and saving leftovers for lunches or freezing for later – reduces reliance ^[5] on more expensive convenience foods and can improve diet quality ^[6]. Soups, stews, curries and pasta sauces are especially suited to batch cooking.

Rethink convenience and reduce waste

Convenience foods consistently cost more per kilogram than their basic equivalents. Pre-sliced meats and cheeses, pre-diced vegetables and marinated products often carry a price premium. Whole chicken breast may cost around $14 per kilogram, for example, while pre-cut strips can exceed $20.

Reducing grocery costs can be as simple as buying foods in their original ^[7] or minimally processed form. Choose whole vegetables instead of pre-chopped options, or plain meat with a homemade marinade rather than pre-marinated products.

Small swaps also add up. Using concentrated stock instead of liquid cartons lowers the cost per litre, buying yoghurt in bulk reduces the cost per serve, and using a spray bottle for oil can help limit unnecessary use.

Rethink your pantry staples

Some of the most affordable foods are also the longest-lasting. Staples such as lentils, beans, chickpeas, rice, oats and pasta are relatively inexpensive, versatile, and form the basis of many healthy meals. Grains and legumes provide some of the lowest-cost sources ^[8] of nutrition per serve, making them central for budget-friendly diets.

Buying these items when discounted and storing them for later use can help with food costs over time. Retailers such as Aldi often offer particularly low prices on staples, and buying in bulk, where storage allows, can further reduce costs.

Other long-life options can also reduce costs and waste. Powdered milk is often cheaper than fresh and stores well, while frozen fruit and vegetables are typically less expensive than fresh, are nutritionally comparable ^[9] (and sometimes superior), and last far longer.

Use rewards programs, but know their limits

Supermarket rewards programs can help some households save, especially for those able to shop consistently and track offers.

While there are valid concerns ^[10] about loyalty programs, such as pushing shoppers to buy things they don’t need, you can activate bonus point deals online before shopping to earn points on items you’re already purchasing. Programs such as Woolworths Everyday Rewards EXTRA offer double points and a 10% monthly discount for frequent shoppers.

Other strategies include checking discounted products nearing expiry. Harris Farm Markets’ Save Me Stacks ^[11] often discounts products by up to 50%, while the Friend of the Farm ^[12] program provides 5% off vegetables and access to weekly specials and “imperfect picks”.

Buying meat directly from farmers and freezing it can also reduce costs, though this requires freezer space and is not accessible to all.

But it’s not just about individual choices

Eating well on a budget isn’t just about individual choices – access to time, transport, cooking facilities and local food environments all shape what households can realistically buy and prepare.

For many lower-income families, healthy diets can be unaffordable. Around 3.5 million Australian households ^[13] experienced food insecurity in the past year.

While individual households can make small tweaks to their trolleys to save at the checkout, we need broader policy action to reduce the cost of healthy foods and support household incomes.