'What the?! We are all paying more for bread without even realising it'

Have you noticed the price difference in ALDI bread, despite there being the exact same ingredients?

Pushing the trolley down the aisle at ALDI had me suddenly stopping in my tracks - and no, it wasn’t for a Special Buy. Well, this time anyway.

I paused in front of the bread shelf, shocked that I’d never noticed a very puzzling price difference sooner, which may make you rethink your next purchase.

At the time of publication, ALDI sells its 650g Bakers Life White Sandwich Sliced Bread for $2.39. No issues with that alone. But then, if you look over at another product - the 650g Bakers Life White Toast Sliced Bread - that’s where it gets interesting.

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Spot the difference at ALDI. Image: Supplied

Umm.. isn't that the same? 

The toast bread is exactly the same weight, and most importantly, shows the same ingredients on the pack as the sandwich bread, but is priced at $2.69.

Yes, that’s right - a whole 30 cents extra. Even more perplexing is that customers get 20 slices plus two crusts in the sandwich loaf compared to 17 slices plus two crusts in the toast loaf, despite the latter being more expensive.

Naturally, we had to go straight to the source to figure out what the crumb is going on here.

ALDI responded to Kidspot, explaining that its sandwich bread is a high-quality loaf at the lowest possible price, and for those wanting an option ideal for toasting, the toast bread was a better option, with its slightly thicker slices that hold their crunch.

Thanks ALDI, but that doesn’t explain exactly WHY we’re paying more for toast bread, especially given the ingredients information leads us to believe the products are identical - but we don’t know in what quantities or the production processes involved, so that could also be a factor.

Is this how bread is sold at supermarkets? 

Curiosity got the better of us, so we had to compare what the other two big supermarkets were doing with their bread prices, too.

Woolworths also has a price difference in its bread offerings. Its 650g White Sandwich Bread Loaf is $2.40, while its 650g White Soft Toast Bread is $2.70. It also has a 650g White Soft Sandwich Bread for $2.70, so its ‘soft’ products have a higher price point all round.

It’s also noted that the ingredients list between the sandwich and toast loaves are slightly different, so that’s somewhat easier to digest them not being priced the same.

RELATED: No more checkout lines? We put Woolie’s scan and go trolley to the test

ALDI sandwich bread ingredients. Image: Supplied

ALDI toast bread ingredients. Image: Supplied

Woolies was also contacted by Kidspot to confirm such findings, and a spokeswoman did indeed confirm the products have “different ingredients and formulation”.

“We understand that our customers have diverse needs and budgets. That's why we're proud to offer a wide selection of breads, from everyday low price loaves to specialty options, available at various price points,” she said.

So, the lesson at Woolies is if you don’t care about how your bread toasts, there’s 30c to be saved in just buying the sandwich loaf.

Interestingly, Coles has chosen to take a different approach to its sandwich and toast loaf pricing.

It sells both products at $3 each for 680g. While the difference makes it perhaps less confusing, Coles’ toast works out to be a smidge more expensive than Woolies and ALDI, with Coles toast being .44c per 100g compared to .42c per 100g for toast bread at the other two retailers.

So in short, other than leaving us hungry, this deep dive has answered some questions, and left others begging for more crumbs.

Originally published as 'What the?! We are all paying more for bread without even realising it'