Iceberg lettuce Coles, Woolworths: Prices across state revealed

Homer Simpson sang ‘You don’t win friends with salad’ and with these prices for an iceberg lettuce it’s easy to see why. Check out our map revealing the cheapest places to pick one up.

Iceberg lettuces are selling for $8.98 each at Henry's Mercato, Benton's Square Mornington on June 9, 2022.

The price of iceberg lettuces in Victoria is soaring, with prices fluctuating wildly depending on where you live.

And even if you’re happy to shell out the cash to buy one, finding the elusive vegetable in your local store might be a challenge, with shelves stripped bare across the state.

Woolworths has advised shoppers due to heavy rain in growing regions, it is seeing an impact to lettuce supply.

“We are working closely with our growers and expect to see supply improve in three weeks,” the supermarket giant posted online.

Coles Flemington and Coles Footscray didn’t have any iceberg lettuce available on Thursday, perhaps because they were selling for as low as $5 each.

At the Mill Park Woolworths last Thursday lettuces were selling for $5.50 each, but they were also all sold out.

Prices fluctuated wildly on the Mornington Peninsula, ranging from a shocking $11.98 at Mount Martha Ritchies IGA to an affordable $6.50 just 5km away at Woolworths, Benton’s Square in Mornington.

Just a few metres away in the same shopping centre the salad item affectionately known as “crunchy water” was selling for $8.99 at Henry’s Mercato.

In Bayswater, the only place you could grab a lettuce at the major supermarkets was at Woolworths on Mountain Highway, with a handful available for $6.50 each.

Shelves were bare at Coles in the Mountain High Shopping Centre, which had a price tag of $5.50.

Bayswater’s ALDI store, Coles’ stores at Ringwood Square and Eastland, and Eastland’s Woolworths supermarket were all out of stock.

The closest thing available for Ringwood shoppers was a two-pack of baby cos lettuce for $3.69 at ALDI Ringwood Square.

In Dandenong the shelves were bare with tags indicating heavy rains in the growing regions had lead to a lettuce shortage.

At Coles, the only lettuce option was a two pack of baby cos lettuce for $4.

Woolworths presented more options for a head of lettuce and cost shoppers $3 for a oak leaf combo, or $5.50 for iceberg.

The fresh produce market in the same centre didn’t show any signs of stocking lettuce.

Prices also fluctuated greatly in Ballarat, from $6.50 at Woolworths to $10.99 at

Ballarat Pleasant Park IGA.

At Woolworths Ballarat Central, little lettuce was on display.

A sign read: “this is due to unforeseen circumstances with regard to product supply for this store.”

Although there seemed to be none available, a head of iceberg lettuce cost $6.50.

Two heads of cos lettuce were priced at $4 and a oak leaf at $3.

Closer to Melbourne, there is scarce supply of the salad star.

Woolworths Newmarket Plaza had only one available in their sparsely populated salad leaf section, selling for $5.50 each.

In Melbourne’s south east, prices are on the lower end of the scale, but supply seems to be the issue.

Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre Coles had a head of iceberg lettuce priced at $5.50 each on Thursday June 10, but there were no leafy green heads to be seen.

Supply was not an issue for Market Place Fresh, an independent grocer in the same centre, who had a table filled with lettuce heads.

They had, however, left the price of the iceberg lettuce unlisted.