Cost of living: Super Savers reveals what Australians are paying more for now

Putting food on the table has become a lot more stressful for many, with the average supermarket shop almost 6 per cent more expensive than a year ago, but good deals can still be found.

Putting food on the table has become a lot more stressful for many, with the average supermarket shop almost 6 per cent more expensive than a year ago – but there are still some good deals to be found.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest consumer price index showed a typical basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages jumped 5.9 per cent in the year to the June quarter – the largest annual increase in 11 years.

For comparison, there was 2.4 per cent inflation in the year to June 2019, before the Covid pandemic, Ukraine conflict and 2022 east coast floods.

Current price trends have been largely driven by vegetables (up 14.6 per cent year on year) and oils and fats (up 14 per cent).

Beef and veal (up 9.4 per cent), coffee, tea and cocoa (9.3 per cent) and breakfast cereals (8.8 per cent) have also been hit with significant price hikes.

Sisters Sheriden and Jorja Goodwin do the shopping with their mum working to a $200 weekly budget for their family of four. Picture: Richard Dobson

Fruit, on the other hand, was on average 1.4 per cent cheaper year on year – and fish (up 3.1 per cent) and jams, honeys and spreads (2.2 per cent) remained relatively stable.

Some specific items have dropped in price by as much as 44 per cent over the past 12 months, according to August data from Grocery price app Frugl.

These included fresh ginger (average price down 44 per cent), Nanna’s apple crumble 550g (down 25 per cent), prepacked navel oranges (21 per cent), McCain Lil Pizzas snack varieties 4 pack (21 per cent), Pauls kids yoghurt pouch varieties 70g (14 per cent) and Campbell’s Country Ladle Soup varieties 505g (13 per cent).

News Corp Australia launched its Smart Savers editorial series in August to help Australians navigate their way through the cost of living pressures by providing expert tips, hundreds of ways to save money, a personal inflation calculator, as well as affordable meal plans and where to find hidden bargains.

Rosebery local Genevieve Avelsohm and mother to son Charlie says she has definitely felt the crunch of cost of living pressures over the past year.

“Everything’s gotten so expensive,” Ms Avelsohm told The Sunday Telegraph. “Especially fresh fruit and vegetables.”

Sydney mum Genevieve Avelsohm with son Charlie after shopping at Coles in Green Square. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

In order to save money on the family’s weekly shop, she said “ We’re picking frozen vegetables over fresh vegetables, it’s a lot cheaper.”

When asked what she thought of supermarket Coles new Super savers editorial series, where exclusive discounts are given on a host of items including fresh fruit and vegetables to baby nappies and health products, she said “Anything helps.”

“Particularly for fresh vegetables, because you have to feed young children fresh vegetables.

“Definitely that would help.”

Aussie supermarket chain Coles will from Monday provide News Corp Australia readers with exclusive discounts on a host of items from groceries, fresh fruit and vegies to baby nappies and health products.

“Our recently launched Smart Savers editorial series has been helping audiences combat the impact of higher bills with budget calculators, seven-day meal plans and where to find the hidden bargains. Now, we are building on that great content with special offers to save them money,” Mr Reinke said.

The average shopping bill has increased by 6 per cent.

“We are delighted to partner with Coles to launch this major cost-of-living program. The strong crossover between Coles’s supermarket shoppers and our audiences makes this program particularly compelling by combining the reach of our mastheads with unbeatable offers from Coles.

“Over the next month our teams will work collaboratively to unlock discounts across a range of products and services that could save readers hundreds of dollars, providing them with added value from their subscriptions.”

Coles Chief Executive, Commercial and Express Leah Weckert said the Coles Daily Deal offers will feature in all metropolitan and regional News Corp publications – both in print and online.

“Coles is committed to always providing the best value to our customers to help their budgets go further and these meaningful offers are a great example of that,” Ms Weckert said.

Readers can scan the day’s barcode, along with their Flybuys card, in store or at ColesOnline to redeem the daily deal.