‘I thought I was getting a good deal’: How Aldi proved me wrong

An unexpected retailer has come out way cheaper than its competitors when prices of fresh vegetables were compared.

An unexpected retailer has come out way cheaper than its competitors when prices of fresh vegetables were compared.

Like everyone in the country at the moment, I’m feeling the pinch of hefty grocery price hikes, particularly while maintaining a predominantly plant-based diet.

While I love a good iceberg as much as the next person, there is absolutely zero chance you’ll ever catch me splashing more than a couple dollars on one.

In the name of good journalism, I set out to discover how in the heck I’m going to sustain my veggie-centred diet if this inflation continues.

I’d typically stock up on my weekly usuals at Coles – it’s geographically most convenient, and I get to beep my FlyBuys card (though I’m yet to work out what the points are doing for me).

The expedition has grown increasingly exxy in recent weeks, so I rolled the dice on a company that packs seasonal veg into a box and delivers it to your door.

I received my Box Fresh delivery on a Friday, and like any good vegan, my mind instantly began concocting images of roasts, burrito bowls, stuffed potatoes, curries and soups.

My eyes lit up when this Box Fresh delivery arrived.

For $56, plus a $1 delivery fee, I was immediately thrilled at the quantity and quality of what the box contained, and thought it was an exceptional deal given all I had to do was push a few buttons on my phone.

Inside, there was a plethora of veggies including mushrooms, capsicum, avocado, tomato, bok choy, cucumber and snap peas – all items I’ve definitely walked away from in the supermarket (at some point) because of price.

I couldn’t have been happier at the incredible discovery I’d made, and swiftly began telling everyone I knew. I even placed a second order for the following week.

All of this cost $56, plus $1 for it to be delivered to my door.

While I was convinced bargains didn’t get any better, part of my project was sussing out how other retailers compared, so I trotted my way down to Aldi.

I had a list of all the things that came in the Box Fresh delivery and set about picking up the same at the German outlet, albeit not expecting to find everything due to either supply issues or it simply not carrying the stock.

My low expectations soon backfired – I had opted for a basket in lieu of a trolley, thinking there was no way Aldi would have even half of the veggies I needed.

As my arm grew more red and strained on each bend to collect a listed item, I soon realised that Aldi was in contention to not only have all the items, but to also come out cheaper.

The quantities weren’t all exact, however and I had to go with items that were most similar. Box Fresh had delivered uncooked beetroot, but all Aldi had was cooked, for example.

Similarly, Aldi didn’t have loose mushrooms, so I grabbed a 200g packet, as opposed to the 180g bag packet by Box Fresh.

I found everything at Aldi except the spring onion. Pretty good!

When it came time to check out, having only been unable to locate one item – the snap peas – I opted to avoid the panic of the staffed register and buzz each veggie through myself at a self-serve checkout.

As each veggie scanned and the total remained puzzlingly low, I found myself thinking, “there’s heaps left, I bet the potatoes or carrots will bump the price up”.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The final amount was so low I felt instant shame at how aggressively I had been pumping up the tyres of Box Fresh.

For everything, except the snap peas which were unavailable, the Aldi haul cost just $39.57.

That’s $17.43 cheaper than the deal that I had been treating like Sydney’s best kept secret.

Frankly, I’m embarrassed. And if you’re someone I’ve bullied into buying a delivery box, I’m sorry. I truly thought I was getting an amazing deal!

In fairness though, that extra $17 would be worth it if you wanted to avoid trekking down to Aldi, battling through the crowds, lining up for ages and enduring the checkout ordeal.

My Aldi experience really left me questioning some life choices. Picture: Benedict Brook/news.com.au

Proof the Aldi shop cost less than $40.

How do Coles and Woolworths stack up?

It would be unprofessional of me to not also compare Box Fresh with Coles and Woolworths, so I’ve tallied those two up based on prices and availability advertised on their respective websites.

I was surprised I had more trouble locating items with both Coles and Woolies than Aldi. For whatever reason, I had always thought of Aldi as being great for value but not necessarily variety. Once again, everything I’ve ever known has been challenged.

When I was plugging listed veggies into Coles, I noticed it had spring onions and brown onion listed as unavailable. What shocked me most though was the price of snap peas – $6 for a 150g pack!

The Coles total ended up being $48.33, which, even with those few items missing, was $8.76 more expensive than Aldi.

On the Woolworths site, prices were predominantly the same, give or take a few cents here and there.

Woolies didn’t have snap peas at all though, and also had no spring onion. It did have brown onions however and seemingly plenty of them.

The total shop, without snap peas and spring onion, came to a total of $49.76, making it $1.43 more expensive than Coles and $10.19 more expensive than Aldi.

More salt in the fresh wound of my recently severed allegiance with Box Fresh, which remained the most expensive way to buy veggies.

If you throw Coles’ delivery fee, which starts at $2 and Woolworths’ delivery fee, which can be free if you spend enough, into the mix, both major retailers would still come out cheaper overall.

It just depends if you want to leave your house for your groceries or not!