New Aldi app promises to cut shopping time — here’s how

Grocery shopping can be one of the biggest time killers for busy families – but now a new Aldi product promises to cut time spent in store.

When it comes to household chores, the weekly grocery shop is easily one of the most time-consuming tasks.

But now a new app promises to slash time spent grocery shopping by making it easier to pick out the healthiest food on offer.

Today Aldi has launched the Healthy Picks app, which allows shoppers to quickly understand food labels.

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Grocery shopping can be time consuming – but a new Aldi product promises to slash time spent in store. Picture: AAP/Image Matthew Vasilescu.

Developed with The George Institute for Global Health, the free app lets customers scan any Aldi pre-packaged product for instant feedback on how healthy it is.

Nutritional information is displayed as either a health star rating or traffic light label.

The George Institute’s public health nutritionist Clare Farrand told news.com.au that packaging was sometimes too complicated for on-the-go shopper to read properly.

“Food labels can carry lots of different information, which we know people find confusing and hard to understand,” she said.

“Often, when we’re nipping into the supermarket, we don’t have time to spend trying to work out what they mean.”

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The Healthy Picks app will instantly tell shoppers if a food product is healthy or not.

While most shoppers are already looking for better options, some “healthy” products aren’t as good as they seem, Ms Farrand said.

“As the demand for healthier food grows, so does the number of products on the market that appear healthy by displaying all the right buzz words like ‘ vegan’, ‘gluten free’, ‘vege’; however, our research has shown that many aren’t quite as healthy as they seem and can be loaded with salt, fat and sugar,” she said.

“So unless we look at the labels, we don’t really know what’s in the food we’re buying.”

As well as selecting healthier food, the app is also expected to cut down shopping time, Aldi Australia group buying director Simon Padovani said.

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The app will also help make a “quick purchase decision”, cutting down time spent in store.

“The Healthy Picks app has been developed in line with customer needs to make a quick purchase decision,” he said.

“Not only does the app educate shoppers, it will also assist in reducing the time and effort

spent comparing the nutritional content and ingredient lists of packaged products.”

Mr Padovani said the app was in response to shopper demand to make labels “less complicated”.

“We have heard from customers who have expressed a desire to better understand the

nutrition panels on packaged products,” he said.

“The launch of the Healthy Picks app is another step forward to meet the rising demand for more transparency and healthier alternatives.”

The Healthy Picks app is available to download now on the Apple App Store or Google Play