How to Save Money on Groceries in Australia (2026)

This sounds obvious, but most people skip it and pay the price at the checkout. Writing a meal plan for the week - even a rough one - before you open the shopping app or walk into the supermarket typically cuts 15–25% off the bill. You stop buying things you already have, stop buying ingredients for meals you never end up making, and reduce the number of top-up trips mid-week.

A top-up trip to Coles or Woolworths for three items reliably turns into twelve.

Loyalty to one supermarket is expensive. Woolworths and Coles have different weekly specials, and Aldi runs a consistent range of staples at prices neither major can match on certain categories.

A practical approach: do your main shop at Aldi for pantry staples and dairy, then pick up branded items and fresh produce from whichever of Coles or Woolworths has better specials that week. Check the catalogues on Sunday night before you plan your week.

Everyday Rewards (Woolworths) and Flybuys (Coles) both offer genuine weekly Boost offers that deliver real discounts at checkout - not points you redeem in two years. These are worth activating. The base points accumulation is largely irrelevant; the targeted Boost offers are where the value sits.

Activate the relevant Boost offers before you shop, every week. Takes ninety seconds.

There is no meaningful quality difference between home brand and branded flour, pasta, tinned tomatoes, canned legumes, rice, frozen vegetables, or olive oil. Switching those items to home brand can reduce a typical trolley by $30–$50 without changing a single meal.

Keep branded items where quality genuinely differs - usually fresh meat, cheese, and a few condiments. Everything else is fair game.

The average Australian household throws away approximately $1,000 in food per year. Before you buy more, use what you have. Check the fridge and pantry before writing your shopping list. Cook to use rather than shop to replace.

A useful rule: if something in the fridge has been there for more than four days, it goes into tomorrow's meal regardless of what was planned.

Most supermarkets markdown perishables in the late afternoon and early evening - particularly meat, bread, and prepared foods. If your schedule allows, shopping between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays regularly surfaces good markdowns that can significantly reduce the cost of protein.

One of the more effective strategies for the overall grocery budget is to reduce spending elsewhere, which frees up more for food without changing what you eat.

ROOPON's membership gives Australians exclusive discount codes from partner stores across clothing, homewares, electronics, and everyday essentials. Members regularly save more per month on non-grocery spending than the membership costs - and Active members receive FREE included prize-draw entries per their plan and campaign terms. The discount access alone makes it worth considering if you are spending in those categories anyway.

If you do not know your baseline, you cannot measure progress. Most banking apps now categorise supermarket spending automatically. Check yours. Most people who do this discover their actual grocery spend is 20–30% higher than their estimate - and the awareness alone drives behaviour change.

Save more with ROOPON: Browse exclusive discount codes from Australian partner stores at roopon.com/discount-codes, and check live prize draws at roopon.com/giveaway.