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Try the Discount Grocery Challenge to save money all year

- February 15, 2022 3 MIN READ
The Discount Grocery Challenge will save you heaps

The Discount Grocery Challenge is possibly the easiest money-saving ‘challenge’ you’ll ever do, but the potential savings are staggering.

A great way to achieve your money goals is to set yourself a series of monthly challenges. These are simply ways to save or make money that have a set timeframe and a set goal. A challenge like this discount grocery challenge gives you the opportunity to try different things to find what works best for you.

The discount grocery challenge is super simple – all you have to do is buy your regular groceries in a bit of a different way. And at a different supermarket, if that’s an option for you. Read on to find out how to save plenty of money this year by taking on the discount grocery challenge.

How the Discount Grocery Challenge works

The potential annual savings if you stick to this discount grocery challenge are staggering: $8,364 after 12 months to be exact. All you have to do is switch where you do your shopping and the brands you buy. How does that work?

A. Shop at Aldi instead of Coles, Woolworths or IGA
B. Or buy supermarket or budget items instead of brands
C. Do both A and B if you can.

Potential annual savings if you stick to the challenge: $8,364.

Why switch supermarkets

In a recent study, consumer group CHOICE found that Aldi is about 30 per cent cheaper than the bigger supermarkets , so shopping at Aldi can cut your grocery bill by about one-third.

The study was done across 29 items that Australians regularly buy. A basket of branded products cost on average $145.23 at Coles and $141.83 at Woolworths (including specials), while a comparable basket of Aldi brand products was $80.75 (including specials). So, Coles and Woolies are roughly the same, but shopping at Aldi could save you over $60 a week.

An interesting side note: the CHOICE study found that shopping at independent chain IGA was on par with Coles and Woolies. So their reputation for being a more expensive place to shop is possibly unfounded. In fact, the basket of goods cost a little less at IGA than at Coles. This was largely due to IGA’s ‘price match’ promise and their excellent discounts when offered. CHOICE concluded, ” If you can find some of your favourite items on special at IGA, it pays to take advantage of the discount.”

More savings here: 15 simple ways to save stacks on your groceries

Watch your brands

You can super-charge this strategy by also changing the type of product that you buy – whether that’s a major brand name, supermarket brand or budget brand. According to CHOICE, this is a major factor affecting your grocery bill.

By purchasing the supermarket brand you could save 40 per cent compared with the major brands. And if you go with the budget brand equivalent of the supermarket brand item, you could decrease the price of your shopping basket by another 17 per cent. That’s another $110 savings in a month.

If you’re worried about the quality of house brands, CHOICE argues that the quality has improved significantly in recent times. And, they have again found Aldi to be the clear winner when it comes to house brand products: “The supermarket won by a landslide, coming out with six wins across the ten categories we analysed.”

Potential savings of sticking to the Discount Grocery Challenge

So, let’s add up the potential savings of our Discount Grocery Challenge if you commit to a full year.

Let’s say you spend $300 on your weekly shop at a traditional supermarket with a basket of major brands. If you switched to Aldi, still buying top name brands, according to CHOICE, your grocery bill would drop to $169, a saving of $131.

Add a switch to budget brands, and your bill would drop to $139, saving you $161. That’s an average saving per month of $697. Keep it up for 12 months and you could save $8,364.

How easy is that?

Find more money challenges to keep you on track here.