Anyone who has found an old supermarket receipt stuck down the bottom of their shopping bag will tell you about the sad reality of Australia’s cost of living crisis.
You’re not dreaming when you remember living like Seinfeld’s George Costanza last year while biting down on a block of cheese you picked-up for $8.50 – less if it was on sale.
A fancy steak was $12 down at your local Coles – now $16 – and your Party Bag of Twisties cost almost a buck less than it does today.
Supermarket receipt from last year found in bottom of shopping bag
A similar shop last year would have cost you almost $14 less
It’s the kind of thing your ordinary middle-aged bloke might not fully appreciate unless they’ve hit on hard times.
And many Australians have over the past six months as interest rates broke the backs of honest, hard working people.
On Thursday, Daily Mail Australia set about finding out just how expensive a small, simple shop was.
Not at a fancy supermarket in Middle Park, but a Coles supermarket in Melbourne’s outer western suburbs.
Shopping in Melbourne’s west has become increasingly depressing over the past six months
On Thursday, Pink Lady Apples on special cost more than they did on August 28 last year when they cost $3.90 a kg
It’s the exact same area the crumpled receipts from happier days were created and found.
Sure we could have gone and done the exact same shop as one of those receipts, but who has the time and money to shop like it was September 2022?
So we picked out 10 items a person might pop down the supermarket for on any given day.
Jason Alexander as George Costanza (centre). He famously compared enjoyment of life with eating a block of cheese
Grabbing cheap Drumsticks used to be more satisfying in 2022
Brown onions cost $3.70 a kg on Thursday. They cost $3 a kg on October 1 last year
Those items included Vegemite, bread, milk, cheese, cereal – all the kinds of stuff routinely on a shopping list.
The checkout receipt read $66.25.
With some items on sale, the cost of those measly 10 items cost $13.95 more than the same items did late last year – or a little under 30 per cent more expensive.
No wonder people are raiding their piggy banks just to feed the family.
Can you imagine shopping for a family of four? Five? 10?
The cost of a shop for a family of four is tough enough.
Aussie households reportedly spent on average $152 per week on groceries last year, according to Canstar Blue’s July 2022 survey of supermarket shoppers.
That equated to almost $659 a month or $7,904 a year.
The average weekly spend for larger households of five or more people was roughly $235, with the majority of that spent on staple or everyday food items.
A few weeks ago a similar shop to Daily Mail Australia was conducted by 9news.
It found a basic list of household items – ranging from yoghurt, to tuna tins, fresh veggies and cleaning products – cost a little over $112 last year.
Lindt was down to $3.85 on Thursday. Pretty good. But it cost $3.50 on sale in August
In June, a shop made up of exactly the same products cost a whopping $180 – a 60 per cent rise.
Investment bank UBS found that food and grocery prices at Australia’s dominant supermarket chains, Coles and Woolworths, were running at an annualised 9.6 per cent increase in April, according to its analysis of more than 60,000 items.
Coles disputed the UBS figures, which came in well less than both 9news and Daily Mail Australia.
Coles told The Guardian the analysis did not capture its full product range or changes in buying volumes.
‘UBS’s report is not an accurate reflection of how we calculate and report inflation,’ a Coles spokesperson said then.
‘UBS’s sample data does not capture our full range of products and does not capture changes in customer buying behaviours which impact our sales volumes and product mix.’
Some of the soaring food prices have been linked to costs that come after produce leaves a farm, such as energy, processing and transportation expenses.
While supermarket giants blame the higher wholesale prices it is paying to suppliers.
Whatever the case, bargain hunting has become more important than ever, but even then the savings aren’t what they used to be last summer.
Oner thrifty shopper told Daily Mail Australia he had resorted to buying his kids ‘meat ends’ to put in their sandwiches.
Another seasoned shopper claimed he had the real solution to those struggling.
‘I’ve said it once, i’ll say it again … ALDI,’ he said.
