Christmas groceries: Is Aldi, Coles or Woolies cheaper?

Australians are predicted to spend nearly $59 billion this Christmas, according to the Australian Retailers Association.

It’s an expensive time of year, what with gifts, food, decorations and drinks to buy. Who wouldn’t want to save a few dollars? 

With that in mind, we carried out a price spot-check on 22 Christmas grocery items at Aldi, Coles and Woolworths to find out which has the best buys. 

The supermarket with the cheapest basket is…

Aldi – with a total basket price of $149.14. That’s $28.36 cheaper than the most expensive basket – savings that would certainly come in handy during the holidays.

The difference between Coles’ and Woolworths’ total basket was $10.65 – with Woolworths coming in cheaper. 

The total cost of each basket is based on each item’s non-sale price. But we did get a bonus box of Cadbury Favourites in a two-for-one deal at Coles.

Cheaper deals can be found

Depending on where and when you shop, there’s a good chance some of the items in our baskets will be on sale.

When we applied the specials that were available on the day of our comparison, Aldi still came in cheapest with a total price of $147.84.

Woolworths had $15.50 in savings and their discounted basket remained in second place ($151.35), followed by Coles ($171 – $6.50 cheaper than their full-price basket).

But even if the same specials we found don’t apply, it’s likely some items will be on sale at these retailers and you won’t pay full price. 

What’s in the basket?

Christmas food

• Half leg ham (closest to 5kg)
• Turkey breast roast, frozen (1kg)
• Smoked salmon (500g)
• Christmas pudding (700g)
• Fruit mince pies (6 pack)
• Brandy baskets (8 pack or closest)
• Raspberries, frozen (500g)
• Thickened cream (600mL)
• Maltesers Milk Chocolate Gift Box (400g)
• Pavlova (500g)
• Shortbread fingers (200g or closest)
• Custard (1L or closest)
• Brandy-flavoured custard (1L or closest)
• Gingerbread house kit (1kg or closest)
• Candy canes (30 pack or equivalent)
• Brie (125g)
• Mixed nuts, salted (375g)
• Chocolate coins (150g)
• Cadbury Favourites chocolates (373g or closest)

Christmas decor, cards and wrap

• Christmas cards (10 pack)
• Christmas gift wrap (single roll, 5m)
• Christmas crackers/bon bons (10 pack or closest)

How we conducted our price spot-check

We created a shopping list of 22 items based on last year’s list, adding and subtracting to take into account availability on the day we shopped. 

We then compared Aldi’s prices instore for these items with the cheapest option of the equivalent pack size or quantity available through the Coles and Woolworths online shopping sites. 

Prices were collected on the same day in December 2021 for fair comparison. The prices are the full cost of each item and do not include sales or specials.

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Marianna

Marianna worked at CHOICE from 2017–2022, writing and editing content on a range of different consumer issues as both a content editor and commissioning editor. She's conducted in-house taste tests for non-alcoholic wines, uncovered which is the best reusable water bottle, looked at the amount of sweet ingredients in infant foods, and analysed the contents of chocolate variety boxes to find out which are best for caramel lovers, fruit-goo fans and more. She previously worked for a range of publications in both Australia and the UK including the BBC's Radio Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Sunday Telegraph and Cosmopolitan. You can find her on LinkedIn.

Marianna worked at CHOICE from 2017–2022, writing and editing content on a range of different consumer issues as both a content editor and commissioning editor. She's conducted in-house taste tests for non-alcoholic wines, uncovered which is the best reusable water bottle, looked at the amount of sweet ingredients in infant foods, and analysed the contents of chocolate variety boxes to find out which are best for caramel lovers, fruit-goo fans and more. She previously worked for a range of publications in both Australia and the UK including the BBC's Radio Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Sunday Telegraph and Cosmopolitan. You can find her on LinkedIn.

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