Baby Basket: Aldi Saves You $25 vs IGA

Nappies, formula, baby food pouches, and the everyday staples that keep a toddler fed, this basket adds up fast. We priced 12 items across Coles, Woolworths, Aldi, and IGA to see exactly how much the store you choose is costing your family each week.

The short version: Aldi is well ahead. But there's a catch.

What This Baby Basket Costs at Each Store

Fill the whole trolley at one store and here's what you're paying:

• Aldi: $58.43 (one item not stocked)
• Coles: $83.86
• Woolworths: $93.54
• IGA: $106.45

That's a $35.11 gap between Aldi and Woolies on essentially the same basket. IGA is $48.02 dearer than Aldi. For a household running through nappies and formula every single week, that kind of difference compounds quickly, we're talking over $1,800 a year if the pattern holds.

Cherry-picking the cheapest price on each item across all four stores gets you to $70.08, which saves $13.78 against the best single-store option (Aldi). Whether that saving is worth two trips depends on your situation, more on that below.

Where Aldi Pulls Ahead (and by How Much)

The biggest wins are in the baby-specific products, which makes sense. This is where Aldi's own-brand range does the most heavy lifting.

Nappies (size 4, 44-pack): $4.89 at Aldi. Coles charges noticeably more, and IGA is the priciest of the lot. If you're changing 6-8 nappies a day, which is pretty standard for a one-year-old, you're going through a pack like this every week. That per-pack gap adds up to real money over a year.

Baby food pouches (8-pack): $0.95 at Aldi. This one is striking. Pouches at the major chains can run several times that per pack, and Aldi's version is genuinely popular with parents who've tried it. At under a dollar for eight pouches, it's hard to argue with.

Baby wipes (320-pack): $1.89 at Aldi. Wipes are one of those products where the brand premium is almost entirely marketing. Parents on parenting forums will tell you Aldi's wipes are thick, moist, and get the job done. The price speaks for itself.

Greek yoghurt (1 kg): $3.89 at Aldi vs $5.00-plus at Coles and Woolies. Toddlers eat a lot of yoghurt, and this is a useful saving on a staple you're buying every week regardless.

Where the Prices Are Basically the Same

Not everything in this basket has a dramatic spread.

Toddler formula stage 3 (900 g) is $20.00 at Coles, and this is actually the cheapest in the basket. Aldi doesn't stock this item, which is the one gap in their range and the reason the Aldi total comes with an asterisk. Formula is not a product most parents want to compromise on or run out of, so this is the item that will keep many families doing at least some shopping at Coles or Woolies regardless.

Bananas (1 kg) come in at $0.51 at Coles, which is genuinely cheap. Fresh produce pricing swings with the seasons, and right now Coles is strong on bananas. Apples are cheapest at Aldi at $0.87/kg.

Wholemeal bread (700 g) and smooth peanut butter (375 g) are both cheapest at Aldi at $3.00 and $3.09 respectively, solid prices for lunchbox staples.

Full cream milk (3 L) and free range eggs (12-pack) are cheapest at Coles at $5.15 and $5.00. The savings versus Aldi on these two items are small enough that they wouldn't drive a dedicated trip on their own.

Is the Cherry-Pick Worth Two Trips?

On paper, yes, $13.78 in savings over the Aldi total sounds decent. In practice, it's a harder call.

The optimal cherry-pick in this basket means buying formula and probably milk and eggs at Coles, then the rest at Aldi. That's two separate shops with a baby or toddler in tow. If you've got a small child, you already know how that goes. The extra trip costs you time, petrol, and sanity.

For most families, the honest answer is: if there's an Aldi near you and your preferred formula brand is stocked there (or you're happy with toddler formula stage 3 at Coles), do most of your shop at Aldi and top up at Coles. That gets you close to the cherry-pick price without the full double-trip.

If you live far from an Aldi, Coles at $83.86 beats Woolworths by nearly $10 on this basket. That's a meaningful difference for the same products, and it's a good reason to keep your default supermarket at Coles rather than Woolies.

Who Should Shop Where

Aldi-first families, If Aldi is convenient and you're not brand-locked on formula or specific baby food brands, this is your store. You'll save more here than anywhere else on nappies, wipes, pouches, yoghurt, and bread.

Coles as the main shop, If you need the full basket in one go and Aldi isn't practical, Coles is the clear pick over Woolworths. The $9.68 saving versus Woolies on this basket is meaningful, and Coles has the cheapest formula in the comparison.

Woolworths, There's nothing in this basket where Woolies is the cheapest option. It's the second-most expensive store here by a noticeable margin. The ACCC's ongoing Federal Court case against both Woolworths and Coles over alleged "Prices Dropped" discount labelling practices, which has included baby food products, is a good reason to check prices yourself rather than take the promotional signage at face value.

IGA, At $106.45 for this basket, IGA is best left for emergency top-ups. There are genuinely useful things to buy at IGA (local produce, specialty items, convenience), but this basket isn't their sweet spot.

Baby and toddler households are among the most cost-squeezed in Australia right now. Canstar Blue's 2025 research found grocery bills have climbed steadily for families with young children. If this basket represents even half your weekly shop, switching from Woolies to Aldi-plus-Coles could save your household well over $1,000 a year.