Health Kick Starter Basket: Save $11 by Shopping Smart

The idea is simple: eat well without spending a fortune. Twelve everyday healthy staples, four stores, one question, where should you shop?

Here's what we found when we priced the Health Kick Starter basket this week.

What the Health Kick Starter Basket Costs at Each Store

Put every item in the same trolley and here's what you'd hand over at the checkout:

• Aldi: $69.42
• Woolworths: $73.65
• Coles: $74.73
• IGA: $95.60

The cheapest single store is Aldi, and it wins by a comfortable margin over both major chains. IGA comes in $26.18 dearer than Aldi for the same twelve items. That's not a rounding error, that's a week's worth of lunches.

But there's another number worth paying attention to. If you buy each item from whichever store has the lowest price that week, your total drops to $58.35. That's a cherry-pick saving of $11.07 compared to doing your whole shop at Aldi.

Where the Health Kick Starter Basket Comes Cheapest: Standout Prices

A few items in this basket have price differences that actually matter.

Bananas are the starkest example. Aldi has them at $0.81 per kg this week. Woolies and Coles both run around $1.40, $1.60/kg depending on the week. For a household that goes through a bunch or two, that adds up over a month.

Avocados (4-pack) are cheapest at Woolies for $2.00. Aldi doesn't always carry four-packs in the same format, so this one's a genuine Woolies win, $2 for four avocados is a good price by any measure.

Greek yoghurt (1 kg natural) hits $3.89 at Aldi, which is solidly cheaper than the Coles and Woolies home-brand equivalents, which tend to sit around $4.50, $5.00. For people eating yoghurt daily, whether it's for breakfast or post-gym, this is one worth loading up on at Aldi.

Rolled oats (1 kg) at $1.49 at Aldi is the kind of price that makes you want to buy three. Coles and Woolies both stock their own brands of rolled oats in the $2, $3 range. Aldi's Simply Nature oats are a regular on the "genuinely good cheap food" shortlist you'll see on r/AusFinance.

Quinoa (500 g) at $5.49 at Aldi is the best price in the basket for that product. At Coles or Woolies it's typically $5.50, $7.00 for a comparable size, so this one's a proper saver for households that've made quinoa a weekly staple.

Where Prices Are Basically the Same, Don't Stress These Ones

Not every item in the basket tells a dramatic story, and that's fine.

Chicken breast (1 kg) is cheapest at Woolies for $4.20, but Coles and Aldi aren't far behind. If you're already at one of those stores, you're not losing much by not crossing the car park.

Baby spinach (120 g) at $1.99 at Aldi versus $2.50, $3.00 at Coles and Woolies is a small but genuine saving. It's not the item that'll change your week financially, but it's consistent, Aldi's fresh produce pricing on leafy greens tends to be reliably lower.

Free range eggs (12-pack) are cheapest at Coles for $5.70. Woolies runs close. Aldi's eggs are good quality but the price gap here is small enough that it won't move the needle on your total much.

Sweet potato (1 kg) is oddly cheapest at IGA for $3.00 this week. That's one of the rare moments where IGA beats everyone, but it's one item, and buying the rest of your shop there to save a dollar on sweet potato makes no sense given IGA's basket total of $95.60.

Is the Cherry-Pick Worth the Extra Trip?

Honest answer: for most people, no. But it depends on your setup.

The cherry-pick saving is $11.07 versus buying everything at Aldi. To get that saving, you'd need to split your shop across at least three stores (Woolies for chicken and avocados, Coles for eggs, Aldi for almost everything else, and a brief stop at IGA for sweet potato). That's time, two or three separate checkout queues, and potentially extra fuel.

If you're already doing a Woolies run for other items, nappies on special, a specific yoghurt brand, whatever it might be, then grabbing the chicken breast and avocados while you're there makes sense. That's free savings. But driving specifically to four stores for an $11 saving is a stretch.

The more realistic play: do your core shop at Aldi and grab the chicken and avocados at Woolies if you're passing one anyway.

Who Should Shop Where

Aldi wins for solo health-conscious shoppers and couples who are working through a meal prep routine. If your weekly shop looks anything like this basket, Aldi takes eight of the twelve cheapest items. Do your main shop there.

Woolies makes sense if you've got an Everyday Rewards account and you're buying chicken regularly. The $4.20/kg chicken breast price is the lowest in the basket for that item, and points accumulation on a big shop adds a small buffer over time.

Coles suits families who watch the egg price closely (free range at $5.70 is the lowest you'll find this week) and anyone already in the Flybuys system.

IGA is a convenience stop, not a budget stop. The $95.60 total is $26 more than Aldi. The sweet potato price is genuinely competitive, but that's the only standout. If IGA is your local and you don't have an Aldi or Woolies close by, you're paying a convenience premium, which is fair, but worth knowing.

For a family running a health-focused meal plan, the weekly shop at Aldi with a Woolies detour for chicken and avocados gets you to $60, $62 in practice, which is a solid result for twelve quality staples.