Mid-Week Dinners: Save $15 Across Coles, Woolies & Aldi

Every mid-week, the same question: what's for dinner, and how much is it going to cost? This basket covers five or six solid family dinners, bolognese, a stir-fry, pasta bake, rice dishes, the kind of meals you can put together after school pickup without too much drama. Thirteen items, four supermarkets. Here's what we found.

What This Basket Costs at Each Store

The spread is wider than you might expect.

Aldi: $66.24 (one item not stocked) Coles: $72.29 Woolworths: $84.08 IGA: $95.47 (one item not stocked)

That's a $17.84 difference between Aldi and Woolies for basically the same trolley. IGA is $29.23 more than Aldi, which is a real gap for a mid-week staples run. If you're shopping at IGA out of habit or convenience, it's worth knowing what that's costing you over a month.

The cherry-pick basket, taking the cheapest option for each item across all stores, comes to $56.94. That's $9.30 less than Aldi's already-low total, and $27.14 less than Woolies.

Where the Biggest Savings Are

Beef mince (1 kg) is the biggest single swing. Aldi has it at $7.99. Check what Woolies and Coles are charging this week, the difference is often $3-$5 per kilo, and mince is in at least two or three dinners most weeks. Over a month, that adds up fast.

Olive oil (500 ml) is another one to watch. Woolies is actually cheapest here at $7.00, which surprises a lot of shoppers who assume Aldi wins everything in the pantry aisle. If you're already at Woolies for something else, grab the olive oil there.

Chicken breast (1 kg) sits at just $4.20 at Woolies. That's a strong price for a versatile protein. Pair it with the jasmine rice from Aldi ($2.99) and the soy sauce ($1.79 at Aldi) and you've got a stir-fry for under $9 in ingredients.

Penne (500 g x2) at Aldi is $0.89 per pack. Coles and Woolies both charge more. It's pasta, it's going to taste the same regardless of the brand on the packet.

Where Prices Are Close Enough Not to Stress

A few items are tight across the main three supermarkets.

Zucchini (500 g) is $0.98 at Coles. That's very good, but veg prices shift weekly with supply, so this one can flip. Brown onions at $1.99 (Aldi) and carrots at $1.59 (Aldi) are typical seasonal produce prices, Coles and Woolies aren't dramatically worse here most weeks.

Diced tomatoes (400 g x2) at $0.95 at Coles is a solid price. Pasta sauce at $1.69 at Aldi is hard to beat, but if you're already at Coles and they have the Coles brand tin on special, the difference is probably cents.

The garlic 3-pack at $1.88 from Woolies is the cheapest in the basket. Not a huge saving over other stores, but garlic goes into nearly every dinner on this list so it's worth noting where to grab it.

Is the Cherry-Pick Worth the Extra Trip?

Honest answer: sometimes, but not always.

The cherry-pick saves you $9.30 versus Aldi alone. That sounds good. But it requires at least two separate shops, Aldi for mince, penne, pasta sauce, brown onions, carrots, soy sauce, and jasmine rice; Woolies for chicken breast, olive oil, garlic, and cup mushrooms; and Coles for zucchini and diced tomatoes.

Three stores for $9.30 in savings works out if you're already passing them. It doesn't work out if you're burning fuel and 45 minutes to do it deliberately. Petrol, parking, the stuff you throw in the trolley because you walked past it, that $9.30 disappears quickly.

The smarter move for most households: shop Aldi as your base. It beats Coles by $6.05 and Woolies by $17.84 on this basket. Then swing past Woolies for the chicken breast and olive oil if you're going that way anyway.

Who Should Shop Where

Families trying to reduce the weekly spend: Start at Aldi. For mid-week dinner staples like this, Aldi is consistently cheaper across the pantry and meat categories. The one item not stocked (in this basket) is a minor issue, you can usually find an equivalent.

Woolies loyalty members: You're paying a $17.84 premium on this basket versus Aldi. Your Everyday Rewards points have real value, but check whether they're actually covering that gap each week. For most shoppers, they don't.

IGA shoppers: IGA makes sense for convenience, top-up shops, or when you're in a regional area with no real alternative. As a primary shop for a basket like this, the $29.23 premium over Aldi is genuinely hard to justify.

Budget-conscious retirees or singles: The serve sizes here skew family. If you're cooking for one or two, halve the mince and chicken quantities mentally, the pantry staples (pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, soy sauce) keep well and are worth buying at whichever store is cheapest this week, then stockpiling.

According to Canstar Blue's 2025 survey, Aussie households are spending an average of $178 per week on groceries. A basket like this mid-week dinner run represents a big chunk of that. Shaving even $10-$15 a week adds up to $500-$750 over the year.

The numbers don't lie: Aldi is the cheapest single stop for this basket. But a selective swing through Woolies for chicken and olive oil gets you even closer to that $56.94 cherry-pick price, without the chaos of three separate shops.