Shoprite the best bet for groceries on a budget

If you are grocery shopping on a tight budget, Shoprite is your best bet, with Woolworths coming in as the most affordable stockist of maize meal, white sugar and Baby Soft branded toilet paper.

The October list of the in-store prices of the same basket of goods across five major retailers — Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Spar and Woolworths — has been released by The Outlier.

Every month the independent outfit, specialising in using data to create public service stories and visualisation, publishes data collected on a set of standard household groceries bought from popular grocery chains.

For three months in a row Shoprite has come out as the cheapest. Once again Woolworths has placed solidly in the middle while Pick n Pay and Spar have emerged as the most expensive.

This is what is in the standard trolley:

One 700g Albany Superior sliced white bread (or store brand);

2-litre store brand sunflower oil;

2.5kg Iwisa maize meal;

2.5kg Selati white sugar;

One store-brand two-litre milk;

2kg Tastic rice;

2.5kg Snowflake cake flour;

One 175g bar of Dettol Herbal soap; and

A nine-pack of two-ply Baby Soft toilet paper (or store brand).

Shoprite’s price for the basket came in at R384.91, while Spar was R44 more expensive at R428.91.

Interestingly, of the five retailers, only Spar’s basket of groceries is more expensive this month than it was in August. Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Checkers and Shoprite’s prices have dropped overall.

This is mainly due to a dip in the cost of sunflower oil, thanks to the average price for two litres of cooking oil —  averagely priced at R110 in August — dropping to R79.99 for Shoprite’s house brand, and R89.99 at Checkers.

This month upmarket retailer Woolworths came in R21 more expensive than Shoprite, and R13 cheaper than Spar.

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