“I always buy 25kg of rice,” May Lee says.
The 61-year-old town planner from Mosman is shopping at Tong Li, an Asian supermarket in Campsie. At the end of the aisle are shelves loaded with sacks of rice, sugar and flour.
“I look at the price, the quality, I compare. Even the special [in Coles or Woolworths] is more expensive than here,” she says.
In the latest of Guardian Australia’s shopping price tests, we compared the prices of the largest bags available of rice, sugar, pulses, pasta and flour at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets with those in alternative shops in Sydney.
Buying dry goods in bulk, as Lee’s family does, can mean savings of up to 50% – but the bargains come with caveats.
Big savings, but not on everything
At Tong Li, 25kg of medium grain Sunrice is $2 a kilo. Bulk white sugar works out at $1.32 a kilo, while bulk plain flour is $1.60.
In nearby Greenacre, Abu Salim supermarket is a trove of Middle Eastern products. Alongside heaped dates and boxes of shisha coal are sacks of dry goods and vats of cooking oil.
Local mother-of-seven Jasmin Asfour, 38, has come for a 1.8kg can of ghee. Near us are kilo packs of stock powder and dried thyme.
“I always buy my rice here,” she says. “You find things that are cheaper here and you get more.”
We find 10kg of medium grain Sunrice for $1.90/kg alongside bulk bags of plain flour and white sugar.
How do these prices stack up against supermarkets? At both Coles and Woolworths in Bondi Junction, 5kg and 10kg bags of medium grain Sunrice are double the price.
But single kilo bags of own brand sugar and flour come in at similar or lower prices than Abu Salim’s and Tong Li’s bulk bags.
Ingredients targeted at the independent shops’ local community are generally wise buys. Shiitake mushrooms are less than half the price at Tong Li as they are at Woolworths. At Abu Salim, buying chickpeas in bulk delivers a saving of about 33%.
But it’s not just about the price. Abu Salim is also a place to come together and bump into friends – and to do it in Arabic.
“It’s not just to save money, it’s a community,” Asfour says.
For Hanny Majzoub, 62, who has come to stock up on Lebanese items, bulk buying is no longer an option now that her four children have left the family home.
“Buying in bulk is not cheap on the day, but it saved me money in the long run,” the sales assistant from Revesby says, referring to the large initial outlay of bulk buying.
“My daughter has five kids and she still can’t buy in bulk because she can’t afford it. It’s so expensive now.”
‘It’s a community as well’
One way to reap the benefits of bulk buying without needing to store vast quantities is to join a buying group.
In Point Lonsdale in Victoria, Sarah Thorburn is part of a buying group of seven families who club together to purchase bulk quantities of organic oats, flour, nuts, oils and vinegar, tinned food and cleaning products online. Twice a year, she spends around $500, filling her pantry.
“Not only is it great quality and value, but it’s a community as well,” Thorburn says.
Sylvia Lo Piccolo, chair of the Pascoe Vale Food Collective in Melbourne, says she has found it hard to shop in supermarkets since helping to form the buyers’ group in 2021. It has about 40 members who bring their jars, bottles and bags once a month to fill with dry goods, toiletries and cleaning supplies that all come from ethical suppliers.
Plain flour is $1.33 a kilo, while white sugar is $1.66. Jasmine rice – there’s no medium grain to compare with – is $2.78.
“I’m not happy with myself if I go to a supermarket,” she says. “The terrible packaging – you’re getting 175g of desiccated coconut in a plastic bag. It makes you feel bad.”
Each month, members have tea and snacks, making monthly food collection day a way to meet neighbours.
“Once it’s in your blood to do shopping like this, you will continue,” she says.
The Source Bulk Foods in the Sydney suburb of Glebe offers minimal packaging and ethical sourcing for its mostly organic products.
The chain has seen a growing number of customers buying dried goods in bulk, usually around the 5kg mark. Poppy seeds, sesame seeds and organic flour are available in sacks up to 25kg, and bulk buyers receive 10% off, but shoppers can also scoop as little as they like into paper bags or jars brought from home.
Store manager Antoine Beauchamps says that on the morning we visited a customer came to buy a single nutmeg.
It’s clearly more expensive. Organic medium grain rice – the closest we could find to Sunrice – is $9.90 a kilo. Rolled oats are seven times the price of those at Coles.
But its devotees say buying exact amounts needed keeps food fresh and prevents waste.
Georgia Sics, 27, is a student living in Glebe. She is buying small scoopfuls of crystallised ginger and chocolate-covered freeze-dried strawberries when we meet her.
“I’m usually in the treat section. I don’t have the money for bulk buying. This way I can control what I spend,” she says.
“I don’t need the whole pack. I feel it’s good not to waste.”
