Through its Budget Buddy programme Summit provides consumers with
practical advice and guidelines to curb household grocery expenses. We have put
together affordable meal plans for three different income levels.
We continuously update our recommended meal plans to accommodate increases
and decreases in food prices. We therefore visit the same
Pick & Pay and Checkers stores in Centurion every three months to record
and compare prices on 98 grocery items, which are typically included in
economical meal plans.
We approach it
from the angle of a shopper, so we consider the cheapest options available on
the day, irrespective of brand. If specials are advertised, but no stock is
available, we record the price of the second cheapest item.
In the two
tables below we show the increases/decreases recorded for various categories of
food items. Percentages displayed in red show increases, while those in blue
indicate decreases in price.
Checkers:
INCREASE / DECREASE
TROLLEY ITEMS
Aug-Nov08
Dec08-Mar09
Total Period
Beans
10.9%
19.6%
31%
Red Meat
10.8%
12.6%
23%
Dry Groceries
10.7%
3.4%
14%
Fruit & Veg
9.9%
9.7%
20%
Chicken
4.7%
10.2%
15%
Pap/Rice/Pasta/Samp
4.6%
-1.0%
4%
Processed Meat
1.4%
6.8%
8%
Fish
-3.8%
-9.4%
-13%
Bread
-4.8%
1.9%
-3%
Dairy/Eggs
-14.5%
19.5%
5%
TOTAL INCREASE
6%
7.8%
13.8%
Pick
& Pay:
INCREASE / DECREASE
TROLLEY ITEMS
Dec-Mar09
Beans
-3.0%
Red Meat
14.6%
Dry Groceries
8.0%
Fruit & Veg
1.4%
Chicken
5.0%
Pap/Rice/Pasta/Samp
-1.7%
Processed Meat
2.6%
Fish
4.8%
Bread
-5.7%
Dairy/Eggs
-9.7%
TOTAL INCREASE:
3.5%
3) Pick & Pay > Checkers:
In the table
below we compared the increases/decreases offered to consumers by Pick &
Pay and Checkers.
