Cheapest grocery basket in South Africa: Checkers, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, and SPAR compared

An analysis by Daily Investor showed that Checkers is the cheapest major grocery retailer in South Africa, beating out Pick n Pay, Woolworths and SPAR.

With fuel prices skyrocketing and living costs rising, South African households have had to tighten their purse strings and cut back on grocery spending.

This pressure was highlighted in the Competition Commission’s August 2026 Cost of Living Report, which examines the financial pressures facing households, particularly lower-income households.

These households’ budgets are eaten up by grocery bills, with 40.71% of their total expenditure going towards food and non-alcoholic beverages.

South Africa’s lower-income households have been hard hit by grocery price trends, especially as many affordable staples continue to rise in price.

The report raised concerns about “rocket and feather” pricing, where prices rise quickly when input costs increase but fall slowly when those costs decline.

For maize meal, record harvests and increased supply pushed maize seed prices to record lows, but producer prices did not fall accordingly.

Retail prices eased from R41.90 in January to R39.79 in June 2026, which means that consumers have not yet fully benefited from lower crop prices.

Brown bread also saw a widening gap between farm and producer prices, with the spread reaching 79% in May and June, its highest level since 2023. Retail bread prices continued to rise from April.

Canned pilchard prices increased to R29.15 per 400g can in June amid supply shortages and changing fish migration patterns.

Although a higher sardine catch limit in June reduced producer prices, retail prices remained high. IQF chicken prices also raised concerns, with producer prices remaining around R45 per kilogram while retail prices increased again in June.

Sunflower seed costs fell after April, but producer prices for 750ml of sunflower oil rose from R20.61 in January to R22.47 in June.

Retail prices remained relatively stable, which suggests that they absorbed some of the increases.

Egg prices, meanwhile, declined to R22.44 for six eggs in June following earlier avian influenza disruptions, with retailers absorbing higher producer costs linked to fuel price increases.

Where to buy the cheapest groceries in South Africa

Since households are cutting back on their grocery spend, South African retailers need to compete on price to keep attracting shoppers, especially as affordable stores like Boxer and Usave gain more ground.

Against this backdrop, Daily Investor analysed how South Africa’s biggest retailers – Checkers, Pick n Pay, Woolworths, and Spar – compare on pricing.

To do this, a simple grocery basket was used, which contains food products commonly used to prepare breakfast. No specials were used in the calculations. The basket contained the following items:

• 2.5kg Iwisa Super Maize Meal
• 2.5kg Selati Pure White Sugar
• 1kg Cerebos Iodated Table Salt
• 2-litre Sunfoil Canola Oil or store-brand
• 1-litre Full-Cream Long-Life Milk store-brand
• 18-pack Large Eggs store-brand
• 1kg Tomatoes
• 1kg Brown Onions
• 700g loaf of Sasko Premium Sliced White Bread or store-brand
• 700g loaf of Sasko Premium Sliced Brown Bread or store-brand
• 450g Rhodes Superfine Apricot Jam or store-brand
• 500g Flora 50% Regular Fat Spread
• 200g Nescafé Classic Instant Coffee
• 40 Pack Freshpak Pure Rooibos Tagless Teabags
• 1kg Jungle Oats Original Porridge

When the final values of each grocer’s food basket were compared, Checkers emerged as the most affordable at R727.85.

Pick n Pay and SPAR came in second and third place, respectively, and had only an R4 difference in their total prices.

Unsurprisingly, Woolworths emerged as the most expensive retailer, at R784.85. When it came to branded products, Woolworths was very competitive on price, with some goods priced lower than those of its competitors.

However, when it comes to produce, milk and eggs, Woolworths had notably higher prices than the other stores.

On the other hand, SPAR tended to have the lowest-priced produce. However, Checkers, Pick n Pay and SPAR remained fairly competitive on most items.

Breakfast price basket changes

The chart below shows how Woolworths Food, Checkers, Pick n Pay and SPAR compared on the breakfast food basket.