Within families, who are struggling the most with grocery prices; people within Towns, Country Towns, Country Cities, and/or Cities?

As Yabby pointed out some time ago on threads, Australians he feels, have the choice or option of free/open markets regarding a wide range of products and services. In many respects Yabby is correct.

However, in relation to purchasing meat, fruit veg and groceries, there appears to be thousands of families struggling and suffering over the past two years; this year being the hardest hit on families.

Could people offer some [sensible] suggestions to Australian families that may currently assist them while enduring the hardships trying to keep their heads above water paying utilities/bills rent and mortgages?

Kindest regards

We Are Unique.

we are unique,
It is an interesting subject you pose. I live in a rural area and have three children, over the past two years my food bill has only increased by about $20 per fortnight. This was easily achieved by simply not shopping at the big two. A good example is that i needed some peanut butter the other day and slipped into woolies because it was convenient. The peanut butter may have been about 5 cents cheaper than my usual shop but i noticed fruit and veg. Potato's were $1.50 a kilo dearer and apples a scary $2.00 a kilo dearer. Shop smart don't complain that you are being ripped off as it really is ourselves that rip us off with out ineptitude.
The only area that really hurts is my power bill. I lowered my phone bill by getting a prepaid mobile but the power has gone up and i don't see any positive in it. Apparently it is to pay for the upgrading of the network but we will see. I only see it going higher as the push for a carbon price intensifies. After living on solar for 10 years before having the power connected i am regretting the decision.
Other bills have not been to bad either, fuel cost has been steady for a while now but the state gov slipped up rego, car maintenance has edged up marginally but as always everything depends on whether you are prepared to shop around. i have changed many of my suppliers in the last two years as they simply got greedy. We can all pressure these companies by not shopping there. they will drop their prices if their business is falling, but when coles and woolies are increasing their profits and turnover we are clearly not getting it. Seems we just expect the Government to do something so we don't have too. Lazy is what we are.

As nairbe has also stated, stop buying from companies that gouge you.
Those big two are a disgrace, there are alternatives that allow huge savings. We have reduced our weekly shopping bill back to 1990 prices by shopping smart and the food is fresher and better for us and most is Aussie made to boot!.

Nairbe You can cut phone costs even more by going voip, on your mobile and landline. [ vtel mobile + faktortel land line, ] No service fees/pay for calls only. 1.2c/min uk. 8 cent local calls. 28c/min long dist; My bill $5/mth land line.

I think that Woolies and Coles, overall provide pretty good value
for money actually. They face enormous costs the whole way,
from payroll tax to staff superannuation, to rising electricity
costs.

In fact the financials show that Coles works on roughly 3c in the
Dollar of actual profit, hardly a rip off. Their wages bill is
6 times as much.

If you look at the journey, say a tin of pineapple travels. First it
must be grown for months, transported, sliced, canned, shipped to
the store, through the checkout, all using expensive labour and
expensive machinery.
All for around 3$ or whatever. I think that is great value.

3 $ won't even buy me a cup of coffee in Perth. How much of your
time can I buy for 3$, RawMustard?

I recommend ALDI's stores as a cheaper alternative to the 'Big Two'. They mostly stock their own brands which we find to be of good quality and some what cheaper than the name brands in the bigger shops. We also shop for fruit veg and fish at 'the markets' where things are fresher and with plenty of sellers one can save 50% on the supermarket price.
Some prices are Aldi milk 2Lt $2.09, bread $1.09, at the markets oranges $0.99c/kg. there are lots of savings if you shop around, my partner is a real bargain hound, she can sniff out value from 5 miles away, and she has no shame when it come to a 'bit of haggling' must be the Maori in her, she always says to me "I know from being a kid growing up in NZ what a dollars worth!" LOL.