I think what is lacking is a proper budget.
I don't know how many HASBEEN is feeding but. i and my wife have a grocery bill each fortnight of $80. We find that sufficent.
We used to go to C or W until the budget started to get a squeeze, but now do 90% of groceries at Aldi.
For people on a fixed income a budget is first priority.

Farmers markets are pretty good, some prices a bit higher and some a bit lower coming straight from the grower without the middleman. The food is usually fresher and mostly organic. And you know for sure your money is staying in Australia.

Aldi promote the fact that one of every product is sourced from Australia but it is foreign owned, Woolies/Coles are Australian owned and over time are stocking more and more foreign imports as well as the odd Australian product. Thist trend will probably grow rather than cease or stabilise. The foreign imports do not make food cheaper rather create more money for the shareholders. The first legal obligations for companies are shareholders not consumers and where there is little competition there is no other mechanism. We also lose control over the food chain or what is used from soil to table including some very nasty chemicals used at import point.

Best way to save money in the long term is to grow your own veg where practicable and climate allowing. We have not bought carrots for over a year and there are many veg that are year round such as lettuce, leeks, all the brassicas (brocolli, cauli, brussels, cabbage), peas, onions and garlic which can be stored all year. Growing seasonal veg is also worthwhile as you can move from beans in the summer to broad beans and peas in the cooler months.

Once you are set up it is not as time consuming as you might think.

We have recently been buying vegetables and fruit at a farmers market
that only operates once a week unfortunately.
The cost seems to work out at between half and 2/3 the large greengrocer shop.
The produce seems good, and I suspect some of his produce must come
from the markets as they don't grow bananas near here.
Anyway the quality seems fine, and I notice that the number of stalls
has increased from three to about twelve in a month or so.
Some have organic produce as their thing, others have other ranges of
bread and bakeries etc.

Farmers markets have become a big thing in the US and Europe.
I was in Ypers in Belgium on a Saturday and the farmers market there
was something to behold. A delicatessen was one and it was built into
a large truck body. It had fold up sides which showed an interior
just like a deli anywhere.
There were many farmers there, they display their farms name and address
so that you can go their farm as well. There must have been at least
ten vegetable and fruit stalls.
It really was very impressive and the town square was packed with customers.
And yes there is a supermarket in the town.

The way of the future I think.

Although Woolies and Coles have been around for years it is only in recent times that they have gone into competition with each other for yonks they had an unwritten agreement that if I was in on suburb you wont open a store in competition. For those that don't shop at Aldi there has been a win you will find where there is an Aldi store the local W and/or C stores will lower their prices (house brands) on Staples bread, milk marg etc to match Aldi.
The point that Aldi products are often smaller than name brands I'm not sure about that. I do know that many well known brands, have over time reduced the quantity (and quality) of their product by introducing new packaging eg. sauce was in 300ml bottle now 250ml and up the price at the same time, a bit of a double whammy for the consumer!

Budgeting is nothing new working family's have given up some foods before.
My mob gave up butter due to its price half my lifetime ago.
Meat is getting hard and some veg's but with planning we can get by.
I however am luckier than some own my home and have more fruit than I can give away.
Putting the garden back in now work is over and will never be hungry.
If just ten percent of us grew our own we could bring prices down bit tomatoes for sure.

579,
thanks will look into it. I use skype to keep contact with family overseas, this only costs downloads.

Yabby,
Fair enough i don't follow the margins and costs of the big two, but as Paul1405 stated use ALDI. I use them for bulk and caned goods they are much cheaper and good quality. I get all my fresh produce from my local IGA that do their fruit and veg at much lower prices with a lot less buying power than the big two. Fish from my local market and bulk meat from the butcher. All much cheaper than woolies or coles. The difference fortnightly is about $80. In a year that is considerable, in fact it is a camping holiday with the kids each year.