10 family dinners. Every supermarket. Under $100 at ALDI.
Can you feed a family of 4 for $100 a week on dinners alone? We priced 10 simple meals at Coles, Woolworths, and ALDI. Here's the breakdown.
Pinch tracks real grocery prices at Coles, Woolworths, ALDI and Harris Farm, with 52 weeks of price history on 74,000+ products. We built a week of family dinners (4 serves each, 10 meals) and priced the ingredients at three supermarkets. The question: can you actually feed a family dinner for $100 a week?
...and the verdict?
10 dinners, 40 serves. ALDI wins every meal at $2.83 per serve.
The 10 meals.
Nothing fancy. These are the meals most Australian families rotate through on weeknights: spag bol, stir fry, tacos, fried rice. Each serves 4. All ingredients priced at real current shelf prices, not catalogue specials.
| Meal | Serves | ALDI | Coles | Woolies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spaghetti Bolognese | 4 | $11.20 | $13.40 | $14.10 |
| Chicken Stir Fry | 4 | $13.80 | $15.60 | $16.20 |
| Beef Tacos | 4 | $14.50 | $16.30 | $15.90 |
| Fried Rice | 4 | $8.40 | $9.80 | $10.20 |
| Fish and Chips | 4 | $12.60 | $14.20 | $13.80 |
| Pasta Carbonara | 4 | $9.90 | $11.50 | $12.40 |
| Sausage and Veg Bake | 4 | $10.80 | $12.60 | $13.10 |
| Pumpkin Soup | 4 | $6.50 | $7.80 | $8.20 |
| Chicken Burgers | 4 | $11.40 | $13.20 | $13.60 |
| Roast Chicken | 4 | $14.20 | $16.80 | $17.50 |
| Total | 40 | $113.30 | $131.20 | $135.00 |
What this doesn't include.
This is dinners only. It doesn't cover breakfast, lunch, snacks, or staples you probably already have (oil, salt, pepper, soy sauce). Most households spend $200-$300 per week total on groceries. Dinners are typically the biggest single category.
These prices also assume you're buying full-size packs. If your recipe needs half an onion, we've priced the whole bag. Over a full week, those leftover ingredients carry into other meals, which the per-meal cost doesn't capture.
The cheapest dinners.
Pumpkin soup comes in at $6.50 at ALDI for 4 serves, or $1.63 per person. Fried rice is $8.40 for 4. The most expensive dinner is roast chicken at $14.20 at ALDI, but that's still $3.55 per person for a full roast dinner with vegetables.
Build your own plan.
These are example meals from the Pinch Index. In the app, you can paste any recipe URL, and Pinch will price the ingredients at every store automatically. Build a full week of meals, see the total cost before you shop, and pick the cheapest store for your specific list.
Pinch is free on iOS and Android.
Methodology
- Meals: 10 common Australian family dinners, 4 serves each
- Pricing date: 5 May 2026, sourced from Pinch's database
- Ingredient matching: Cheapest matching product per ingredient per retailer
- Exclusions: Pantry staples assumed on-hand (oil, salt, pepper, basic spices)
- Retailers: ALDI, Coles, Woolworths