Food Co-Ops rising in popularity amid cost of living crisis
As the rising cost of living continues to bite, some people are shopping outside of the box with unconventional methods of getting cheap groceries. Food Co-Ops coordinated in-person and online are becoming more and more popular.
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00:00 Angela Webster joined the veggie co-op eight years ago to try to cut down on her grocery bill.
00:09 I'd just been widowed so I was a full time working mum with a five year old son
00:13 and I really wanted to find ways of connecting to community and also ways to feed him healthily.
00:18 In the 1970s a group of single mums in Sydney's inner west started pooling their money to buy fresh produce.
00:26 Half a decade on the 12 families involved today are enjoying big savings.
00:31 Each week one family heads to Flemington markets and makes up 12 boxes of fruit and veg bought at a discount from wholesalers.
00:41 Then you just pick up from whoever did the shop on that day and we all contribute exactly the same amount of money, so $25.
00:49 If you went and bought that at one of the common supermarkets you'd probably be paying over $200.
00:53 While grocery prices in Australia are starting to ease following years of steep inflation,
00:59 shopping bills still remain painfully high for many.
01:03 Retailers like Woolworths or Coles or any other company are basically able to charge a higher price to the consumer
01:11 than they would have to given their input costs.
01:14 Some Aussies are pushing back and finding creative ways of keeping costs down.
01:20 One farmer has created an app that connects consumers directly with growers.
01:26 The orders go directly to the farmers once they close off in our app and they're picked and then packed
01:33 and they arrive at my hub between 24 and 48 hours.
01:37 This kind of community based pushback where you unite together with more people so as to have more market power
01:44 is a mechanism through which consumers can try to actively work against that kind of price gouging.
01:50 In a cost of living crisis, every dollar counts.
01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]