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Swelling inflation, rocketing petrol prices, flat salaries, food prices – the cost of living in South Africa is shooting beyond manageable.

Not to mention how the Russo-Ukraine war is affecting food prices, with Russia – a global supplier of grain staples- punishing the rest of the world by limiting the access to staple commodities.

This is hitting Saffas pretty hard, as common grains and starches are a household staple.

In light of this, BusinessInsider did some digging to find which of our local supermarkets -Woolworths, Checkers, and Pick n Pay – stock the best bang for your buck at this stage.

Somehow, the high-end Woolies actually has some decent prices, offering some of the cheapest options, some even with significant savings.

Rice

One of the most common staples in the country is long grain parboiled rice, which is the cheapest at Pick n Pay. Its private brand rice is priced at R28,99, while Woolworths sells its private label rice for R34,99.

Pasta

The cheapest option for 500g of spaghetti is at Pick n Pay, for R22 on average.

Its No Name brand spaghetti is cheaper still, at R12,99, and they also stock the Fatti’s and Moni’s brand at R19,99 compared to R17,99 for the same at Checkers.

Woolworths’ private label pasta range and its two spaghetti options cost R18,99 and R39,99.

Potatoes

For a 2kg bag of potatoes, Pick n Pay is the best bet where you will spend R30, whereas Woolies offers a bag of large potatoes for R36,99.

Quinoa and Cous Cous

Woolworths stocks the cheapest quinoa, at R104,99 for a 500g packet. The Health Connection Wholefoods quinoa goes for R15 more at Checkers and Pick n Pay.

As for 500g couscous, Pick n Pay and Checkers offer the cheapest packs, at R37,49 and R37,99 respectively.

Then just for interest’s sake, we popped onto the Woolies and Pick n Pay online websites and the price of Free Range chicken breasts is R129.99/kg at Pick n Pay and R130/kg at Woolies. Yay for 1c savings.

For the prices of other staples, like quinoa, samp, flour, Weet-Bix, Kellogg’s corn flakes, and maize meal, head over here.

[source:businessinsider]