Where where you living at the time?

I am from Sydney, and I have been told by friends from other states that the food prices here are much higher than anywhere else: even Melbourne (for non-aussies: a similarly sized city - 4 mil inhabitants vs 4.5 mil in Sydney).

I don't know about other states, but food is crazily expensive here (Sydney) compared to the UK.

For some reason, eating out or takeaways is relatively cheap though.

Food and Agriculture in Australia and New Zealand isn't as heavily subsidised as it is in Europe and America. That's one possible reason.

It does interest me as to why this is. I think it's this and maybe the geography/population making the mega supermarkets less viable.

I sometimes play with the idea of a food co-op to bring prices down, but haven't got far.

I think there is also some concern that the Coles/Woolworths duopoly is driving prices up. I usually avoid big supermarkets, but I haven't noticed any significant difference in price when I have visited them.

I've noticed our grocery bill (now we are both working) has gone from $70p/w to $130p/w in the last year.

Yeah, there was something in the paper this morning about food prices inflating.

If it's any consolation, the price of consumer electronics, furniture, and clothing have deflated at an equal rate. :)

FX rates aside (I can't ever remember the £ being so weak) my friend just got back and said that a 4 pack of yoghurts was as expensive as a steak!.

Living in Ryde, Sydney.

Veg like carrots are a good way to get full for not much. We found it was also helpful to have a weekend budget where you could treat yourself. Keeps you sane.

Very impressed that you could survive on so little. Its inspired me to look into orgainsing something similar in the coming week.