Australia

Australia's grocery market is one of the most concentrated tracked on this site: two chains — of the three listed here, Woolworths, Coles and IGA — handle the large majority of everyday shopping between them, priced in AUD, with independent grocers (the IGA banner) filling in regional and specialty gaps the majors don't cover as well.

Australia's geographic isolation and long supply chains mean imported goods, and even some categories of fresh produce out of season, carry a real logistics premium compared to markets like Spain or Mexico that are closer to their suppliers. GST is included in the shelf price on most food (fresh food is largely exempt), so the totals here again track close to checkout price.

Utility costs are 0.32 AUD/kWh for electricity and 0.05 AUD/kWh-equivalent for gas — among the higher electricity rates this site tracks, which means energy-heavy cooking methods (long bakes, deep frying) show up more clearly in an Australian dish's total cost than they would in, say, Mexico or Korea.

The dishes below let you flip between Woolworths, Coles, and IGA to see how much of Australia's reputation for expensive groceries actually holds up per recipe, ingredient by ingredient.