In the 1970s, a group of single mothers in Sydney's inner west decided to pool their money to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.
Almost 50 years on, there are still a dozen families who put $25 into a kitty each week to get a box of fresh produce.
"I think if you bought that same thing at [the supermarket], the same amount of veggies and the same size box, you're probably spending $70 or $100," Angela Webster, who has been a member for five years, said.
"You get between 16 and 20 different items, and you might get a couple of kilos of each thing. I very, very rarely have to substitute with other fruit or veg throughout the week."
The co-op is one of dozens across New South Wales that buy in bulk at a cheaper price.
Economist Gigi Foster from the University of NSW said market power models like food co-ops could be a viable answer for people dissatisfied with the major supermarkets.
"Essentially it gives you more bargaining power just like a wholesaler would have," she said.
"Customers can definitely get better prices which of course they're going to be more interested in doing given the cost of living has gone up so much.
"I think community initiatives like this are the way of the future, as well as shopping around."
Ms Webster's group works on a roster system.
Each member does the shopping once every 12 weeks and divides it into boxes, which are collected from their home.
""When it's your turn to shop you get up really early at about 5:30 in the morning, drive to [Paddy's] Flemington markets and we go in with our $300, and we walk around the market and buy big boxes of veggies," Ms Webster said.
"It can sometimes be a bit ugly, some seconds, that are absolutely fine and very much cheaper."
Grocery app saves up to 30 per cent
Existing co-ops like Ms Webster's often have a limit on the number of people who can join, and require members to take part in the shopping.
An app called Box Divvy is providing an alternative.
The app, co-founded by farmer Jayne Travers-Drape, is a social enterprise which connects consumers directly to farmers.
It allows members to order online and share boxes of food bought at a wholesale price.
Ms Travers-Drape said Box Divvy was consistently 30 per cent cheaper than the major supermarkets.
"Iceberg lettuce for example this week is at the supermarkets for about $4.50, but they're $2.50 on Box Divvy," she said.
The group keeps costs low using an order ahead system, and most produce is in the hands of the customer within 48 hours of being harvested.
That means there is no money spent on food storage and little spent on distribution, which is done by a 'hubster' who runs their local Box Divvy group.
The app provides also real time updates on the unit price of products so customers can compare prices.
"We're very transparent about where their food comes from and how it's grown," Ms Travers-Drape said.
More than 10,000 people now take part in Box Divvy across NSW and the ACT.
Angela Veloso runs one of the hubs in East Ryde in Sydney's north.
She earns between six and 15 per cent of the cost of the groceries purchased by her hub.
"I'm really passionate about having a co-op so families can access fresh produce and feed their families good, nourishing food," she said.
She said her customers spend less by avoiding going into a physical store.
""If I step inside the supermarket there is all this other stuff that I don't need that is going to cost me an arm and a leg.
"So I am saving by shopping in a co-op and removing the supermarket out of the equation."
Cost of groceries still a burden
The latest cost of living figures from December show fresh fruit and vegetable prices are stabilising, and food inflation more generally eased to 4.5 per cent in the December quarter, down from 4.9 per cent in September.
Fresh produce prices fell 0.2 per cent compared to 12 months ago.
A recent report by the former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found thatrising prices were not just caused by true inflation but often by greed, corporate gouging and "profit pushing" by companies with too much market power.
Professor Foster said she anticipated community-led initiatives like co-ops to grow as consumers seek to take market power away from the big players.
"The more that we consumers vote with our feet and go to those alternative suppliers the more the big supermarkets will get the message and will feel the pressure to lower their prices," she said.
"At a community level, people are starting to rely on each other rather than rely on the big organisations like the government or a big company to suit their needs.
"I expect to see much more of that in the future, not just in groceries but in other goods and services too."
Loading...
If you're unable to load the form, click here.
Posted, updated
