Australian consumers joining local cooperative to keep food costs down

Australian households are still very much feeling the pressure of a higher cost of living. Some have found ways to get cheaper groceries using unusual methods. One such method which is becoming more and more popular is to become a member of a food co-op that’s managed in person or online. Eight years ago, Angela Webster became a member of the Veggie Co-op to try to reduce the cost of her groceries.“I'd just been widowed. So, I was a full-time working mom with a five-year-old son. And I really wanted to find ways of connecting to community, and also ways to feed him healthily,” she explains. The Veggie Co-op started in the 1970s when a group of single Sydney mothers decided to put some of their money into a common pot to buy fresh produce. Today, the 12 families that are part of that group are saving a significant amount of money. Each week, one of the families is in charge of going to the local Flemington markets to buy 12 boxes of fruit and vegetables wholesale and at a discount. “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,” says Veggie Co-op member Anne Jackson. “If you went and bought that one at the common supermarkets you'd probably pay over 200 bucks,” adds Webster.  After years of inflation, some retail prices are starting to go down in Australia. But for many households, the shopping bill is still very high. Some consumers are being creative to keep costs low. Farmer Jayne Travers-Drape created an app that puts consumers and growers directly in touch. “The orders go directly to the farmers once they close off in our app and they're picked and then packed and they arrive at my hub between 24 and 48 hours,” says Box Divvy founder Jayne Travers-Drape. “This kind of community-based pushback where you unite together with more people so as to have more market power is a mechanism through which consumers can try to actively work against that kind of price gouging,” says Gigi Foster of the University of New South Wales. This article was provided by The Associated Press.