“I Just Got 1kg of Flour for R12”: Man Spends R100 on Groceries at Skubu, Gets Change

• A content creator was tasked with spending R100 at Skubu, an automated refill grocery store in Diepsloot
• He bought many essential items that had a lower price than the same items in different supermarkets
• The store launched last year, with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation at the helm

Content creator Keith Dodgen, also known as Young Earn online, was challenged to show social media users how many grocery items he could buy with R100 from Skubu. The Diepsloot-based refill store has stations dispensing staple products at a much lower price than what's found in retail stores, an impressive world first.

Keith posted the video on 12 February 2026 and called Skubu "the most futuristic store" he had ever seen. Sonke Pty (Ltd) launched the store last year in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation (DSTI) under the Circular Economy Demonstration Fund. According to the CSIR, the concept model assists in the reduction of plastic waste by allowing shoppers to refill essential goods, using their own containers.

Read also

"A carb crime scene": R1k chocolate muffin on delivery app stuns South Africans

A store employee informed Keith that he needed a Skubu card on which money could be loaded to shop.

The content creator was impressed and shared with the public:

"I just got 1kg of flour for R12, while in other stores it's R22."

He also paid R7 for 500g of medium grain rice, which is roughly R18 at other stores, R10 for 500g of sugar, almost 50% less than in-store sugar, and R21 for 750ml of oil, which is near R40 at some supermarkets. Even by adding R10 for maize meal, Keith still had change from his R100.

Take a look at the Facebook reel posted on Keith's account below:

3 other stories about affordable groceries

• In another article, Briefly News reported that a student living in Cape Town shared with people that she paid R380 for her groceries.
• Several South Africans were amazed when they saw a woman's R11 grocery bill despite her large grocery list.
• A simple R5 breakfast option from Shoprite sparked a discussion about budget-friendly shopping and accessible meals in the country.

Source: Briefly News