Do you have any hero products from M&S via Ocado?

[KittyWithStripes]

So... after a few months of M&S supplanting Waitrose, is there anything that you really, really recommend?

I still wish they hadn't changed from Waitrose. But it is what it is, and the 320g bag of washed young spinach is fucking amazing, I have to admit. Lasts for AGES in my fridge.

Anything else worth getting?

@AuntieStella

No.

Pity - I was hoping to have bought knickers that way, but they've all been taken off the website.

Yes wtf is with that??

One of the few silver linings to this cloud, was that I expected to be able to buy knickers and socks and tights on Ocado.

Hasn't bloody happened.

@minipie

Watching. So far I’ve found one thing I thought was better, and I can’t remember what it was. Easy peelers maybe? Everything else has been less good.

I especially miss (in case M&S are reading)

Waitrose 1 cheese range
Espresso coffee pods (the flat kind not the Nespresso kind)
Isigny sur Mer creme fraiche in the glass jar
Sardine Piccanti
Frozen chopped onions (Waitrose ones have a resealable bag and are chopped smaller)
Soffrito (again the bag)
Growing herbs
Essential pizza and fish fingers
Essential rinse aid and dishwasher salt
Pomegranate tub (the M&S one is rubbish in comparison)
Bavette steak - M&S one tastes of nothing

On the other hand, the Ocado software and stock control is streets ahead of Waitrose, who have way more substitutions and missing items, and also don’t have one click or nearly as many slots available. Tricky.

No idea about the other stuff but you can get the same Isigny creme fraiche in a jar from Ocado as you can from Waitrose - I had one in my delivery yesterday.

@AuntieStella

I've had my first few Waitrose orders and have been very pleased

Humph. All the Waitrose things I really liked on Ocado aren't available for online Waitrose delivery. Waitrose tinned tuna in olive oil, shredded ham hock, lamb cutlets, heaps of things... M&S alternatives are rubbish or nonexistent.

The changeover has been about 90% for the worse in my opinion

(Although that spinach is pretty damn good)

(Am aware I sound like a whining middle class twat, btw)

I have been pleasantly surprised by how little the change has bothered me, but I think it's because it turned out that very little of what I bought was from Waitrose specifically.

The M&S Oakham chicken is very good at a brilliant price - much better than the other supermarkets' basic chicken, including Waitrose (although the Waitrose Essential Steak is one thing I do miss).

The red wine on their meal deal is very good value for the price - the Merlot - and I've bought it a couple of times as a standalone but it's been out of stock the last few times I've tried to buy it which was annoying.

I have been extremely annoyed that the one M&S product I was really looking forward to being able to get on Ocado - their smoked salmon sandwich filler - does not appear to be available via Ocado. My next shop I will be looking for their high end chicken pate. The waitrose one (Heston Blumenthal) is excellent but at £9 I can't bring myself to buy it....!

@helloxhristmas

You can can get the soffrito mix in any supermarket, not enough to keep me with them.

Apart from bastarding Sainsbury’s it seems.

I’ve stuck with them and for the most part I’m happy. I do however have a monthly Waitrose order of naan bread, Indian snacks, cheese slices, frozen blueberries and mint jelly

I’m quite happy with the range but think it’s a bit limited with too much breaded chicken in one format or another.

I like their best ever fish cakes.

Ocado told us we were valued customers, but that didn’t seem to enable us to reliably book a slot. When we were able to, in September, was when they changed to M&S. They were so often out of stock of things that I complained to customer services, who denied it and said they were fully stocked.. So how come there are things I can’t get then.

The last straw was the grapes that went bad the day after they arrived, despite being in code. I guess I should have complained, but it’s such a faff and we really weren’t impressed with the service, the quality or the range. We’ve given up with Ocado now.

Ooh @Anniissa thanks, I will look again

The natura pears that come in a paper bag are gorgeous. Really juicy. And like that they are in a paper bag.

They were so often out of stock of things that I complained to customer services, who denied it and said they were fully stocked.

There are so many M&S items that have never been in stock, items I have in my regulars so shuld automatically be in my basket, items I check for every week when I order and again when I edit the order, I am starting to think that they don't actually stock them.

I’m not impressed by the stock levels either. And it is definitely more expensive than when it was Waitrose.
Good things? The posh sausage rolls and the little mini pork pies.

I agree stock levels have been awful - I thought I was going to love the M&S partnership with Ocado but it's not to be. I can't even buy Brie de Meaux for Christmas it's been out of stock forever - had to go do my cheese shopping elsewhere as I wanted something other than 50 different varieties of cheddar. Am planning to move from Ocado when this bloody pandemic passes - the shininess has rubbed off to reveal a pile of shit! It's back to Waitrose for me!

Yes @EverybodystalkingaboutJamie! All the lovely varieties of cheese sit there tantalisingly on the site but they are permanently out of stock.

I don't think Ocado really cares about customer service any more. They don't make their profits from selling groceries, they make them from selling their technology to other companies.

I do like the Best Ever steak Pie - they used to do good pizzas - now the go to place for pizza is the Co op!

@orangenasturtium I know but it really makes me annoyed seeing how many bloody different type of cheddar they sell. And I miss the salt crystal butter and the Duchy Originals milk. I agree with a previous poster I've always found M&S fruit and veg to be better than Waitrose but it looks like Ocado get "special" M&S stuff - Remarksable - it certainly isn't remarkable in a good way.

The m and s own brand cleaning stuff is excellent and really cheap. Better than method and a fraction of the cost.

Having been an early adopter of Ocado, and had good service throughout the rocky period in March I reluctantly gave Waitrose a try as there were so many Waitrose products I was missing. The quality of the M&S cucumbers finally (sic) topped me back to Waitrose.

Easier to get Ocado slots, but worth getting up early for a Waitrose slot. I how much prefer the W system too. No guessing how I want to fill my trolley. Bliss.

Are you me @EverybodystalkingaboutJamie? It was me that complained that the M&S fruit and veg at Ocado is rubbish compared to in store and I miss the Duchy Originals milk too and I'm a big fan of salt crystal butter. Have you tried the M&S Breton salt crystal butter on Ocado if it's in stock?

We are nowhere near a Waitrose so it was my only chance to order from there, there’s loads of stuff I miss and nothing from M&S that compensates for it.
Not happy

@BiscuitDrama Sainsbury's call something else, Classic Vegetable Base Mix, £1:50 for a kilo bag, it's soffrito by any other name!

@Thecatisboss

Regular Ocado shopper but contemplating a move as so much is out of stock now.

I’m finding this too and I think it’s really odd especially as the main supermarkets don’t seem to be out of stock of most things.

I agree it's not nearly as good as Waitrose was.

BUT there are a couple of things I love from M&S which I add to my trolley every time:

this soy, ginger & garlic sauce that I paint onto salmon fillets before baking - my children faint with happiness when I do this.

And this fabulously strong garlic bread which I always have a loaf or two of in the freezer.

Their fake Wotsits are quite nice too. But mostly I agree that the quality of eg fruit and veg is poor, and stock levels appalling.

I was happy at first, loved ordering the dine in meal deal x 2 which did our family for Sunday lunch, the Oakham chicken breasts , large rectangle pizza , vegetarian moussaka and cauliflower popcorn.
But they have limited the dine in to 1 per order and I can’t seem to order the full weekly shop that I could before. I have started ordering from Sainsbury’s.