How many of you use Ocado, and is it worth it?

[Pebbledashery]

Just following on from a previous thread I posted regarding the fact I'm going to be starting a very busy and demanding job with full time hours and I'm a lone parent..
Someone suggested Ocado delivery. I usually do a big shop on Saturday that lasts me till about Wednesday and then do a small top up shop on Thursday in my lunch break.. Obviously I won't be afforded that luxury in my new job as its 5 days a week based in a hospital..
There's no way I'm bringing an agitated toddler food shopping at 5.30pm, so have been looking at Ocado.
I average about £60 a week on a food shop, that includes food, house hold items, washing tablets, fabric conditioner, nappies etc..
Just been looking on Ocado and can get many of the usual items from there.. Is it worth it? I'm just thinking I'd use it for the top up shop in the week rather than the big shop on Saturdays.
Thoughts? Is delivery expensive?

Here's the filled thread before the current one:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4185476-Ocado-Hacks-Tips-and-Smart-Pass-Rip-offs-Thread-9?msgid=105336276

Actually, sorry - not a filled thread! Was confused because there seems to be another one running as well. Anyway, it'll give you a clue as to how people are feeling about Ocado right now.

I find Waitrose excellent. I book my slot about 9 days in advance so I know on a Friday to book for a week Monday. Free delivery over £40 shop and food is so much nicer. Spend between 50 and 100 each week. 100 is when I buy lots of meat, some wine or more treats.

Sainsbury's is also very good. Delivery is not expensive if you book a 4 hour slot that later reduces to a 1 hour slot on the day.

I spend much less than my in person weekly big shop at aldi/ Sainsbury's which was always £100 to £150. I'm much more in control of what I'm buying. I don't buy junk. It frees up time to cook. I do the odd aldi run and spend about 70 to £100 per month buying cereals, junk, meat I fancy freezing, household items. Then I generally also buy this from Waitrose but I'd rather spend less.

I have Tesco delivery saver. Pay £7 a month for what was unlimited deliveries. I still can get enough delivered, just book more in advance than I used to!

Ocado are a pile of crap at the minute. Low stock levels, low variety of stock. I'm out of there when things open up.

Ocado’s collaboration with M&S has not been a success in my opinion.

I use Ocado and have done for several years. I find them really good. I don’t know what the pp is ordering that’s out of stock but I has a delivery about half an hour ago and all there, and I seldom ever get out of stocks.

I find Ocado expensive compared to everywhere else. Where do you currently shop?

I agree - I couldn't get Kleenex tissues for about 2 months, they've run out of coffee, meat, cheese for weeks - their stock levels are all over the place. And they've replaced the Juicy Meat Co - which was amazing with Hawksmoor - at obscene prices. Can see no improvements following the change only downsides and I like M&S!

I’ve given up with Ocado. Since M&S change has gone hugely downhill. Have been a customer for many years.

Tesco is much more reliable, £7 a month for a delivery pass which they've just reopened to new customers

Worth signing up for a club card if you haven't

Honestly they work for me, I was pleased with M&S change. BUT I have only ever had the odd delivery form another supermarket. So I don’t have much to compare it with. But I’m happy.

I find Ocado reliable and have weekly deliveries with them. Today's delivery had one sub but everything else was in stock with no problems. I book my slots about a month in advance (I have the Ocado smart pass).

I think the M&S collab has worked well - but then I like M&S food and my DD could live off Percy Pigs.

I also like the Ocado own brand stuff and it's very reasonably priced.

That said, all the main supermarkets do home delivery, so just go with what suits you. My mum rates Tesco home delivery.

I like Ocado, I get a weekly shop for foods and most household stuff really, I know some of that would be cheaper in other stores but I'm balancing that with my time / just getting one delivery.
Deliveries have been reliable, I may get the odd substitution but they're generally okay or I send back.
I like the M&S collaboration, they don't have the full range and yes it's not all the cheapest but for example I have an event tomorrow, ordered some M&S cakes through my weekly shop yesterday, all came and saved me an extra journey and pick up 😊
I found them really good during the peak Covid times, I know it wasn't the case for everyone, but I managed to still get a weekly shop (with a few late night page refreshing!) and the drivers are fab 👍

I've been an Ocado customer for eleven years.

Pre-covid I found the delivery service nigh-on perfect, though the quality of some fruit and vegetables could be disappointing. Some things were certainly more expensive than they might be elsewhere, but the website worked seamlessly, complaints were dealt with speedily, I could always get a delivery pretty much when I wanted, and the delivery people were clean and smart and cheerful. (Something I didn't appreciate until I tried other supermarket delivery options.) My Smart Pass was cheap and they gave me a free bottle of wine every year. If anything, I'd become a bit complacent and probably relied on them too much.

Then lockdown. Closure of app, queueing to get onto the website, masses of stuff out of stock, restrictions placed on regularity of deliveries, confusion, frustration ... I diversified into getting deliveries from fishmongers and cheese makers and a weekly veg box. It was a revelation. Continued with Ocado for household goods and odd bits of food I didn't have a dedicated supplier for. And also just in case ...

Then M&S happened. This is shit. I don't care for M&S food - I liked Waitrose stuff. And they seem to have ceased relations with all sorts of other suppliers, in favour of an M&S alternative. And my Smart Pass has almost doubled in price to £9.99.

For now I'm continuing with them - though so much of what I buy now comes from elsewhere. Still not ready to switch to another supermarket though.

I should say, deliveries are back to normal now, and I've scarcely had a sub this year.

I am definitely finding the range of products stocked by Ocado has gone downhill a lot since the M&S move. I was trying to find something quite simple - can't remember what - and they had zero options. Often they'll only have one or two options/brands for things.

I don’t like Ocado as much as I used to but they have one huge advantage over all the other supermarkets which is that they have live stock checks. So if they are all out of your normal free range 6 pack of eggs then you will see that at the point of purchase and you can decide for yourself whether you’d like to get a 12 pack of free range or a 6 pack of organic or a 6 pack of caged, and you are 99% guaranteed to get that. Likewise if you want to cook a recipe which contains ingredients X, Y and Z and they’re all out of Y then you can decide whether to tweak it and use W instead or to give up and cook something different entirely. With other supermarkets if the product isn’t on the shelf when they come to pick it then you’re at the mercy of what they fancy offering you as a sub, which might be not what you’d choose or leave you with a big hole in your recipe.

In your circs when popping out to the shops to fill a hole would be especially tricky, I’d go for Ocado.

I usually shop at either morrisons or sainsburys. I used to shop in tesco too so I like any of those 3.. I did have a look at a few things last night on Ocado and seemed quite expensive in comparison to tesco but I suppose you're paying M&S prices! Some of the Ocado own brand stuff looks good though.

I like tesco but don't book with asda as nothing is ever in stock

I'd do it the other way round, have the big shop delivered midweek and top up in person at the weekend.

You should definitely move to online shopping, it will make your life so much easier. No more toddler wrangling in store, you can save shopping lists, auto generate suggestions, it's far quicker. There is usually a minimum charge of £40 though so maybe it would be better to swap to having you main shop one evening in the week (post toddler bedtime) and top up at weekends.

Alternatively, have a look at Deliveroo/Uber Eats to see what grocery deliveries they offer in your area for top ups (Waitrose, Sainsburys, Co op and Aldi here). Also check out Beelivery, Sainsburys Chop Chop, Waitrose Rapid, Amazon Fresh etc The range is limited but the minimum spend is less and they deliver in 1-2 hours.

Ocado have been a bit rubbish recently - expensive, reduced range, poor stock, prioritising expensive luxury brands (Harvey Nicks and Harrods). They haven't exactly been treating their customers well either... Check out the thread a PP posted.

The plus sides are:

Warehouse delivery - less substitutions. It's annoying that a lot of stuff is out of stock ATM but at least you know and can pick an alternative rather than finding out you don't have a vital ingredient for tonight's dinner or nappies when your shopping arrives.

Guaranteed minimum shelf life on fresh items - the site states the minimum best before date but often it is longer. I've found with supermarkets that pick in store, you run the risk of everything arriving with just 48 hours shelf life.

Unusual items - other supermarkets are good for world foods too but Ocado sells things like Jerusalem artichokes, black garlic, 3 different brands of macarons, things that are hard to find elsewhere.

Delivery is £8.99 for one month, if you can get an annual pass.

@Pebbledashery

I usually shop at either morrisons or sainsburys. I used to shop in tesco too so I like any of those 3.. I did have a look at a few things last night on Ocado and seemed quite expensive in comparison to tesco but I suppose you're paying M&S prices! Some of the Ocado own brand stuff looks good though.

Morrisons home delivery is excellent, run using the same network as Ocado (my driver this week was even wearing his Ocado gilet!). The quality is great and with a delivery pass you can book three weeks in advance and edit your order up until the night before. I have been having deliveries from them every week since they started offering it several years ago, and they were great throughout the pandemic problems. I recommend them to everyone!

@chesirecat99 @ellmau thank you, that sounds much more helpful actually to get the big shop delivered mid week. I'm just a bit pernickety about use by dates, I'm the shopper that goes to the back of the stock and gets the one with the longest date on.. I think an online shop will reduce food wastage as well.. I often buy things we don't even need or I know will get half eaten which is frustrating.. Definitely had some good tips from this thread :)

I used to use Ocado all the time, stopped about two years ago and now have a weekly Sainsbury's delivery. I pay £10 every three months for midweek deliveries. Quite happy with service, sensible subs when needed (rarely), good use by dates.