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?

I've gone back to Ocado after using Tesco and finding constant substitutions. And I don't find it that much more expensive. Have a smart pass, and don't tend to need to book in advance, I've just ordered and booked a delivery for tomorrow evening.

Tried Morrison's instead of Tesco - constant subs and missing items (because the pick / pack from the local supermarket here).

Tesco are good because you can put a comment on for each individual item.. So could put notes about use by dates. You can also select each item whether you're happy with a sub for it if original is out of stock.

@MayIDestroyYou

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.

That. Word for word.

Unscrupulous liars with no qualms about dropping long term customers for new business. They show zero loyalty and customer services now consists of staff reading from a sheet verbatim (they made 200 CS Staff redundant which is telling).

I stick with them as they have now relented and let me have my £3.99 midweek pass back, but if I can get a Waitrose slot then I cancel Ocado in favour of it every time.

It also sticks in my craw that many M&S items are more expensive from Ocado than instore.

@CovidCorvid oh I didn't know that :) it's just things like bread, I don't want to get a loaf thats best before is the next day. That sounds useful. I might actually try tesco. I have a week off before I start my new job so might do a dummy run and do a big online shop and see what it's like when received. Least it'll save little hands throwing pointless items in the trolley too 😂

OP, I must admit I found you first post quite surprising - only because I haven't been into a supermarket, or indeed any food shop at all, since March 2020.

And before that I probably stepped into one maybe once or twice a month to top up between deliveries, or maybe to pass the time. It's more than a decade since I did my main shop manually.

It's a bit of a shame. I love markets and fishmongers and delis - but now I scarcely remember that they exist.

Definitely give online food shopping a go! No trudging around the supermarket, and a delivery pass costs as little as £5 a month at Sainsburys and Asda, and then you can have a delivery for free everyday (if you wanted) as long as you spend £40 or more on each shop.

I think used to spend more than £5 on petrol to go shopping!

Sainsburys, Tesco, Ocado all do 1hr delivery slots, starting at 6:30am/6am/5:30am respectively which great if you don't need to leave for work too early. And they have slots until 10-11pm at night.

You probably want to check out who has the most slots in your area, Tesco has less slots than Sainsburys here for example, so if the ability to get a slot next day is important if you need to, then you might want to take that into account.

Personally I was happy when Ocado switched to M&S, had 6 months last year with no ability to get M&S food as was shopping exclusively online!

Ocado are great - reliable, great value (brand match Tesco), good quality

Love ocado, great Cs

Rarely any subs

Waitrose is better.

We use Tesco mainly, Ocado/M&S for a very occasional luxury shop (Colin the caterpillar - all others are by far second best - are you listening Cuthbert...) and Iceland to fill the freezer.

Tesco we book the shops 3-4 weeks ahead so use for main shopping 3 or 4 times a month. Ocado a small shop maybe once a month, but only book 7 days out and Iceland can do next day, so do it to get stuff for the freezer, plus sometimes if I'm running out of bread/milk/fresh veg.