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Original poster

Grocery shopping delivery or not?

130 replies

MsMiaWallace · 05/02/2022 22:04

Do you get your groceries delivered? If not why not?
Do you actually enjoy going into the supermarket to do it?
Who do you use or where do you go?

I usually get mine delivered as I feel life's too short to stress in the shop in one of my few days off from work. Plus the stress of the tills, packing & unpacking does my head in!

OP posts:
TottersBlankly · 06/02/2022 20:51

I looked as well, pupcakes! But then noticed MintJulia had said unsliced - which is harder to search for as a specific thing. Must admit I got bored and wandered away from the quest.

Ocado has a large range of bread but it’s not their strongest area - bit haphazard, so I tend to order mine with my veg box. I wouldn’t judge an entire delivery service on one item, though.

LittleBearPad · 06/02/2022 20:52

@pupcakes

I pay £1.15 for a large wholemeal loaf, Ocado can offer two options, at £2.40 and £3.25. That's 106% uplift and 183% uplift on just one item. Why would I do that?

@MintJulia not sure what you searched for- I can see Hovis for £1.10, m&s for £1.45, and others for under £2?

I assume it’s because it has to be unsliced. I’m not sure unsliced brown bread is a ‘staple’ these days.
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/02/2022 07:57

@garlictwist

Tried getting it delivered a few times but didn't really like it. I found we wasted food as we'd planned for meals we never ended up eating, either because we weren't hungry or we made other plans. Also the dates weren't very good and some stuff went off before we had a chance to use it.

I go to the supermarket on foot about four times a week and just buy what we need for that day or so. There's a small supermarket near work that I go to.

I find there's far less waste that way.

That's not a problem with online shopping, that's a problem with buying too much food and not using it up or getting it into the freezer in a timely way. You'd have had the same issues if you did a big shop once a week in person from the sound of it.

The way you shop now sounds much more sensible in your circumstances but not everyone would have the time to do that.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/02/2022 07:59

Also, of course, lots of people get hung up on Best Before dates and (I gather) actually throw out food which is still perfectly good to eat because it's after that date. Incredibly wasteful. Use By dates matter more as they are on perishable food - but even they are set very conservatively and result in waste of safe, edible food.

Norgie · 07/02/2022 09:25

I've done a monthly online shop for many years.
Once a month I order a months worth of groceries in one shop.
I just nip to the little express place for bread and milk if needed, but it's rare as I've usually got plenty in the freezer.
It actually saves money too as I'm not nipping to the shop and spending.
I understand it's not an option for everyone though.

TottersBlankly · 07/02/2022 09:34

My very first French classes at school (must have been 8 / 9) - something on TV about how no self-respecting French householder (or at least the female one) would do anything other than spend half of every day in the boulangeries and food markets, carefully picking out the best radishes …

Can still remember how I raised my eyebrow, thinking of my parents at their Full Time Jobs, and the rush to the supermarket on Saturday mornings …

Lacedwithgrace · 07/02/2022 09:34

I get mine delivered as I'm shielding. I'd love to mooch around shops again but for now I just use a few different shops for deliveries to get a better range

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/02/2022 09:40

Your mother was very advanced, Totters! My mother effectively gave up work for several years when my brother and I were little. She was a teacher. Not sure if the rules would have allowed her to return to a full-time job but it was ruled out by the cost and scarcity of childcare too, I expect. She returned gradually once we were school age, starting with supply teaching and then taking a permanent part-time post. She worked full-time for the last decade or so before she took early retirement, but only because part-time posts were being abolished at a time of cuts.

I vividly remember walking round the streets of Edinburgh with my mother and the pram, visiting shop after shop. Not sure if that was every day but it was certainly a task that had to be undertaken with great frequency. No supermarkets in our vicinity at that point, and my mother didn't drive, so everything had to be done on foot. Supermarkets were a huge boon later on, but we visited when my Dad was home and able to drive us there.

TottersBlankly · 07/02/2022 09:58

Oh wow - yes, polar opposites, Gasp0de.

Not that I don’t also remember trotting beside my mother and the pram with my younger sibling to local shops, that definitely happened too. (Maternity leave or equivalent?) But most of my memories of being out with her were in the car (her car, which she was very proud of). And I have very few memories of my life pre-nursery school. 1960s Home Counties. How I would have loved to grow up in Edinburgh!

Limer · 07/02/2022 10:10

I live within half a mile of two different supermarkets, and walk to one every week after work for a wander around. It's lovely and quiet in there at 7pm. I like browsing the seasonal displays, I don't bother looking at the baked beans/milk/catfood etc.

But I have a regular online delivery too, of all the basics and heavy things that I don't want to lug home myself.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 07/02/2022 10:11

Sadly I didn't, as we moved when I was 5. Went back quite often while we had family there. Wonderful city.

FrankieBoyleSezLoveOneAnother · 07/02/2022 10:29

Pre-pandemic I was going to Aldi after work and bringing the weekly shop home in a cab as I don't drive. Very much a 'get in and get out' experience, they have some nice Christmas food but otherwise it's just functional imo. Despite this, I was always topping up in big Tesco or Morrisons, I was never out of the bloody shops.

After years of doing that, and then not being able to get delivery slots when we were sick and really needed them in March-May 2020, I now do online only and I love it, wouldn't go back.

FrankieBoyleSezLoveOneAnother · 07/02/2022 10:35

Oh, and the Saturday afternoon shopping thing baffles me. Sometimes I pass my local Lidl on a walk and it's bursting at the seams at this time. Routines are all very well, but these shops are open 8-8 (or longer) 6 days out of 7 and 10-4 on a Sunday, why is everyone crammed in like sardines in the middle of a pandemic?! This includes some of my relatives in their 70s who've been retired for a good 20 years, just - why?

EmmaStone · 07/02/2022 11:20

Have had online shopping for absolutely years, found it very frustrating in 2020 when it became virtually impossible to get a slot (and having to book slots weeks in advance). I shop with Waitrose as I like the food, and get rewarded by my health insurance for shopping there (although this is now negated by the recently introduced delivery charge), but have previously used Ocado, Sainsburys and Tesco's. Left Ocado when they swapped from Waitrose to M&S.

I live rurally, so to actually go to a supermarket, it's a minimum 25 min drive, so a big shop really takes up quite a big chunk of the day. I will pop in on way home if need to pick something up, but I couldn't face doing it week in, week out. I do quite like browsing a supermarket though, when time allows. And browsing supermarkets overseas is the best! Grin

SartresSoul · 07/02/2022 11:42

We can only really afford Aldi and they don’t currently offer online deliveries. We’ve had a few online deliveries from other supermarkets over the years and I wasn’t impressed by the fact they chose the shortest expiration date on fresh produce. Had one Tesco shop a few months ago when we were isolating where they’d forgotten to give us at least ten products so had to be refunded and also had to deal without those things.

AlwaysLatte · 07/02/2022 11:46

I always shop online. For everything, including groceries. So much nicer and more relaxed to just browse with a glass of wine!

ilbru · 09/02/2022 16:38

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ItsSunnyOutside · 09/02/2022 16:54

We get a weekly shop from Tescos.
We have a 2 year old and I work PT, Dh works FT. Neither one of us wants to spend an hour after work doing the 'big shop' or worse, go at the weekend.

Having said that, I love pottering around the Aldi near me, I go with dc during the week and usually just do a top up shop for fruit and veg {and a browse of the middle aisle}
Weirdly, I can be an hour in there and dc and I are both happy, maybe it's because I know I'm not doing a proper big trolley load and it feels calmer?

DiamondBright · 21/03/2022 17:16

I've done an online shop once a week for probably 18 years, I go through the odd phases of deciding I want to do my shopping in store but I usually quickly go back to it, my weekends are too precious and I have other things to do weekday evenings. I like being able to add things as I spot we need them.

I used to use Ocado but swapped to Morrisons about a year ago, Ocado were absolutely hopeless during the lockdowns. I tried Sainsbury's click and collect but the fruit and veg was awful quality. Morrisons is cheaper than Ocado, their own brand products are generally good quality and there's lots of offers and money off codes. I get very few substitutions, even on Christmas Eve.

I sometimes get a veg box as well, we had a really good local scheme for a while, I'm giving odd box a go at the moment.

changingstages · 21/03/2022 17:19

I loathe going to supermarkets, I hate it so, so much, and have done online deliveries for years. I'm pissed off that Tesco are STILL limiting the number of items you can order for home delivery at this point so have had to switch to Sainsburys, which I don't like as much, but it's still better than having to faff about in a supermarket. We do it once a month, have a veg box delivered from a local greengrocers weekly and milk delivered by the milkman three times a week. We rarely have to go to a shop.

CoodleMoodle · 21/03/2022 17:24

I go shopping for two reasons. One, it kills an afternoon with my 3yo (he behaves in shops, not so much outside) and two, I like going to Lidl and they don't have a delivery service, so while I'm there I might as well go into Iceland and Sainsbury's as they're next door/on the way home.

The minute Lidl start a delivery or click and collect, I'll be doing that.

DiamondBright · 21/03/2022 17:29

I always spend more if I go to the supermarket myself, I think it's partly because I see and then buy things I hadn't planned to but also because I keep an eye on the total as I'm doing my online order and that keeps me in check.

I realise you can do that with the scanner but are you going to go and out stuff back or spend a bit more? You can't (or shouldn't) out fridge or freezer stuff back anyway.

Riverlee · 21/03/2022 17:32

Do a mixture of both. Prefer to shop in person, but sometimes it’s convenient to get an online shop.

Nsky · 21/03/2022 17:44

Been doing a big shop at Aldi monthly, lidl for fruit/ veg every few days, working well.
Sometimes tesco for a few bits unavabile elsewhere, tho resent the prices for most stuff

reluctantbrit · 21/03/2022 17:48

I only ordered online when we were down with covid or when we have a larger party and I can get everything delivered in larger quantaties.

I like going to a supermarket and browsing, looking for offers on things I buy anyway, can choose the fruit and veg I want.

I drop DD off at school at 7.30am and drive straight to the shop, I am home with a fresh crossaint and a coffe at 8.45am, ready to start work or do housework if it is my day off. Shops are nice and empty.

DH goes either at 6pm or weekends after lunch we we don't go anywhere.

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