Why do you go the supermarket rather than have food delivered?

[Sweetpotaro]

I took my 2 kids to a big Sainsbury's today whereas we normally have a weekly home delivery. It was awful with them messing about etc.

There were, however, lots of other families there.

Why do you choose to go to a physical supermarket rather than a weekly delivery? Is it:

• you enjoy browsing (but with kids in tow - is this not really stressful??)
• you don't spend the minimum spend (I think £50) to get delivery?
• you want the yellow label items?
• you see it as an outing out the house?

Each to their own but interested in other perspectives.

I’ve very rarely had grumpy staff in a supermarket, far from it. 99% of the time they are lovely, and if they’re not, well, it might be a bad day or shit customers.

All of the above, although I don't have kids so that might change things. I had a pretty poor experience with sainsburys delivery while isolating so I don't bother.

I think it depends if you're in a house or flat too, my flat now has lots of complicated gates and I would have to go out to meet them anyways. My old flat complex had no lift (but only 3 floors) and I would see the Tesco delivery men calling people to come down and help them, what's the point.

I didn't think I would get so many responses!

I had (naively) assumed that everyone loved deliveries as much as I do but (d'oh) it's obviously about how it fits into lifestyle.

I work in a public-facing role (not WFH) so I don't want to deal with human being during shop and would rather spend 10 mins ordering via an app during my commute.

Plus I am obviously out of practice on how to navigate a big supermarket (plus children were overexcited as was a novelty for them).

And I don't particularly like driving.

Glad there are options!

I just got fed up of items being substituted with things that they must have known I didn't want. Order a whole chicken, get a bag of chicken nuggets. Order cooking chocolate for baking, get a snickers bar.

During term time we go when the kids are at school, and during holidays we either take it in turns or go with the kids at a quieter time (just as they open is so peaceful). I appreciate that not everyone's routine can work that way though.

I have used both Tesco and Sainsbury's deliveries and both and good and very reliable. Tesco are cheaper, hardly ever have substitutions and their fruit and veg is very good.

It's convenient as with 5 adults it's a big order and I would regularly fill a large trolley to the brim.

Exactly. Easy, fast and works well with bored children and husbands.

Mainly because you can't get aldi delivered and it's much cheaper than Tesco, and also as DH gets really grumpy about plastic bags (there's some even if you ask to minimise) and any substitutions or no-shows. I'd rather get it delivered if I could get Aldi as it usually ends up taking a chunk of weekend.

We have a decent sized Tesco round the corner but I am getting increasingly displeased by them automating everything and basically forcing you to use the scan as you shop for big shops by barely opening any tills.😡

I go to Waitrose for several reasons:

It is close to home with a pleasant walk across the park in between.

I like choosing what I am buying.

I live in a smallish market town and invariably see people in there to have a natter with.

If I have been staring at a screen for hours it makes a better break than doing a online shop.

Because not everyone can afford the delivery charge maybe??

This just SCREAMS classist

Im very picky about meat, hate it too fatty and grey and I like to pick my own.
I've seen home delivery packers throw shopping into the baskets without care and id rather pick it myself

Interesting. My DH grew up in Australia and when weve gone over the produce always seemed fresher and better quality than ours (albeit more expensive!)

I like to see what I’m buying, especially fruit and veg. I tend to shop for 3 days at a time max to make sure that the produce is fresh. This means that I often don’t spend enough for delivery.

The supermarket is near my place of work so I do it after work. I don’t enjoy shopping but it has to be done.

Because Asda don't do blue light discount unless in store

And also because they have changed their substitute policy so now they seem to substitute for price instead of item. Eg I order a large pack of chicken thighs , 2kg for 4.70. Not in stock. They send me a pack of 3 chicken thighs for £4. Cheaper yes, but I can't feed 5 people for 2 meals plus snacks out of that can I! They should substitute like for like. Or they substitute four different types of herbs for all the same so sent four fresh parsely plants instead of coriander, basil, thyme etc. useless.

I'm not prepared to pay the delivery charge.

Never get fresh meat or veg delivered. I like to choose my own.

Supermarket fruit is so crap these days that it doesn't matter.

I don't usually have a set shopping list, just a rough idea of what meals I need to buy for, so I go and see what's available in store. You can choose your own bunch of bananas to your preferred level of ripeness as well.

Taking kids to a supermarket can be either fun or a nightmare depending on the individual child I guess. What does baffle me is why people take their children to Ikea. I mean, if you are going to spend an hour measuring up wardrobe carcasses or kitchen units, and choosing handles and shelves to go inside and whatnot - how boring is that for your kids? No wonder they play up.

I hate online delivery, I never do it.

I want to choose my own items depending on what looks fresh.

If something is out of stock I want to pick my own substitute - this might involve changing the whole meal plan and multiple substitutions.

I want to be inspired by seeing what’s available on the shelves.

I like to shop at short notice, I usually buy only a few days ahead at a time.

I like the walk and to get out of the house.

My DC are teens, actually they do still like to come along sometimes, choose their own ingredients as they cook and bake for the family every now and then.

But I always took them when they were little too. Because it was a short trip which we did most days they were totally used to it and they didn’t really act up much (I mean, everyone kicks off occasionally, but they were generally pretty good.)

I like to get out the house.
I like to pick my own fruit/veg/meat.
I never spend enough for the minimum (I live alone).
Lidl don't deliver.

Also a Lidl shopper so can't buy online. I also don't spend enough to meet the minimum order value and don't want to pay a fiver or whatever for someone to deliver it in crates and have the faff of unloading on the doorstep.

I do the big shop on my own but we go as a family most weeks because GF DD wants to choose her own food, and we usually combine it with going to the library/other shops for the GF stuff we buy (can only buy certain things in certain shops)

I always wonder this too. I have Delivery Saver and it's the best money I spend all year! It's also probably less than the amount I would spend on petrol if I drove there. Traipsing round a shop seems such a waste of time to me.

Under five minutes walk away for me. Incidentally means for those who really need a home delivery (age, disability, no car and it's a distance away), they can have the slots I would have taken.

The Tesco in my village has a very different stock from the big Tesco my deliveries come from. I end up going at least a couple of times a month for things that I can't get delivered. I don't do a big shop there very often though.

I avoid going with DS, but I prefer to get meat, fruit and veg from a real shop, as I can see whether it's gone off or is a quality I'm happy with. Online shopping is good for the heavy stuff, but I've found the quality of fresh stuff is too inconsistent to bother with.

1. Keeping active - adds to my daily steps and physically carrying groceries.
2. I like picking my own food, particularly meat.
3. I do a lot of my recycling (soft plastics, batteries etc) at the store so I get two jobs done with one trip.

However, due to working a lot and having a toddler I have been getting some deliveries just got convenience!

I don't have kids so don't have the same issues but the reasons I shop in store are:

• You can check all the use by dates (home delivery often you get terrible use by dates)
• Easier to compare products and check for alternatives to make sure you are getting the best price
• Many of our staple items were showing as not in stock on the App but were actually available in the nearest store when we went in person that day
• Our usual supermarket is in a retail park so can run other errands at the same time
• My city is not over-populated so the supermarkets are never unbearably busy (and the one that attracts the most tourists I know to avoid)
• Sometimes I just like meandering around looking at all the non-food items