To ask how you do your food shopping?

[Imustbemad00]

I’m an online food shop virgin. I’m going to start doing it online to help me budget and meal plan. I’ll take up the new customer offers but I’m wondering g if any of them are as good as doing it yourself?
Has anyone got any recommendations?
I’m worried about use by dates mainly, and quality of fresh stuff, oh and substitutions.
I can imagine it would piss me off having to take things back to the store or throw things away because the date isn’t long enough
Tesco is appealing to me because of clubcard points but Ocado has good reviews.

I use Ocado
Very rarely have any substitutions, I can’t even remember the last time anything was substituted or not available
Receipt is sent out to you before delivery and the use by dates are listed to make meal planning easier
Lots of offers each week and I tend to look through them to determine what meals I have

I hadn't online shopped for quite a while but a lot on MN seem to and I've had a bad back so I did last week, Tesco as I had some vouchers. Half of the main ingredients I wanted for planned meals weren't sent, I'm not talking about fancy difficult to get items, chicken breasts, beef to make a casserole, sausages, sea bass fillets and some burgers for DH. Problem is that still send you all the other ingredients for that meal so I had everything else to make a spinach and chicken curry but no chicken, all the veg etc for a casserole but no beef, burger buns no burgers etc it was a pain in the backside. They also sent me two bags of red desiree potatoes instead of two individual sweet potatoes. I also found it expensive, but I usually shop around, get some bits, meat, fish etc in M&S and all fresh fruit, veg, and basics in Aldi and go to Tesco once every few weeks for more specialist cooking ingredients

Having tried most of them I have settled on Morrisons and Ocado. The least substitutions, and most last minute slots. Tend to alternate between them as they both have different things I like to buy regularly. Ocado is handy for kids clothes too as it sells mini Waitrose, joules etc. Great for last minute birthday present.
I have delivery passes for both. So I tend to have one or two orders a week and add to them regularly on one click on the apps. Really easy to get going with once you do a few times as you just do your orders off your favourites.
Normally get a slot first thing in the morning or after the kids bedtime so it doesn’t affect the spontaneity of my day. I still do an Aldi or Sainsbury’s shop once a month as sometimes you do just need to wander round a supermarket and look at things as you can get in an order rut.

I use Tesco and we have the delivery saver plan (various plans available, monthly cost depends which one you choose). You can use club card vouchers to pay for it. Substitutions haven’t happened very often but when they have they have tended to be better anyway (e.g., own brand crisps substituted with branded ones which had more in the pack). Anything you don’t want you can hand back to the driver and he/she processes a refund for you. So you won’t end up going into store to return things. You can add a note to the picker on each item you order. I find it much easier to budget by shopping online

We shop with Tesco every week online and I haven't done a supermarket food shop in a v long time. We never have any real problems. Occasionally there is something with a short date, but then it would be the same if we went to the shop to buy it as they pick from the same stuff and don't like giving short date stuff where they can help it. The occasional sub too but they're clearly marked and if you don't want them, you just say and they take them away again and refund. We've never had anything bizarre substituted.

I wouldn't ever go back to shopping in store. I hate it. Too many people, takes too long, spend too much money, etc.

I online shop with Tesco every week. Gets delivered on a Sunday morning.
If the use by date is very soon, it says so on your printed receipt. You can decline it if you wish. Though last week I got a close by use by date and said ok. When I was putting the shopping away I noticed not only was it a. Lose use by date, it was that day! I wasn’t happy with that!
No problems otherwise!

I use Morrison's, like the website & have a delivery pass for midweek deliveries. Rarely any substitutions but you're notified in advance if there are.
Plus you get the money back for returning the bags so they can reuse them.

I love online shopping but you do have to pay attention to what you’re ordering! I once ordered 5 parsnips to go with a big roast I was cooking. At least, that’s what I thought. In reality I’d ordered 5 kg of parsnips 🤦🏼‍♀️

Also, Tesco once made an interesting substitution for me - I’d ordered the cheapest white wine to use in cooking, but they substituted with a bottle of rosé 🤨 presumably because it was the same price as the original and they don’t charge the difference for substitutes but still a silly one. Handed it back to the driver and it was refunded no issues.

If I have people for the weekend or children coming home, I use Tesco because of the wide range. Haven’t had problems in ages - much better than they used to be.

I do use specialist online suppliers if I need specific items like fish/shellfish or cheeses.

Once you've decided on the supermarket, use mysupermarket to order as they tell you all the deals.

I much prefer actually going shopping, but in the school holidays, if we're desperately running out of stuff or when I'm injured & can't get out, I use Ocado.

Like PPs have said, I rarely have substitutions, the dates are all ok, the drivers couldn't be more helpful and they have a massive range of time slots (I've had a delivery at 6am before!) If you give the bags back to the driver, they credit you 5p for each bag. You can give the last delivery's bags back etc as well. Despite being "Waitrose" it's actually quite cheap compared to others.

I did try other supermarkets, but there were shedloads of subs (ASDA I'm looking at you!) or issues with delivery.

I love Sainsbury’s, the odd thing is substituted but you can toggle with the options to turn this off. The delivery drivers are always friendly and always tell you if an item is going out of date quickly (and is on email and reciept) - so you can give back to them there and then rather than popping into store. Another good thing is they check your eggs - we used Asda and the amount of times eggs were broken and one occasion missed 16 things from my order - was reimbursed but it’s definately not the point!

I save a lot more money doing it online as I’ve found I’m an impulsive buyer

Ocado are great.
I've also used Waitrose
Sainsbury's
Tesco
Iceland
Morrisons.

Ocado is the one I regularly use but they are all good.

I use Sainsbury's and mostly have no issues. It saves us money and time as the closest supermarket is a 40 mile round trip.

I don’t do a big shop or shop online.

There is only us three (me, DH, and DS) plus cat and dog.

Pet food from amazon, rarely by household products other than antibac wipes, kitchen roll and antibac spray, we have a cleaner.

We both work full time and DS is at school plus wrap around. we take it easy with ready meals from M&S doting the week, but both benefit from a really good subsidised work restaurant.

occasionally have a at home family meal during the weekend, but mainly eat out as we are usually out and about.

I probably nip into M&S (nearest supermarket) twice a week and spend around £20-30 a time. Between us we spend about £8 a day in full meals and coffee. Plus childcare fees so I don’t it’s two bad xx

Ocado are fairly good but be careful they don't set you up a 'free' delivery saver that they then charge you for after 6 months.

All of them have good first shop offers, Waitrose is the best, I think you get £20 off £80 for the first 5 shops. Waitrose do next day delivery as well which is helpful.

If you are looking to save money go through all the main supermarkets and use up all their new customer offers. Then do the same for your partner/kid/hamster with a different email address.

I use Asda or Sainsbury. My tips:
If you are ok getting delivery midweek you can get a really cheap 6 month pass for that.
Check all dates putting shopping away. Make list of anything with a shorter date than promised. (And put the items in freezer if possible). Email a complaint stating short dates. They usually refund you for these!

Don’t order bread or bananas or anything you are fussy about selecting yourself.

Clear out fridge and cupboards each week before the delivery arrives. Makes putting it all away much easier.

Tried them all, Sainsburys had an £18 off £60+ shop offer when i tried them but didn’t find the food very good, very short dates and my bread was unrecognisably squashed!

I just use ocado now, mainly because they have good deals / offers but also because the customer service from the drivers has always been amazing they really cant do enough for you

I prefer to shop in store because the number of times I've ordered a small £60-£70 shop online from either Tesco or ASDA, they've almost always left off a number of really simple items saying they're out of stock. Normal basic things I get every single time I shop and I've never not been able to. It means I have to change my meal plans which is really annoying.

Don't use ASDA they've been terrible every time I've used them (over a year as I'm a student and have no car and can't lug a weeks shop on the bus where I'm studying). I'm switching to Tesco with the occasional Sainsbury's/Ocado depending on what I want to buy.

Have used Tesco’s online for years without problems. Don’t think we have had a substitution this year. We often have two deliveries a week with the second being a small top up of fruit, vegetables and milk. Haven’t been in a supermarket in ages. It’s the best thing to do to save so much time especially when everywhere is getting busy leading up to Christmas.

Ocado has been a bit of a nightmare for me, tried to return something and several drivers refused to take it, they make the drivers return it to the depot but that means they don't get to go home straight from their tour (is what the driver said). Some other complaints as well, essentially too annoying to deal with and I have to say, Tesco have been excellent and actually have more choice. It surprised me tbh, butits very convenient, and if you get something that's not to your liking, you can email them, they've refunded me no questions asked a few times.

I've tried Ocado, Sainsbury's and Waitrose and stuck with Ocado. Sainsbury's are ok but they don't stock some things I buy regularly. Waitrose just kept sending the wrong stuff, I had a whole bagful of stuff that wasn't mine once, it was hassle. Ocado have practically everything I want and most of Waitrose's so I use them. They are pretty good and the delivery people are very polite.

I do one big online shop a month usually from Waitrose or Sainsburys to include bulkier things and stock the freezer, cupboards and fridge. I then do top up shops mainly for more fresh fruit and veg, lunch type things and cat stuff.

I live alone most of the time so I don't have to shop as much as when I was married. I may be strange but I actually like food shopping so I don't always online shop but I work full time so it is convenient.

I do online shopping weekly and I am generally very pleased with it. I was reluctant at first but would never go back! I’ve used Ocado and was happy with them. Now I have unlimited deliveries from Asda (£5/mth) and I find them cheaper. When unpacking shopping, I write all my dates on the calendar (for meat) so when planning a meal I can quickly check what is closest to use by date. I no longer have to endure shopping trips with irritable kids who want to buy everything in sight. My life is so much easier. I also shop less as I once shopped most days. There are a few items that are dodgy. Fresh bakery items seem to be a problem, like special breads. Occasionally fruit and veg is less than perfect. I find the delivery drivers very friendly and they will refund where necessary. I have also obtained refund simply online within 3 days of delivery. Only issue with asda is 2 hour slots which can be annoying. Another big bonus of online shopping is When we go away to a cottage or caravan, as we’ve had deliveries sent there too, which is great. Prepare for an easier life. Enjoy!