to be nervous about my possible Christmas online food shop?

[RockYourSocksOff]

We normally go out for our Christmas lunch.

This year there will just be three of us at home so I’m going to do an online food shop to hopefully collect on the 22/12.

I’m treating us to an M&S food shop. I do love M&S but I can’t help worrying my order will be wrong or some other complication will arise. I’ve had problems in the past from other supermarkets, this time I’ll be collecting from the shop though so if there’s an obvious error I can resolve this there and then.

I’m actually looking forward to staying at home. It’ll be the first time in 12 years that we’ve not had to leave the house.

So for my check list all we will need are the following:-

Turkey crown
Veg and roasts
Pigs in blankets and stuffing
Gravy
Lovely pudding
Small buffet for the evening

I’d better get my order in soon but I’m still nervous about someone else being responsible for my shopping.

Anyone have M&S Christmas order experience and has it all gone to plan?

If you're concerned about it why not just go buy it yourself?

Bum, you’re right but because we’ve always gone out I’ve only had to buy bits so no pressure.

The thought of doing a full on Christmas Day shop amongst the other shoppers fills me with dread, so I’d rather order online, which also makes me anxious but not quite as much.

I’d check whether they have any slots left before worrying about it, I booked mine 2months ago

I literally cannot bear walking around with a trolly not being able to move or get close to the products I need.

Buy bits through December that you can freeze maybe, rather than trying to do one big shop?

They do MissG.

In that case it’ll be fine, there was a problem with my turkey last year- the packaging was burst so they offered me a big discount or to swap for a bigger one of my choice off shelf for same price. M&S customer service very good in my experience

Yes, that’s a good idea Bum.

I could get the buffet items ahead of the madness and freeze them.

It’s only one day after all.

Keep needing to chant this.

We have used M and S every year since we started having xmas just the 4 of us, 2012 I think and they are brilliant. They pick your order in front of you so you can see it's correct. Everything is dated til at least 27th. Try to get an early slot if possible I usually try for 7am Xmas eve which is what I m basing my experiences on but was late booking this year and have 9am. We ve always had a great experience though, our local store is super organised and the food is lovely, I d never get xmas dinner from anywhere else!!

It's also just the 3 of you. If the worst happened you could have cheese on toast and not starve.

The past 2 years I have done Xmas and ordered items from Marks and Spencer & Waitrose, to be collected on Xmas Eve morning. The only issue we had was a small cheese selection we ordered wasn't there so they gave DH (who was on collection duty) to either have a huge cheese board (enough for about 10 people) or choose a few cheeses from the cheese aisle at no extra cost.

I always get a Tesco delivery the night before Xmas eve as it means anything that didn't come can be picked up from M&S when collections the order

Last two years at Tesco has been crap, so now I get things that will last in my shop the week before Christmas and my main Christmas shop a few days early so if there’s anything missing I can pop to the shop for one or two things. Suspect M&S much better but think I’d still donas above.

We aren’t ordering our Marks and Spencer’s shop this year.

Last time the price of he turkey came out about £20 higher and DH (chef!) wasn’t happy with the quality.

So this year he wants to go pick everything out himself (choose the best veg, meat etc.) I don’t think there will be any turkey shortages or anything so we are going to risk it.

I used to work for them and the three years I got put on Xmas food collections there was no order issues.. And there were tonnes of them. You'll be fine.

I literally cannot bear walking around with a trolly not being able to move or get close to the products I need.

Don’t worry if your online shop doesn’t go to plan, the shops are a bit busier but it’s not that bad! Just give yourself a bit of extra time than a usual shop. I go on the 23/24 Dec every year to pick up extra bits and bobs and really it’s fine, not some sort of Armageddon situation

I have this worry every year - that something will be missing from the Christmas grocery order - but generally everything has turned up, or the only things that haven’t, have been easily replaced.

I know th shops are hell that close to Christmas, but if you only need to whizz round for a couple of things, and then through the self checkout, it shouldn’t be too bad.

You could buy a chicken and freeze it, so, if the worst came to the worst, and there was no turkey, you’d still have something nice to roast for Christmas dinner.

You could be me, Rock! Three of us, M&S order to be collected on 22nd .........
Only thing is, I wanted to collect on 24th. or 23rd. But there were no slots available when I placed my order last week. Much to my amazement/annoyance!

I'd go to m and a on the 23rd, you'll get everything you need without having to stand in the queue of a million for the collection slot.

Ordered food fro M&S for the last 15 yrs and never had a problem...always got what I'd ordered and managed to get a suitable time slot....I did my annual order a month ago though! and got a free bottle of wine

I always get my online orders on 23rd as then it gives me a day to get anything which has been missed off the order or which I forgot. We have a house full of guests over Christmas so I always go to the shops on Christmas Eve as I just don't have the fridge space to get enough milk in advance. The shops are never that bad but are probably at their worst "early" as I think everyone makes an effort to go as soon as it opens thinking it will be quieter.
Also, what's the worst that will happen if they do mess up your whole order and there are no other options available in any supermarket that you can get to? That you just eat chocolate or have to have a bowl of pasta or something? You're unlikely to actually be completely out of good.

I really can't see the problem. For three people, you need very little. And if you are collecting on 22nd and something goes wrong with the order, so what? You have all of that day, plus 23rd and 24th to replace the missing potatoes or red cabbage or whatever.

We have ordered out food from m& s for the past 5 years never had a problem, unlike morrisons when we ended up with the smallest gamon joint you can imagine.

M&S are very good with Christmas food orders except they don't deliver. You are allocated a date and time to collect your food.

I was impressed with them one year when I was ill and had no-one to collect for me. They were entitled to keep my deposit (think it was £30) but 'under the circumstances' they refunded me.

Last year I ordered one or two things that I particularly wanted from Waitrose, who do deliver. When the delivery came the things I'd especially wanted were not there, replaced by other things that I definitely didn't want. I was not impressed, I had put the order in well in advance. Thankfully it wasn't too late to go shopping but it was terribly disappointing at the time.

Or scratch M&S entirely. I live abroad and every year order Christmas dinner for my parents from cookfood.net. Turns up on the day selected, goes on the freezer, they just need to reheat. And very good, apparently.

whenwillthetwitchstrike; why don't you get some UHT milk? I use so little that I only buy fresh milk if I need a lot for cooking.