Ocado priority, tips and hacks and Toblerone

[FredAstaireAteMyHamSandwich]

Carrying on from the last Ocado thread that is about to fill up. Still haven’t been given a toblerone yet.

Hmm ... Vital beautifying implement is now a "Missing Item" for this morning. And loo roll replaced with M&S lowest rated.

I would feel miffed about the lack of Christmassy email - but I never do a Christmas shop with them. I'll gather anything that keeps over the next month, and order fresh food elsewhere.

Not impressed that it doesn't appear to be possible to get a free, as in no charge, delivery slot in the week before Christmas. I'm sure in previous years if you were happy to have a delivery five days before the slot was free, or much cheeaper. All the ones I saw just now were £9.99. Harumph.

One staple of our Christmas dinner only available frozen - really? Will check back nearer the time as I just don't believe fresh Chantenay carrots will not be available.

Anyway, it's booked. Early enough that if they do let me down I can don my hazmat suit and go out to a real supermarket to try to get the essentials. They never have let me down in previous years but this year could well be the exception.

No Christmas email here yet - and I’m on the 8.99 plan in London. Won’t be happy if I don’t get something reasonable. Am already horrified how much my food bill has gone up since the switch over to M&S.

No Xmas email for me, I am smart pass holder and spend around £200 a week with them. Been with them since they started. Perhaps it is alphabetical I guess they have to mange the rush

We have a Waitrose slot of 20th December.

I have ordered partridges with pear stuffing because 12 days of Christmas, and we can put them in the freezer.

We do have an Ocado slot reserved every week for a Thursday- does that keep going over Xmas? We didn't have this last year.

@GaryUnicorn

Never use Ocado at Christmas. £10 delivery charge, and £90 minimum basket size takes the piss when I have an anytime pass. They justify it by saying their drivers are busier. Yep, and you’re taking more money hand over fist Ocado. Will be doing my Christmas shop with Waitrose. Couldn’t trust Ocado not to cock it up.

Wasn't expecting that! My Christmas delivery last year was from Sainsburys, so no experience of using Ocado for it.

I found an FAQ page about the Christmas slots. It says they're staggering the release to keep things smooth, but no further info than that. It also says they can't guarantee Smartpass holders will get a slot - which would be fair enough if they were giving everyone an equal shot at it, but it's pretty bad to be selling it as a Smartpass benefit in the full knowledge that their own processes may deny some people that!

blog.ocado.com/how-ocado-works/ocado-christmas-your-questions-answered/

Got a Christmas slot for some reason but not much choice now they don’t have Waitrose

No brandy butter that has good reviews!

I’ve got my Christmas slot on the 24th, booked it in the morning in case there are lots of missing items. Have just put gin in my basket and not actually looked to see what Christmas food they have yet.

I stuck mine in now because I’m a bit fearful they might get caught short!

@PersephonePromotesEquanimity just how bad can that M&S loo roll be? They offered it to me as a sub but I refused it based on the uniformly appalling reviews. Is it just sawdust? (The next week they subbed Velvet which is just fine but how are they always out of bloody Andrex?)

I really miss the Waitrose essential which was good and cheap!

Ha. No idea, but the packet is tiny. Just for once I would have preferred them to spend the money I licensed them to use.

I've got a Waitrose Xmas slot but nothing from Ocado. I am a smart pass customer of Ocado and don't use Waitrose. I've reserved a turkey on Waitrose and will probably use them for my Christmas shop.

None of you have left me a colin caterpillar- they are always out of fucking stock!

Don't buy the M&S cling film. I've never been so frustrated with anything. Impossible to unroll without it all tangling, the box is flimsy and the cutter rubbish!

Still no Ocado slot. Can stick it now, I've done a £200 Waitrose shop instead.

It looks like the party food platters that are the main things I wanted are ordered for you, anything else I can nip to Tesco, which is actually a 5 minute walk away (what can I say, I'm lazy....)

I have an order due anytime now, very little M&S stuff in stock at all this week for me and weirdly not a ready salted crisp to be had.
MIL has ordered eggs so lets see if they can deliver those in one piece.

There are Waitrose slots for next Thursday here, considering cancelling next weeks Ocado shop in favour of them.

Last year the Ocado slots came available here on 24th October. Just saying.

Very wise of Waitrose to get in early though.

@herecomesthsun

Last year the Ocado slots came available here on 24th October. Just saying.

Very wise of Waitrose to get in early though.

I had mine on the 10th last year. I can't find the ones from the years before, but it's always been end September/first 2 weeks October for me.

I got my ocado christmas slot today, email came yesterday, but again very little choice.

Fuss, your first name is still visible in that Ocado Xmas slot marketing email. I dont know if that bothers you but thought I ought let you know in case...

Forgot to tag @Fuss

Thanks @BentBastard but I'm ok with that, I'm pretty common 😂😂

I can get a waitrose christmas shop for the 20th, but I'm not sure I need anything that far in advance of Christmas. I can't remember what I buy? I get turkey and meat trimmings from a farmer, a veg box delivery and I might order a cheese box this year. With only 3 or 4 of us this time I don't think I'll need it?

There was an interesting item on the radio the other day about how tricky it's going to be for turkey farmers this year. They had already ordered in their young birds by the time the lockdown was ordered, and they are now stuck with lots of monster turkeys designed to feed the huge family gatherings that shouldn't be happening this year, and not enough smaller birds for 4-6 people. There was talk of possibly cutting the monsters in half.

I expect what will actually happen is that a lot of families will do something a bit different this year. (We won't, because I am the cook and I am a stickler we are sticklers for tradition at Christmas, and I love having all the leftovers in the Christmas-to-New-Year period.)

I think the turkey farmers should market lots of lovely turkey crown roasts and boneless turkey leg joints, and market them as "Eat in to Help The Farmers Win at Christmas". There could be a marketing push on turkey recipes and a best turkey left over dish competition nationwide?