Ocado tips, tricks subs, M&S shortbread giveaways and defectors..

[Garyunicorn]

Carrying on from the old Ocado thread. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/a4045676-Ocado-tips-hacks-Toblerone-and-Christmas?msgid=102560793#102560793

I have been contributing, just changed my name to prevent being outed over something!

I am able to get a Waitrose slot if I’m there at midnight for when they open.... think it’s ten days in advance. Think there’s been one week where I couldn’t. This week I didn’t log on until 8am in the morning and did manage to get a Sunday slot. Do they prioritise? I assumed it was first come first served?

Currently editing an order for 26 Feb. All long life skimmed milk is out of stock. Really?

@Littlemessymiss Ahh.. that makes sense. I can see 10 days ahead and assumed everyone else had the same view. 🤦‍♀️

Thank you.

Does anyone know if Waitrose are doing beefing up their capacity for online deliveries? It’d move over in a heartbeat but the unreliability of getting slots is what’s holding me to Ocado atm, life is complicated enough without adding more admin to it!

They are missing such an opportunity to reclaim Waitrose customers...

I filled out a Waitrose survey lamenting I would use them weekly if they had better availability (ie any) slots.
Our local shop serves quite a mature population of pensioners, so perhaps it will be a while yet...
I can put my insomnia to good use in the interim and start to throttle back Ocado because I have given them enough money over the past year.

@GaryUnicorn I only see slots up to 22nd Feb.

Once Lockdown over I will give up on Ocado. Have fed back to Waitrose that if I had a guaranteed slot with them each week I would shop only with them. Can only book 2 weeks worth of Waitrose slots but a month of Ocado slots. Also waitrose need to make returns easier. Really disappointed with quality of fruit and veg from
Ocado and I don’t like most M&S food we buy very few if any ready meals maybe once a month at most, even when it’s non Covid times. Short dates normal now from Ocado and sometimes Waitrose, so I’m doing one order with each, each week as with short dates it’s too hard doing one order any more. I have mobility issues so yes I’m using slots but I have no choice at the mo. Both Ocado and Waitrose have identified me as a priority customer not sure if it’s my disability or high monthly spend!

I had the grumpiest Ocado driver this week, no cornflour and no sub for that and a sub for bin bags which was over twice the price. He seemed somewhat put out when I told him I didn't want those and had to root through to find them.

Waitrose order next week happily..

@Littlemessymiss. I can only ever see 2 weeks in advance, and it won’t let me book more than once every 10 days.

I’ve really struggled again getting an Ocado a slot since Christmas. The last 2 I’ve had to have at 9-10pm. Now I can’t book one at all! I’ve had a mid week pass for 10 years and I can’t see any slots at all any more, not even if I wanted to pay for Friday - Monday. Are people finding it easy to get a slot? At this rate I’m going to have to get a Sainsbury’s slot. I’ve reregistered with them as it is so long since I had a Sainsbury’s delivery they no longer have my details but there seems to be good availability. I’m just reluctant because I remember why I stopped using them (lots of unavailable and substituted items).

I was offered a weekly slot that comes at the same time every week, been a customer for 14 years and have a delivery pass.
I don’t know what the criteria is- maybe where you live?

I’ve tried getting Ocado reserved a few times, but it always says I’m not allowed to. But having said that I’ve just checked and it will now let me get as far as choose your day, but no day is available!

Ha, I’ve just looked at it again and it’s back to saying reserved sign ups have been temporarily paused! This is beyond frustrating. I’m in the north west.

I've been able to book a month ahead for a long time now. I think I made their priority list last year on account of having been a customer for 15 years and having had at least a weekly delivery almost all of that time. There are lots of slots available when I look, pretty much any slot any day. I wouldn't trust the Ocado Reserved thing as I think it only books it a week or two in advance and doesn't actually guarantee a slot, though!

I'm giving Morrisons online a go this week (mainly for cupboard staples). It was very easy to get a slot and I like the familiarity of the Ocado website design. I was surprised how much I'd added to my basket for the price, but that might be a one-off.

Annoyingly quite a lot of stuff appears to be out of stock (I suppose that might have been because of last week's snow?).

With a minimum order of £40 and cheap midweek delivery passes I hope they manage to impress me.

We had a lot of substitutions with Morrisons last spring. The annoying thing was that stuff on a bundled offer would be missing and then the remaining items would be charged at full price, which suddenly made the shop a lot dearer.

Having a Sainsbury’s order delivered today. Haven’t used them for 10 years as they really screwed up before, but delivery was £1 for a 4 hour slot, and they text you on the morning with your narrowed down hour slot. Bit pricey, but anything has to be better than Ocado at the moment.

@GaryUnicorn

Having a Sainsbury’s order delivered today. Haven’t used them for 10 years as they really screwed up before, but delivery was £1 for a 4 hour slot, and they text you on the morning with your narrowed down hour slot. Bit pricey, but anything has to be better than Ocado at the moment.

Would you mind updating here how you found the Sainsbury’s delivery?

Another bout of insomnia the other night paid off - I have a Waitrose slot for next week as well as this week. Happy bunny.

I’ve managed to bag a delivery for the 26th.
It’s mainly going to be curry as making a vegetarian curry seems to be beyond M&S.

@RockyRoadster, I went to the Sainsbury site, and had to do a ‘forgot my password’ as I don’t remember it after 10 years. So not a new customer they are trying to entice. Maybe I just got lucky.

@StanfordPines

I’ve managed to bag a delivery for the 26th. It’s mainly going to be curry as making a vegetarian curry seems to be beyond M&S.

Have you tried this vegetarian curry recipe?

4-5 onions
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tins chopped tomatoes
Large tin coconut milk (same size as regular baked bean tin)
1 tin chick peas
2 large tomatoes, quartered

Fry 4-5 chopped onions till softened. Stir in 2 teaspoons of garlic powder and 2 teaspoons curry powder. Leave on low heat for 10 mins.

Add 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, simmer for 20 minutes.

Add a tin of coconut milk, bring to boil, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Add a tin of chick peas, drained and rinsed, and 2 large tomatoes that have been quartered. Warm through.

I make it at least a couple of times a month. Keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days, even better when reheated.

I am the same with impossibility of getting Ocado slots. Paid upfront for a midweek smart pass I can never use, so paying twice.

Shopping with Ocado used to be such a pleasure. Not anymore.

Waitrose slots also as rare as hen's teeth. Considering Sainsbury's or Morrison's as a backup, after the cat food drama last time.

I managed to get a mid week reserved slot a few weeks ago and I also shop for a neighbour who, before lockdowns, used to use M&S.

I've supplemented it with a Waitrose delivery where I can get one.

The other day my neighbour said that she was impressed with Waitrose and now understands why I'm frustrated with Ocado's move to M&S. She mentioned the quality of food especially veg and the longer dates.