Shopping

[WelcomeOneAndAll]

Ok, your collective experience would be welcome.

I've 3 lo and am finding the weekly shopping a little (actually very) difficult due to two walking (running off/around) and one in a pram. I currently do a manual shop (i.e. in person at the supermarkets or local fruit stalls).

We have very little storage space so cant do bulk buying and a tiny bar fridge so a weekly shop needs to be done in two lots i.e. half done twice a week.

Someone recommended online shopping but commented that they often have subsitutes which are more expensive and not what they wanted. I'd like to avoid subsitutes and I also heard that they pick the items which are closest to their use by dates which I don't want waste money on expired food.

How do you do your shopping? Manual or online? What would you recommend? Any issues /tips for particular providers? How good are the online deliveries at sticking at their delivery slots.

Also, is there any difficulty with deliveries to places on main roads?

Thank you very much.

Hi, I've been a fan of on-line shopping for years. You can request no substitutions so that is easily solved. You could also opt to buy only the stuff which does not go off quickly and still buy fresh veg/fruit loaclly, to avoid being given the goods which may be near their sell-by datye.

I have found Sainsburys, Tesco and ASda all good, and when once Asda was very late they gave me some money back for the inconvenience. I use whichever has the best time slot and move between them. Then you get occasional offers to tempt you back as well.

We live on a side street so I can't comment on the parking issue.

Its very easy to compare prices, and I think I'm less prone to buying things I don't need. Once you've set up a list of favourites and got used to the web-site its really quick and easy to do.

oh my goodness, if the alternative is shopping with 3 kids I'd DEFINITELY do online!

I use Ocado. They have brilliant customer services, I've never had any bad choices of fruit or anything and hardly ever any substitutions. They have lots of fancy stuff which makes people think they're expensive, but they also price match lots of everyday stuff to tesco, so it's probably worth comparing on mysupermarket.com for whatever your budget is.

My shopping didn't turn up last week for the first time in 2 years and they gave me 25 quid off my bill. So that's fine

Thank you.

The other option would be to go once dp is home (quite late) and they are asleep. However, I'm too tired by then and given that it's winter i'm not inclinded to venture out in the cold/wet. Lazy I know.

Will give online a go. Then try to pop in to grab top up bread/milk/etc and check out their offers/close to use by shelf for the odd bargin. That should cut the time I'm in these places with the lo.

Recently we've started to use the click and collect from Tesco, it was free for a while but now only £2. Tesco is only 5 mins from us and we time it so we can collect on the way home and it means we aren't hanging about waiting on two hour slot with delivery. So far no subs, in fact we rarely get a sub even with online delivery and if we have it will be for a more expensive item but Tesco pay the difference. For small items like bread/milk/tea we use our local garage which is just as cheap as Tesco and less busy.

I use Asda. If you do allow subs they highlight them on your delivery form, and if you don't want them you just hand them back to the driver. Also, if its more expensive they give it to you for the cheaper price.

I have been using Ocado for about five years. They have never given my food that is about to expired.

I love on line shopping, it is def the way to go with Kids. Tesco txt you to tell you a smaller time window on the day, but Sainbos do free delivery if you spend over £100 on occassionals days of the week, I think it is wednesdays atm
I'm mean and hate paying for delivery, so do a big shop less often, but this obv wouldn't suit you!

Thanks for the tips. Very interesting.

Been looking at my supermarket but it's taken ages to set up and it varies a bit between supermarkets as they don't have the some of the items/or I would purchase a higher/lower grade item in one as experience has shown the quality was not as good, etc.

Once done it should be quicker.

I didn't see a 'no subsitutes' section on it so if anyone knows that would be helpful.

Sainsburys have a no substitute option which you can do item by item so you can decide which items you don't want substituting and those where you don't mind. Iirc you do it at the checkout before paying. The substitutes are packed separately (as are things close to their date) and you can decide whether to keep them or return for a refund.

I use Sainsbury's online every week, and only occasionally get substitutions. You don't have to accept them, they're bagged separately so easy to give back. And I've only had to complain once about some food which was too close to its best before date, & they gave me a £10 voucher to apologise.