Ocado/Waitrose vs Tesco vs Sainsbury.

[Crowler]

I know that Waitrose is considered the most expensive of the three, but I'm not convinced. What are your thoughts on which one is the cheapest week over week for relatively good products? I buy a few branded things like diet coke, pizza express, ben & jerry's, but buy a lot of Waitrose essentials as well. I normally buy free-range/organic.

I have a weekly delivery and want to set it up and kind of go with it, I don't want to do a lot of comparison shopping.

I'm also thinking that maybe I should do an enormous monthly shop from one store and a weekly shop from another like Ocado?

I think if you only buy Waitrose essentials then it's probably not too much more expensive than Sainsburys...and the food is nicer too. Personally I shop at Waitrose for treats and Aldi for everything else. Both Sainsburys and Tesco are awful IMO.

I find Waitrose essentials are very good and use these a lot, also Waitrose does have some good offers I find, on branded stuff. I don't find Waitrose really any dearer than Tesco or Sainsbury. Asda seems cheaper than most of the supermarkets but I have had a bad experience with their home delivery so only shop in store. I haven't really been in Aldi and Lidl to compare.

Waitrose is free delivery over £50 so if you factor that in as well it probably isn't any dearer and the food is nicer.

I have to have delivery - so I don't think Aldi is an option?

I don't like the Waitrose online ordering interface as much as I do Ocado

I've heard a lot of bad things about Asda home delivery.

I have a cheap Tesco delivery pass. My nearest Tesco that delivers is good (actual local store is shit). I do a weekly shop delivered with Tesco for between £40-£55 and Waitrose for fresh veg top ups

Ocado price matches with Tesco on lots of things.

waitrose isn't more expensive than ocado. They're about the same.

From your choices I would do waitrose and buy from their essentials range.

I do aldi for as much as I can get and top up at waitrose.

STEP AWAY FROM ASDA. I used them for a few weeks and it was more than regular that they didn't hit their time slot and that things arrived broken (eg eggs) or split (eg shampoo in a bag of other items). My sister had her card details access by a cloner through their website.

I've also used Sainsbury's. They were better than ASDA- but I cannot tell you how much better Ocado has been than either. ALWAYS on time, everything is always there and it comes in a little truck that looks like the ATeam built it with little compartments for everything so nothing is ever damaged. Even the drivers are more polite.

Also the website is easy and never freezes and there is a fun little 'flash sale' at the end of every shop where I have grabbed a couple of nice bargains I wouldn't normally get like really posh fish... Can you tell I favour Ocado???

I totally agree, the Ocado website is so easy and so is the mobile ap. I can edit the order up to about 16 hours before it arrives. Love that.

There is the matter of points! No points for Waitrose/Ocado! We eat at Pizza Express at least 1x month so... I understand you can use Tesco point for this?

The drivers are always so polite. They even occasionally refuse a tip (?).

Ocado drivers I mean.

I did a comparison shop last week and it was within a pound between Tesco and Ocado, so far I have found Ocado good, excellent customer service and no substitutions, Tesco are average with odd substitutions and less customer service. I can use either website easily and it definitely helps with budgeting and menu planning.
Locally I have a Tesco, Sainsburys, M&S Food and Waitrose for our top up shops and we do pop in at least once a week.
Having said this I have just signed up for 6 months delivery from Tesco as it was on offer and I also had an offer for bonus clubcard points which was good value. They should be delivering in a hours time and I can't wait to see what substitutions we will get. If they let me down over the next few deliveries I will be asking for my delivery money back.
All I know is that I hate walking round the store for a weekly shop, that I can't buy the heavy/bulky stuff unless I take either a moody teenager or unenthusiastic DH with me so deliveries have to work.
Everyone is happy to do a top up shop though :)

Oh and I would never think to tip the driver.

OK thanks PowderMom. That's useful info.

Am I correct that it's not possible to do points with Ocado/Waitrose?

I think Waitrose did something before Christmas where if you spent a certain amount you got a voucher to spend after Christmas, not sure of the details though.
I think it's only Tesco and Sainsburys that have the full points scheme (note I don't 'do' ASDA, Morrisons or LIDL so no idea about them)

See I think it depends where you live. Ocado/waitrose and sainsburys sub so much. Tescos just have missing items. Asda is ace here, I get a weekly delivery and have the delivery pass- £15 for 3 months. No broken packaging, generally arrive earlier than expected and friendly drivers who are prepared to pass light bags to my "helpers"...

If you want Tesco points, you could use a Tesco credit card to buy online at Waitrose / Ocado?

Ocado are definitely better all round IMO - better website than Waitrose, better products / service than Tesco / Sainsburys

Ocado send you a voucher if your shop would have been cheaper at Tesco. You don't even have to ask for it either, they just send it!

I like Ocado because there are no stupid substitutions, the shopping usually arrives on time and I can get a good variety of free-from food to cater for multiple allergies. I find because I do the shopping online, I keep a close eye on the total and if it goes over my budgeted amount, I go through it again and check that I really need everything I have put in/have bought the cheapest alternatives. I find by doing this, my shop doesn't come to more than buying basics at Aldi and topping up at Tesco, but is significantly more convenient.

I don't do online orders as tend to shop at local butchers, green grocers etc but use waitrose for a weekly shop and local tesco for odd bottle milk etc. I have a tesco clubcard credit card. Double points on tesco stuff and I still get my points shopping elsewhere. Enough points at Christmas to get a free Hudl!

I agree with everyone on Ocado. It's the best. Interesting Passthecake30 re: Asda because everyone here seems to hate the delivery service! I may give it a go. Tesco is definitely my top-up destination but it seems like such a waste to not collect points for as much money as one spends on groceries.

I find it's a false economy as the fruit and veg from waitrose lasts longer and tescos, asda and morrisons' all goes off so quick.

No doubt the pre-prepared meals are more expensive, but I never buy them.

Branded goods at waitrose are quite Often price matched and packet sizes are bigger for essentials versus basics ranges.

Tesco is terrible.

They seem to select poor quality perishables for their customers, and if you dont spot it straight away at delivery, you will be responsible to return it to store yourself, if you want a refund.

I tend to buy my fruit & veg from the market.

If you get a my Waitrose card you get 10% off each shop plus other offers. I find our shop at Waitrose is cheaper than Sainsburys and food lasts longer and is better. The only time I go to Sainsburys is if they have something specific on offer e.g. Nappies or clothes liquid. Delivery is definately better with waitrose or Ocado and if over £50 is free, whereas with Sainsburys you have to spend £75. Guess who I would vote for!

I used to use Tesco but the food was always really close to its sell by/use by date and the meat was really poor quality. Waitrose won't deliver here (huge city in the East Midlands ) so I use Ocado or Abel and Cole. It's easy to spend loads with an Ocado shop as they sell so much lovely stuff! Set yourself a budget and do a meal plan, they do have a lot of offers (and will send you a voucher for £10 off wine once you've been using them for a year and every year afterwards). I rarely get substitutions, if I do they are pretty much the same item, and the drivers are all lovely. They are rarely late (they do often call to ask if it's OK if they are early).

I tend to get my veg from Abel and Cole, the stuff from Ocado lasts for ages though and the receipt is printed in used by date order so you don't need to check everything, you can pop it on the fridge and can see what you need to cook and what can wait. Dead easy! They Twatsco price match and send you a money off voucher too (it's never a lot as they do so many offers).

Whoa, you get 10% off Waitrose with a card?

I used to use Abel and Cole but I couldn't deal with the huge influx of random vegetables. It drove me mad.

I never get vouchers from Ocado. I wonder what I'm doing my wrong.