internet grocery shopping v traditional - ?cheapest

Mumstheword

I find the internet great for extra tesco clubcard points.
If I can get say 1000 extra points for a £75 online shop, that's worth £10 in store or £40 off a holiday, for example.

Okay, so the holiday will have to be bought at full price, rather than with a discount if left to the last minute, but up to now we can have two haven short breaks this year so far, c/o Mr Tesco. We've been saving the extra points since about October.

That reminds me....must trade some points in for an Easter break!

livilou

i started internet shopping as a way of saving, I don't get drawn into the clothing section and buy unnecessary items for the kids and I just order exactly what I need after planning my meals. I normally spend 50.00ish so always use a £5.00 off voucher obtained from MSE and also have the delivery on the cheapest del day. if I went to the supermarket I would probably end up paying another 20.00 for things that we really don't need.

I used a code last week too for 1000 extra points so it all helps int he long run as I would love a new bathroom suite but can't afford to buy at the mo but am saving my clubcard vouchers and will trade them in for MFI vouchers 4x their vale. So with a few more 500 and 1000 extra point offers I should be able to manage it!!!

xx

hardpressed

I was a fan of Tesco' online but got so fed up with their substitutes and things missing that I have now deserted and shop at Sainsburys. When I use to order fruit an veg I would put in the number of apples etc.that I wanted. One delivery came and the driver asked if I had a big family. "No" says I, "what makes you think that?" "You've got a lots of veg here" he replied. Can you believe where I thought I ordered 6 carrots, 6 mushrooms and 6 bananas they had deliver 6 kilos of each! Can you imagine 6 Kilos of mushrooms, there were carrier bags full of them. I had the last laugh though, the driver said to take out what I wanted and he'd take the rest back and they would credit me for all the fruit and veg, which came to over £20. I took 6 of everything and got them for nothing. Now I just pootle along to Sainsburys look for the BOGOF's and reduced things, wouldn't darken the doors of Tesco's again.

HappySad

sunnth wrote:

I use a combination of internet and going to shops, usually one internet shop a month where I stock up on all the tins, toiletries, baking stuff, wine and heavy stuff really and one weeks worth of usual shopping - that usually comes to about £80 and I try to use a code. Then the other three weeks I take in turn at Aldi and Tesco. I find I can do a weeks shopping for 5 of us, kids aged 4, 4 and 6 for £30 at Aldi and the middle week for about £45 at tesco (getting the extra stuff I can't pick up at the more local Aldi). That way I don't have to lug all the heavy stuff home or drag three kids around the shop on my big shopping week and the kids then like to come on the Aldi weeks as I can get round the shop and out again in less than half an hour and they can choose a treat.

I shop just like Sunnth. I shop online when I get a code/voucher so that I don't pay the delivery cost. The meat, veg & fruit are from local shops. Also when you see a special offer on line you can go to town and bulk buy. I bought 15 nappies packs that were on offer and you can't really do this when you go to the shops. I buy online from Sainsbury, Ocado and Asda. I keep a basket in each during the month and add to each as an offer comes up or I want to add an item that I want to order. Then when a voucher comes in I then make the order. I order 20-30 tins of stuff all in one go. I find that using more than one online supermarket I get the best prices from each. Eg. Olive oil & organic herbs cheapest in Asda. Ocado sells cooking redwine I like and the others don't do I get it from there so I get 15 all in one go. I buy loo paper in bulk when on special offer.

I don't get them to substitute anything. If they do then I say to the driver that I don't want it. On a few occations they say that I should just keep it and they will still deduct the value of that item.

AS to which is the cheapest. It seems tha it depends on how desciplined you are.. some people can be controlled when going to the shops and some are more controlled when going online. When buying special offers it is good to make sure that it is something that you will definately use and will not go off before you get to use it all.

Nikki

I find bulk buying once on line once a month then topping on fresh stuff on a weekly basis works best for me. We went back to weekly food shopping when we moved in nov and my shopping bill crept back up to the £100 mark and over. With a bigger mortgage we need to stick to budget.

RacyRed

This is one which used to do my head in.

At the moment I have the bulky stuff delivered and shop myself for perishables. I had planned to do a serious bit of cost comparison sometime to see which worked out cheaper. Until I realised that unless I do a series of 2 identical shops, one online and one in person and on the same days I would never know which deals I was missing so couldn't really do a comparison

So, I have stopped stressing and do whichever seems right at the time (taking into account discount vouchers etc)

System

I havent actually been food shopping for a number of years now and i dont intend to go back to crawling the supermarket for my groceries either. I am a sucker for the clothes section, and i buy things i fancy rather than what i actually need. I dont have to queue at the checkout either which is bliss.

I only wish Tesco did an 'essentials' clothing range online. That way i wouldnt have to go shopping at all for mine and the kids basic needs/uniform.

HOLsale

i'm quite disciplined when shopping and rarely tempted by clothes, movies etc i rarely shop at tesco/asda etc anyway as i think they're too expensive on most items i regularly shop at lidl and the local greengrocers etc

i only do internet shopping when a code assures me i will get a decent amount of free food after the delivery charge is taken out. then i stock up on value products that are heavy i actually get really irritated that they never show you all the value products they have even if you search by the name of the range :mad:

i also got tired of substitutions, always for a higher price and other problems so i think they aren't worth it. i'm a far smarter shopper than anyone at tesco is and won't pay over the odds for 'convenience; (especially when there are always so many problems it's rarely convenient) but that's just me

i do buy some junk food, but i am in the habit of not keeping much of that sort of thing in the house so when i do buy it it is a conscious choice, not an impulse

headcovers

I work full time 8-6, and by the time I get home the last thing I want to do is go shopping.

I work and live 15 miles from the nearest supermarket, so would have a 30 mile round trip every time.

I use codes, so the delivery charge is covered for free.

Tesco have only once in the 2 years I have been shopping online made a bad mistake, which they resolved immediately and politely and to my pecuniary advantage within short phone call.

I will never, never go back to normal shopping again.

Thank god for Tesco and the online shop :j

Anya

I always do a main internet shop once a month and make sure I use a code. Any substitutions they make are charged the same as the original product ordered, but if they aren't acceptable I send them back. I also make sure that I complain alot about the dates if they are short and anything squashed. They normally just refund those things straight away. Couldn't do that in a supermarket as you are picking your own stuff.