Food Shopping Online - Will I save?

jimbugalee

I currently live by myself, shop once a week and spend about £50 on food.

I hate food shopping especially because I always go on a Saturday AAARGH! I've always thought it would be a good idea for me to shop online as I've plenty of time while working at home to do it but the delivery costs have put me off as I could hit £20 a month easily.

I have some Tesco vouchers which give me £4 each week so I thought these would cover the delivery cost and I could give it a go.

My thinking is that if I can see everything that's available I might save some money because I just tend to grab whatever is there and sometimes the cheapest item isn't in stock!

I am quite good and plan my meals each day so I don't waste food but inevitably I always do because I'd buy a pack of 6 sausages and only eat 2. Might freeze the rest and then forget about them.

I wondered if all the offers come up if you buy online as if they would in the shop? Or do you get different ones?

I also thought it might give me an opportunity to use the other vouchers that you get through i.e. 25 points when you buy bread ... I never normally use these.

I know it's a roundabout way of saving money but thought I might give it a go.

What do people think?

Many thanks

Any

at Tesco you get all the half price deals together... So you could buy everything that is half price and you like and plan your meals around that.
When you go to the shop, you usually don't get them all together and so you can overlook the good offers.

jimbugalee

Do you get exactly the same offers you would get in the shop i.e. 4 Muller rice for £2.00 or BOGOF?

jimbugalee

It also means I can spend the entire week planning my food shopping and just process on Thurs/Fri for delivery next day

jimbugalee

ah ha! I have found the section.

I'm going to do my weekly shop and see if the total comes to less than it normally does

Any

Have a look around - Usually someone posts a code to get either couple of quit off or free delivery..

Any

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....html?t=702329

Debt_Free_Dreamer

I think you can get some of the deals you cannot get in store as they are out of stock. I tried to get the baby wipes (6 packs for under £4) for days and when I did on on-line shop and order 10 packs to bump up my order, so I could use a discount code, all ten packs came!! I was expecting none.. :eek: :eek:

meanmum

I use Tesco on-line & generally I find it is less expensive than driving there & doing it myself - especially if I can find an on-line discount code (although these have been harder to find recently). I still impulse buy, as I always look through all the offers first, & that generally dictates some of our meals. One problem is that the offers are more likely to be out of stock - so you have to decide when to give them scope to substitute. I usually set no substitutes as the default, & then go through & write a note re substitution for the things I really need. It is definitely so much easier & more pleasant than going in yourself - especially at a weekend!

geordie_lass_2

I've found that a combination of online and instore works best for me.
I do a monthly Asda online shop for all the basics and heavy stuff then go instore when it's convenient. There are usually free delivery codes, I haven't paid for delivery for a long time. When shopping online I always look at the special offers first rather than stick rigidly to the same list each week, often there's a better deal on the top brands that make them cheaper than the basic brands.

I shop around for instore, look up the latest offers on their websites, also check MSE and HUKD for the latest bargains then decide where I'm going to shop instore that week.

I've found that evenings are good for bargains, that's when they tend to reduce things and it's always quieter. Find out when the supermarkets reduce things, they all have their own regular times, and go then. I'm sure I've seen a list here on MSE somewhere.

The upside to shopping online is that you don't tend to get sidetracked, the downside is that you miss out on some offers (most, but not all are available online) and short dated produce that you could freeze etc. Don't just stick with one supermarket, shop around.

jimbugalee

Well, my online shopping went relatively smoothly this week. I spent a little less but that could be because I have a few meal already in the freezer this week.
I did have £4 off but couldn't use it as didn't spent the £40 required!
They put a couple of substitute items in so I will watch for this next time and good tip from meanmum .... thank you!
Only problem is .... they delivered to the wrong address!!!
I have recently moved so they had the first half of my address now but my old town (which isn't in the same delivery area as where I live now). Not sure how this happened as when I went to amend you have to put your postcode on and it finds your address so no room for error. I may phone them up about it today as I spoke to someone about that on Friday and they assured me it was the right address. Maybe get my delivery money back? Luckily the food was delivered to my parents address who kindly bought it over