Christmas online orders and Christmas food

redfox

Unfortunately as the posts are still continuing off topic further off topic posts will be removed. This board and the threads on it are not the place for political discussions. Thank you.

Nargleblast

In past years I always booked a Sainsbury's online delivery for just before Christmas, and placed an order for stuff from their Christmas food catalogue to collect from the store a couple of days before. This year for the first time I won't be doing either of those things. I have noticed online delivery slots getting booked up very quickly since we went into the present "lockdown".

Christmas Day dinner will be a turkey crown, sourced from a good online butcher, and already snoozing in my freezer. Treats and snacky things have been bought in dribs and drabs over the last few weeks. The Christmas cake has been made and is maturing. The Rumtopf has been maturing since August, when the last fruits were added. Fresh fruit and veg I can get from a weekly fruit and veg van,  there's plenty of purchased and home made falling down liquid, nice cheese, cream, other bits and pieces can if necessary be bought at the local shops. 
No stressing about deliveries, no buying mountains of stuff. There's only me and my adult son this year, and I am working Christmas Day morning so our meal will be in the evening. That's ok, it's doable. 

We don't yet know for certain whether we can have housefuls of family and friends around this year. I think it is unlikely, maybe some relaxation of the rules but not much. Will there be any need for people to frantically buy loads of stuff and spend ages at their computers trying to book shopping deliveries for Christmas week? Bear in mind Christmas always happens on 25 December every year? I must admit, since the pandemic began, I have shopped less, and we have still managed to eat well.

Farway

Nargleblast said:

We don't yet know for certain whether we can have housefuls of family and friends around this year. I think it is unlikely, maybe some relaxation of the rules but not much. Will there be any need for people to frantically buy loads of stuff and spend ages at their computers trying to book shopping deliveries for Christmas week? Bear in mind Christmas always happens on 25 December every year? I must admit, since the pandemic began, I have shopped less, and we have still managed to eat well.

I suspect there may be, all depends on "The rules"

For instance normally I go over to my daughter's where there is a family gathering, rule of six means it is unlikely.this year

So far so she is assuming six, so only catering for her family of five

However if rules change to say a dozen then obviously more will need to be bought, and because any announcement is likely to be only a week or so from Christmas and inevitable rush will ensue

GaleSF63

euronorris said:

I managed to get my Tesco slot sorted pretty quickly on Friday (I have delivery saver pass). THIS FRIDAY is the day that the slots become available to those without the delivery saver pass. I assume (though not certain) that they have held back some slots for those without the saver pass. They go live at 7am. I was logged in and in a queue at 6.40am. I got through to the site at 7.03am and managed to get my chosen date. I did have to request to process the payment several times as the site couldn't cope with the number of requests, but it did go through. I suggest a similar approach for anyone planning to try on Friday.

Good luck, and I hope it helps!

Tesco now have this message on their website - - -
 "We’re really sorry but we now have very few slots left for 20–24 December"
Doesn't sound as if they have held any back or they could have made sure there were more than a "very few" available. 
I'll be happy with a slot round about the 15th/16th and ask a friend or neighbour to get me a bit of salad stuff and cream just before Christmas, but the way Waitrose and Tesco are showing slots at the moment means it will be a couple of weeks before I know if I can get one because the pressure will be on those next. I like to know!

euronorris

Yeah, I don't know how many were available this morning (if any). Certainly all gone now. I booked a slot for 30th yesterday, with ease. Just looked now and all slots 25-31 are fully booked for my area, so everyone else with access has now taken full advantage of booking up slots in advance (and good for them).

badger09

I managed to get into Tesco website around 07.20 on Friday after nearly 20 mins in their 'waiting room'. All the 1 hour & 3 hour flexi saver slots had gone by then but there were quite a few 8 hour priority slots left for Christmas week. Managed to book one for 21st. When I looked later in the day, all the slots had gone.

Thank you Tesco, you have served two of your vulnerable customers well after initial problems.

MrsStepford

As in Lockdown 1, there are plenty of other shops besides supermarkets eg
Farm shops (some deliver)
Dairies (some deliver some have milk vending machines)
Famers' markets - some are still operating
Butchers - some deliver locally and send by courier
Fishmongers - some deliver locally and send by courier
Bakeries - usually don't deliver to households but may do to corner shops, farm shops, farmers' markets
Convenience stores and corner shops (if part of a chain may well have special offers on websites)
Petrol stations (some do M&S food)
Deliveroo (stick in postcode and see what you can get)
Co-op does deliveries in some areas (see website)
B&M, Poundland, Wilko, Poundstretcher if you can get there. B&M does send by post but it's really only confectionery not food.
Aldi is doing click & collect in many stores (see website) 
Morrisons stuff from Amazon Prime in some areas
Amazon Fresh in some areas
Delicatessens online 

od244051

My friend's partner gets a £100 gift card from his employer yesterday as part of his Christmas bonus. He looked online at their Christmas food ordering - he counted 66 out of stocks from just over 100.

He will use the gc on the wine offer instead plus a nice bottle of single malt for himself.