Online shopping?

Carthago delenda est

Silver Member
Hi guys,

As we all know SW is very expensive in terms of food bills. Would online shopping would be a way around this? Does it make you more likely to spend less?

What do you think is better?
 
I dunno. Im quite a stickler for making sure I get the longest dates on everything I buy, and if you shop online then its up to the shopping picker to do that for you, and they wont, because they dont care if your stuff goes out of date two days after it is delivered.

If you are the sort of person who cant help themselves in a supermarket, then its great for that, and can save quite a bit of money because you dont have the distractions of "ooh, that might do for.." or "ooh, thats pretty!" I used to be like that, but now I have mastered the art of head down, aim for what I need and get out. Unlike the OH, who aims for the things that smell nice. Like cakes. And bread. And spicy sausages.
 
I must admit I definitely save less when I do online shopping. I tend to run up quite a bill when I do it initially but I always go in the night before its delivered and go through it thinking 'Ok do I really need that' and a lot of the time I dont.

I must admit Ive never had any problems with the dates on things, and any fruit etc is always fresh. If things do have a short 'life span' they usually put it in a separate bag and give you the option of returning it.

From a financial point of view Id definitely say its cheaper, no impulse buying :)
 
I do online shopping quite a bit because my hubby is away alot and i don t drive. I go on moneysupermarket as it will tell you what your trolley would cost in asda, tesco, sainsburys and ocado. Also you can click on the offers and it will tell you all the offers in each supermarket and also will flag up a cheaper alternative on whatever you need. I love it and it saves me loads of money. Yes i agree use by dates can be a problem and tesco are a bugger for it on fridge stuff but always check your fridge stuff and veg before the delivery man leaves. I always say hang on i need to check my fridge stuff and i go through them all and then if i am happy i sign if not i send the bits that i am not happy with back. If something slips through and i miss it and the use by date is near then i ring them and 90 per cent of the time they will give me a e coupon off my next shop and refund me the item. Not always like that though most of the shops i have had have been problem free.
 
The only thing I don't like about online shopping is the delivery charge. ( my local shop is only a 4 mile drive, so wouldn't use that in petrol). I eat a lot of fruit and veg and so I'd need to do 2 orders a week for fresh stuff like raspberries and blueberries because they never last a week. So it actually works out cheaper for me to just go to the shop. I normally shop twice a week, but I only get what I need, I'm quite strict on myself that way. (Although I did get some jacobs BBQ crack O' bites yesterday and WW nacho cheese tortillas, since I found out they are only 4.5 and 4 syns a packet respectively, and I really miss my crisps lol.)
 
I used online shopping when I was ill and coundlt get to a supermarket. The only thing I would say is rubbish about it, is that the times I ordered my food in NEVER arrived within the time I chose! So sometimes I was waiting for my food before I could eat. Best to order before you run out of food!
 
I always do mine online, it would cost me £8 for a return trip to Tescos in a taxi (we don't have a car) so the £4 delivery charge is a bargain. I do one big shop a fortnight, but the problem is that I always end up going to the local Co-op a few times in between to get fresh stuff, salad and fruit mainly - so I don't know how much money it really saves me in the end :\
 
Ocado and Waitrose Deliver dont charge for delivery!!! :D

Plus Ocado do a print out of the shopping you have ordered in date order - so you can see on the list what the dates are that stuff runs out - i think its brilliant.

Plus substitutions never cost you more - always less! Ive even had free stuff cos the best before date was the next day (packaged fruit!)

Service from these two is the best (IMO) and i have used Sainsburys, Tesco and Asda for deliveries as well - they all seem lacking and the drivers seem rude.
 
Neither Waitrose nor Ocado deliver here! :( All the others do, but not those two how annoying!
 
Oh - and Tescos never charge more for substitutions either, they either charge you what the substitute costs if it's less, or the same as your original item if it's more.
 
Will do - I have a feeling the Waitrose store here might be due for expansion actually, I think I might have read about it - so maybe they'll start delivering from there.
 
Oooh, might have to look at Ocado or Waitrose. I'm tired of getting short dates from Asda and Tesco. Plus, I can never find what I want online. It's very likely that my shopping is done online as I'm too poorly to go to the shop most of the time. We do have to do top up shops for fresh stuff though. Expensive!
 
I do Asda online, and before that Tesco, and have done for about 6 years now.

I prefer Asda, and I have a fixed amount when I shop and I stay within it.

The beauty of online shopping is that you can chop and change as often as you like during the week, thereby finding the best offers.

Asda never charge for substitutions, and you do get occassional vouchers for free delivery too.

And I cannot fault the drivers, they are great, really friendly and helpful.

As regards the delivery charge - I live in a remote coastal village so my shopping comes from an Asda store that is 25 miles away, so I don't begrudge the charges.
 
Online shopping's great!

We use Tesco and, like others, if there is any problem with the order there is no issue with a refund.

I find it cheaper as there are no distractions in the aisles!
 
I actually don't think SW is very expensive in terms of shopping bills - it can be, but then again it can be cheap too, it all depends what you buy.

I do shop online. I use Tesco mostly, I have never had a problem with short dates - they do try to pick the good dates and anything with a short date is higlighted to you.
My local store is small and has limited stock so I like to shop online as it comes from a bigger store where I can get things like quark!
I don't mind the delivery charge as I know I would spend more than that if I went to the store, on impulse buys and "offers" alone. Also it saves me so much time.

I'd say give it a shot and if you do find SW expensive, have a read through some of the "budget ideas" threads - you don't have to spend a fortune.
 
Before I had to move home (temporarily), I would always do a monthly shop to fill the freezer and cupboards with things. I would also have one day a month cooking huge batches of sin-free meals to freeze for the month - just made it easy to grab something if i was home late, knowing it was sin-free and full of veggies.

Like Starlight said, I'd always review my basket and take out things I didn't really need - it's all too easy when you're shopping to sling loads of things in your trolley, then throw out a few weeks later when it's not been used!

Personally I never had a problem with short-dates, bad service etc, but this would vary from store to store, in the same way any customer service would as it's all down to the staff!
 
I think if I lived on my own, I'd be better able to manage my money but as I'm doing SW with my mum whilst living at home, it's really difficult as my little brother is really hard to cater for. Since he's found out we are eating more healthily, he's decided he doesn't like anything we cook.

We've found ourselves in supermarkets every few days spending loads more than we would normally - we are trying to figure out what is causing it. Perhaps it is impulse buying and planning is the key; something that would probably be helped through online shopping.

From what you have all said, it seems worth a try :)

Thanks for your comments!!!
 
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I found that thinking ahead with meals makes it a bit easier to manage and spend less. So thinking, well I can have this for dinner, and then use it with that for a different dinner the following night. When I first started the diet years ago with my dad, we were doing the same and spending loads, now it's a much more normal amount we're spending!
 
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