Supermarket Sweep: How To Multi Task Your Shopping Delivery
When Asda first introduced the in store scanner, I thought that my food shopping life was complete. Not only did it mean that you didn’t have to unpack and repack your shopping to get through the till, but it also meant that your task time was cut by half. No more working out which queue was the smallest and fastest (a competitive sport in all situations according to my husband); packing as you went was wholly satisfying. Until, of course, the handset pipes up with a Quality Check and it all goes disastrously wrong - rummaging in your carefully loaded bags, feeling as if you’ve smuggled in half a tonne of marijuana. If you are with your children, you can guarantee that they’ll have chucked a pot of Nutella in when your back was turned, rendering you as guilty as Howard Marks.
My kitchen. After a shopping delivery, it generally looks like an overloaded food bank.
However, there is nothing more satisfying than having your food shopping delivered to your door. As someone who misses office life and chat on the same level that I miss nappy changing and continuous lack of sleep, it’s the perfect solution to trawling the supermarket and avoiding people you know whilst pushing a dodgy trolley. There are, of course, pitfalls to the process. Many are the times that I’ve booked my slot, sticking the most expensive item I can find in my shopping trolley in order to save my place by reaching the £40 minimum spend, then forgetting I’ve done so and opening the door to a bottle of champagne and a packet of Hob Nobs. I’m also prone to updating the list at three minutes to midnight the night prior to delivery, a process fraught with danger. From my bed, I randomly sling in whatever I think I might need for the next week, taking my order from £40 to £100 in the space of about thirty seconds. Not ordering from a list has regularly been my downfall, often meaning that the cupboards consist solely of dog food, Quavers, cheddar cheese slices and Vina Sol.
Three years ago, I wrote a blog about shopping for your home at the same time as shopping for your wine and crisps. Supermarket homeware purchasing ticks the box on many levels. One, you barely notice it. That £5 tea light that you might have debated in other circumstances is insignificant beside a family pack of Fairy Non Bio. Two, once it’s in the trolley, it’s in, therefore making that pom pom cushion as essential a weekly purchase as your Findus Crispy Pancakes. And three, it’s an excellent way to multi task your time, thus leaving you more hours in the day to do other things, such as socialise with your friends or watch Line Of Duty on catch up.
However, one area that I have never investigated is the homewares shopping delivery option (quite a mouthful), items that you can have delivered at the same time as your food order. Last week I spent all day making a curry and had all the ingredients for my feast delivered by Asda in the morning, including a Russell Hobbs mini blender for chopping. I generally always shop at Asda online - it’s never failed me from an efficiency point of view plus the delivery drivers are always very tolerant of our gravel driveway which has potholes large enough to lose a small child in. I’d never thought about adding a homeware item into the basket but sure, enough, it arrived alongside the Garam Masala without me even needing to exit my front door. This, I surmised, was winning at life, so I decided to have a look at what the rest of the supermarkets had to offer. I’ve concentrated on the biggest - Ocado, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Aldi, Tesco’s having withdrawn their homeware offering from online sales fairly recently. Here are my top four picks from each that you can pop in without even popping out.
Ocado
So I’ll start with my favourite. Ocado have, without doubt, totally nailed this experience. I popped a Cath Kidston rucksack, a Summit four man tent, a BBQ and a pot of Halo ice cream into my trolley and all could be delivered next day for £4.99. If I liked camping, I would have pressed that button but I would actually rather spend the night with Nigel Farage than laid on a groundsheet. Anyway, you get the gist.
Morrisons
I was super impressed with Morrisons. Easy to negotiate, delivery was next day with prices ranging from £3.50 upwards. The range is fairly similar to Ocado’s but with the addition of plenty of own brand products which are seriously competitively priced. If you’re looking for a weekend project, you can add to your basket a full plethora of decorating equipment, including a top to toe see through plastic elasticated suit for only £4.48 (holding back on the Farage joke here).
Asda
Years ago and coming from the retail industry, I remember George Davies moving to Asda from Next (showing my age) and it’s still a really strong brand, even though he’s been gone for years. The in store offering is extensive but they only offer a small amount of the full range on the Grocery side of the site which is mainly smaller items although there’s plenty of throws, cushions and small homewares to choose from. However, from the main page you can go to the George Home and George Clothing tab which has a seriously competitive selection of products. Unfortunately, this has a separate delivery function which means you can’t officially Add To Basket with your peppermint teabags but I’ve chosen from there anyway as it’s definitely worth a look.
Sainsbury’s
I’ve worked with Sainsbury’s a few times and I never fail to be hugely impressed by their range of homewares. In store, it’s impossible to walk past the aisles without stopping for a look - the visual merchandising is brilliant and I love how they consolidate it into solid themes and stories. From the main Grocery page, you can add what looks to me to be the full range of products available on their sister site, Sainsbury’s Home, for the price of your food shop delivery. You can shop separately for TU (own brand clothing), Argos and Habitat via tabs on the page.
Aldi
So Aldi was the jewel in the crown. I literally had no idea that they even had an online offering until I googled and it didn't fail to disappoint. However, it’s pretty much all homewares - the only grocery items available are wine and coffee but tbh, those two items make up pretty much 50% of my food group so I’m not complaining. There’s a Special Buys tab that tells you what’s coming up over the next month, plus you can pick up as much Aldi aisle fodder, Caviar cream and look a likey candles as you want. Delivery is free over £20 and only £2.95 for less. Now all we need is for them to add groceries and life goals achieved.
So that’s my round up of the top supermarket buys delivered to your very own door. In a world where we are more and more heavily reliant on swiping up and direct links to fulfil our shopping needs, it’s great to see that the supermarkets are upping their game to achieve this ease of purchase. Just watch out for those three minutes to midnight last minute order amendments after a few glasses of wine or you’ll be unpacked a three piece bistro set before you know it. Happy shopping.