Grocery shopping on-line and sell by dates

[Guffy]

Being somewhat lazy and having a deep rooted dislike of supermarket shopping, i've been utilising the online/home delivery service lately from our most well known of supermarkets.

When i get a weeks worth of groceries, i tend to make sure that my fresh produce will last at least 5-days; 80% of my food i'm getting home delivered is out of date the next day! Is this the norm? Or is it because i live in the land of much tightness? I don't have a problem consuming food out of date, but last nights salmon was going grey!!

[wiffmaster]

Exactly why we stopped with online food shopping. The fruit and veg you get is always the dregs and it seems like you invariably get the stuff that's just about to go off. Half of it ended up in the bin each week. By the time you've faffed about online, waited in for delivery and then realised when it arrives that you've forgotten something vital because you didn't see it on the shelf (which would normally jog your memory), it's easier to just go down in person and see what you're buying.

[Aranell]

I've not had any problems with the Ocado food so far...

[V8mate]

I think Ocado have a shelf-life guarantee.

The supermarket delivery firms just have disinterested zombies shopping on your behalf and the grab the item closest at hand (rather than rummaging right to the back as you would shopping yourself).

[grumbledoak]

Another vote for Ocado. No issues with sell by/use by dates so far (about two years). In fact, the only issue I've ever had was a picker who clearly didn't know what creme fraiche was, and sent us some yoghurt.

Which 'service' are you using? (You may need to hint to avoid Name And Shame rules).

[Guffy]

I've heard good things about Ocado before... sadly, as a Guffy in Aberdeen we don't have such a luxury and have to settle for the blue and white monster whose profits dwarf a second-world country!

I feel some pithy correspondence coming on though

[Puggit]

My general finding of the 3bn profit company - when in their shops - is that the fruit and veg is of low quality and close to sell by date.

When ordering with JS, they add the items with short shelf lives to the alternatives list to highlight them

[Steve Evil]

We stopped shopping online because of that too. Haven't tried Ocado though.

[dreamer75]

Veggies & meat delivered fresh every week from abel and cole (or similar), online supermarket shop for tins/shampoo etc. etc. - no problems

When I used supermarket online for fresh veggies I had a similar problem - I just emailed them and told them which things were going off / gone off and they would refund me. But it's why I gave up usin them for that - abel and cole are good, bar the occasional unidentifiable vegetable!!

[Chuffer]

Completely agree.

I used online shopping in the past and found that most of the fresh food I ordered had a similar use by date.

I'm sure that when your order goes through, someone picks the first 'pack' off the shelf and throws it in a container. Whereas now I root around (i.e. towards the back, if the shelf stackers are doing their job right) for something that will last me more than two days. I don't understand the reasoning. Ok, they need to get rid of food close to sell-by date but I don't need meat/fresh produce of varying types going out of date on the same day in two days time.

I don't freeze my shopping. It's mostly cooked fresh, but I don't want to cook 3 or 4 different meals within 48 hrs because I have no other choice.

I now go shopping to Sains every few days and choose my dates carefully. Seems like the only way. Ideally I'd like a series of small local shops. Butcher, grocer, etc etc that I could go to, but I suppose the Supermarkets have seen to that.

[Puggit]

Chuffer said:

Ideally I'd like a series of small local shops. Butcher, grocer, etc etc that I could go to, but I suppose the Supermarkets have seen to that.

We are lucky that we have an excellent local butcher. The meatis not only cheaper than the T supermarket, the quality in unimaginably better.

They also sell Sweeney Todd pies

[bazking69]

If you can't be bothered to go to the supermarket you can't expect them to pick the best of the selection on your behalf...

[ali_kat]

I don't get my fresh veg stuff from either of the 2 home deliveries that I use (Waitrose & Tesco), I go in store to get it, I tend to use the delivery for the tins, bottles, cupoboard stuff that takes up too much room in my car & is heavy!! The only meat I get from there is the stuff to keep in the freezer.