Oxford Guide: Online Grocery Shopping

Are you tired of lugging heavy groceries home or trying to find ingenious new ways to carry 
more on your bicycle? Maybe it’s time to give online shopping a try. Before moving to Oxford, 
I thought online shopping was reserved for those who had grown too old or frail to reach the top shelf and busy mums and dads who'd rather die than take their toddlers shopping... It didn't take long for me to change my mind.

Photo: 'Grocery Shopping', by ralphbijker.

Whether you work long hours, don't have a car, or like me, simply hate visiting the grocery store, online shopping has lots of advantages...

Pros

·     Shop from the convenience of you home any time of day or night,

·     Find products quickly and easily using a key word search,

·     Create and save your shopping lists and 'favourites,'

·     Swap your selections for cheaper, suggested items at the checkout,

·     Buy all the items you struggle to find at your local grocers,

·     Have all your groceries delivered to your door! 

Cons

·     You can't handpick your meat, fresh fruit or vegetables

·     You may be given products closer to their end date than you would choose yourself.

·     If an item you’ve ordered is not available it may be substituted for something similar, 
      but in my experience, this is usually a good thing!

·     Delivery times with some suppliers can be very unreliable.
 

ASDA, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose all have online stores, but I shop with Ocado and can’t recommend them enough. They’re a little pricier than some of their competitors, but the quality of their meat, fresh fruit and vegetables can’t be beat. The delivery men and women are very friendly, helpful and always on time, (if not a little early), which is more than I can say for their competitors, (namely Tesco & Sainsbury's). 

One of the other little perks of shopping with Ocado is that they occasionally pop little ‘thank you's’ in with their orders - Our second delivery came with a complimentary bottle of wine and a block of Green & Black’s chocolate! 

I'd love to hear where you buy your groceries. Do you shop online or prefer to pick your groceries yourself?