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Supermarket shopping done for you

Time to retire the trolley?

Use MySupermarket to find out which supermarket can supply your shopping cheapest.
Save time, money and stress cells by ordering your groceries online and getting them delivered.
Sign up with Tesco or one of the other supermarket sites for free now.

Fancy avoiding the travelling, the screaming children and unforgivable queues? Well now you can - by simply shopping online!

If you haven’t already signed up for one of the supermarkets’ delivery services then it’s time to give it serious consideration. If you go about it the right way then you should end up better off – both in time and money.

What we do recommend is that you sign up to MySupermarket.com by clicking here. It's a fantastic website where you select your chosen supermarket (from Adsa, Tesco, Sainsbury's and Ocado), do your online shopping through the easy-to-use MySupermarket site which will keep a running tab of how much it would cost you at the three other major supermarkets and if you find at the end that you'd like to switch supermarkets you can do this at the click of a button.

What you save

Loads of time and energy that can be put to excellent money-making use by completing an online survey, signing up to rent out your driveway, or loads of other money-making ideas.
It saves you lugging loads of washing powder, potatoes, tins and whatever else all the way home.
It saves you having to queue and wait while the person in front slowly finishes packing their bags before painstakingly fingering through their purse to find insufficient small change to pay for the shopping.
It saves you having to plan the child-friendly, military-style shopping trip.
It saves you having to persuade your kids that those shiny chocolate bars do not form the basis of their diet.
It saves you the money you spend on those Buy-one-get-one-free items by the entrance that you only buy because they are looking at you saying “go on, you deserve me”.
It saves the environment – fewer cars on the road means less pollution.
It saves you money since the latest discounted goods are posted up on the net first.

What it costs

Tesco charges £4.85 for a delivery (or £6.85 to deliver within a two-hour slot).
Asda charges £4, £4.50 or £5 depending on which day you require delivery.
Sainsbury's charges £5 for delivery.

We reckon this is easily a price worth paying for the added convenience of having the stuff delivered - and the cash you can save by stocking up with heavy bulk items rather than grabbing the easiest option.

However, if you were to drive to the supermarket, the journey would cost you at least 35p per mile (according to AA estimates), plus potential parking costs. So to get to an out-of-town shopping centre the cost plus parking will easily be £1 or £2 plus.

And this doesn’t allow for getting stuck in traffic, by roadworks or behind someone who should have been banned from driving 30 years ago.

So let's assume that you are making the most of the delivery and having as much of your weekly/monthly shopping dropped off as possible. How much time will this save you – one hour, two?

An hour of your time jolly well ought to be worth the £3 extra if you are following our money-making tips. The links are repeated at the foot of this article so there are no excuses!

And another thing, if you check out MyVoucherCodes.com before you reach the online checkout of your chosen you might be able to find a promotional code for either free delivery or discount on your 'basket'. Simply enter the code when they ask you for it.

Shopping tips

Worried about sell-by dates? Tesco says its shoppers select items with the longest possible sell-by dates, which is handy if you don't want a fridge of milk about to turn to lumps.

What if something's not available on the day? You can also set your substitution preferences so that the nice delivery people will either send you a similar product or leave it off your order, depending on whether you prefer a stacked cupboard or are more concerned about having the exact thing you wanted.

How to choose an online service? You may have your own preferences, depending on where you do your usual shop, or you may prefer to go for an option that's not that easy to get to locally.

We reckon the mammoth Tesco site is a good bet as it stocks a huge range of items. If you're particularly worried about price, the handy comparison site, mysupermarket.co.uk, lets you tot up the value of different items in your virtual trolley and work out which site would be the cheapest.

The next steps

Sign up for one of the supermarket's, such as Britain's biggest Tesco, online shopping and delivery programme. It’s free and you are not obliged to buy anything. Watch out for their Tesco Clubcard programme - money-off vouchers and the like come with this.
Make a shopping list of all the items that you are going to need over the next week or two.
Find a time/day when you will be in to receive the stuff and place the order by the morning before.
Use the time you have saved to do at least one money making task.
Reward yourself with that hot chocolate we mentioned earlier.