Advice and other resources for people who want food deliveries but can’t get a supermarket delivery slot

Some suggestions if you’re finding it hard to get food delivered.

This post is published under a CC0 licence which means you are free to re-use it (even commercially) without asking for my permission. See Section 12 for more.

Updates are highlighted in yellow.

Find coronavirus help in your local area
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-local-help

Supermarket deliveries regularly exceed capacity and those shielding are (rightly) prioritised for slots. The Government has now shared its list of priority people with supermarkets making it harder for those not on that list to get a slot, though some slots do become available.

For those who need or wish to stay home (but who aren’t on the priority list) there are other options.

If you’re able to donate to a food bank such as the Trussell Trust or see if there are other independent ones in your locality.

• Coronavirus: Withdrawing crisis social security measures, Commons Library Briefing CBP-8973, 22 October 2020
• Food Banks in the UK, Commons Library Briefing CBG-8585, 14 October 2020
• Coronavirus: Support for household finances, Commons Library Briefing CBP-8894, 22 June 2020
• More House of Commons Library briefing documents.

Table of Contents

1. If you should be on the supermarket delivery priority list (I don’t think this is a thing anymore… is it?)
2. Sign up with several supermarkets (big list, all linked)
3. Also sign up to their mailing lists to hear about slots
4. Keep a handwritten list or plain text on your computer
5. Keep trying
6. “Supermarket-lite” versions
7. ‘Corner shops’ deliver via Deliveroo or UberEats
8. Other deliveries (inc. a gluten-free box)
9. Finding out about local deliveries
10. Additional local support for those who can’t get to shops
11. For people not online
12. Re-using this post
13. Image credits
14. Inspiration for this post
15. Updates / additions (marked in yellow highlights)

Supermarket options

1. If you should be on the supermarket delivery priority list

See Find coronavirus help in your local area
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-local-help

I’m adding this but haven’t confirmed if it’s true yet, but it looks like people may need to register with the Government to get on the supermarket delivery priority list (even if they’ve already had a letter from the NHS) and ensure correct spelling of their name. All shielding people apparently qualify for a free food box (which they can turn away if they don’t need it and it’ll go to someone else). The supermarkets’ list of shielding priority people is being regularly updated so make sure you’re definitely on it.

How to get an online supermarket delivery slot if you are shielding (17 April 2020) The Grocer – see in particular the “If you have received a letter and want to get a priority supermarket delivery slot, you must visit the website on the letter and fill out the online form” section.

The Gov UK website to sign up to is
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable (no longer accepting sign-ups since 1 Aug 2020).

Gov UK press release: Clinically extremely vulnerable receive updated advice tailored to local COVID alert levels (13 October 2020)

The note about making sure your name is correctly spelled comes from The Telegraph’s article (in the answer to questions from Joseph Gwynne “Double check all the details on your Government letter match up with your supermarket online accounts. All details (name, address, etc) will need to be the same” and from Elizabeth Jones “check your online shopping accounts are in your name, rather than someone else in your household who isn’t vulnerable. This could be affecting your ability to get slots.”)

2. Sign up with several supermarkets

If one supermarket doesn’t have a slot another one might. This can also be useful for larger families where an 80-item limit is restrictive on a one-slot-per-week basis. Note that all the supermarkets have a minimum order cost for delivery and there may also be a separate delivery fee.

In addition to supermarkets’ regular ‘pick what you want in your trolley’ delivery service some are now starting to provide cut-down versions* where you get a more generic box.

• [Aldi]
• [Aldi Food Parcels]*
• [Asda]
• [Asda Food Boxes]*
• [Co-op] – also delivered by Deliveroo
• [Iceland]
• [Morrisons]
• [Morrison’s Food Boxes]*
• [M&S partnered with Deliveroo] – scheme finished as Ocado took over
• [M&S Food Boxes]* – scheme has finished for now
• [Ocado] – M&S and Ocado products
• [Sainsbury’s]
• [Tesco]
• [Waitrose & Partners]
• [Waitrose & Partners Food Box]* – scheme has finished

See also 6. “Supermarket-lite” versions for info about some of these supermarkets using Deliveroo and other delivery services to provide customers with a more agile delivery service of small numbers of ‘pick what you want’.

If you put your post code into the Shopping Slot website it searches Asda, Iceland, Tesco and Waitrose’s websites to find any locally available delivery slots (here’s a news article about the website).

3. Also sign up to their mailing lists to hear about slots

Ocado in particular put a notice on their website saying it’s unavailable when there aren’t spare slots but do invite you to sign up to get an email when a slot becomes open.

Ocado: “Simply fill out our Contact Form. In ‘Reason to contact’, choose ‘I am trying to place an order’, then in ‘My issue is’, choose ‘I’d like you to email me when you release delivery slots in my area’.”

4. Keep a handwritten list or plain text on your computer

It’s very easy to keep an active trolley or a shopping list stored on your preferred supermarket account but this isn’t much use if you can’t get onto the website (eg Ocado had long online queues) so have a copy that’s separate from any account. You can often find previous shopping lists as part of receipts that are usually emailed.

5. Keep trying

Some shops release slots at a particular time each day, but others can pop up unexpectedly too. A slot that was unavailable this morning may become available this afternoon. If you’ve recently had a delivery from a particular supermarket then it’s quite likely that it won’t show you any slots for a few days, to give others a chance. Clearing cookies won’t help as you still have to log in as you to secure a delivery anyway.

6. “Supermarket-lite” versions

Marks and Spencer does not currently have its own delivery system (from September 2020 its products are to be included within Ocado after the Waitrose franchise ends) but it has partnered with Deliveroo for its M&S BP shops by petrol garages. If one of these is near you then you might be able to get something.

M&S BP – Deliveroo (in Lee, South London) – generally the page ‘opens’ after 10.30am so it may say not currently available but that seems to be more of a timing thing than a shop not operating.

Note that you do not need to download an app on a phone to use Deliveroo – you can use it fine on a web browser.

Co-op also delivers via Deliveroo – here’s an example using the Greenwich Peninsula store page.

A selection of the fruit and veg available from a Co-op in Greenwich

Sainsbury’s has begun a new Sainsbury’s Chop Chop service where it will delivery up to 20 items by bicycle within an hour. You can’t do it on a web browser and need to download an app onto an iPhone or Android phone. No minimum spend, £4.99 delivery fee. A friend on Twitter tried it yesterday with no success but let’s assume that all will be well once the teething problems are sorted out.

Currently Sainsbury’s Chop Chop is available in selected areas of Brighton, Bristol, Manchester, London and Reading.

In addition to its regular delivery slots and next-day Food Parcels Aldi is also trialling a local half-hour delivery service with Deliveroo in the East Midlands.

Amazon Prime also deliver food from Aldi, Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s (and Pret a Manger too).

Non-supermarket options

7. ‘Corner shops’ deliver via Deliveroo or UberEats

Corner shops local to you can deliver a range of items and what’s available will depend on where you live. You don’t need to use an app, you can do this online.

[Deliveroo] [UberEats]

Here in Blackheath, South London the following options are available to me:

• Costcutter / UberEats – lots of wine and beer etc, crisps / snacks and a range of Co-op food (ready meals) as well as cheese, butter, sausages, broccoli florets…
• Hursts / UberEats – Haribo Fantastic, crisps, beer, bread, bacon, milk, mushrooms, eggs, beans, biscuits, Pot Noodles, chocolate
• Londis / Nisa-Local / Budgens / Premier Yogis – UberEats
• Charndra Stores / Shell – Deliveroo (in addition to M&S, and Co-op)

Each will have a delivery fee (further away from you, bigger the fee) and tips for drivers.

8. Other deliveries

Abel & Cole began a new non-organic box delivery called Food On The Table (veg / dairy / pantry / meat boxes available) – transferred to Wellocks At Home, see below. They also have an organic veg box delivery but were not taking on new customers for that – this new offering is a service that’s rerouted deliveries that would have gone to restaurants etc to your home.

Approved Food posts boxes of your choice of packeted / tinned food that is past its BBE (Best Before End) date but which is safe to eat (BBE relates to quality, not safety which is the Use By date).

Darts Farm have fruit / veg and meat boxes. 

Doves Farm have a gluten-free box (£25) and other gluten-free products

Fairfields Farm have fruit and veg boxes, also sell potatoes and crisps.

Farmdrop deliver fresh produce.

Heinz to Home bundles of beans and other tinned goods, also sauces and baby food.

mypubshop – local pubs acting as grocery stores around the UK, offering both delivery (not all do this) and click and collect. [info]

Roberts Bakery direct – UK mainland delivery of bread or baking kits via DPD, people in selected Leeds areas can get produce via UberEats.

Viking usually provide catering drinks and snacks to offices but you can have items delivered to your home, so you can get coffee / tea / sugar and trays of Diet Coke along with biscuit multi-packs, chocolate kitchen roll and loo roll. The pack sizes are generally quite a bit larger than you’d get in supermarkets.

Viking Office Food Supplies – order before 6pm for next day delivery

Wellocks At Home – fruit / veg / dairy https://wellocksathome.co.uk/

London-only: businesses in New Covent Garden Market which would usually supply restaurants are now supplying homes within London.

9. Finding out about local deliveries

Your local food shops, restaurants and other food suppliers have rapidly changing their business models to include home deliveries. Some have their own in-house delivery service where staff will drop things off locally, others have partnered with third party services like Deliveroo / UberEats etc and others have simply swapped their business-to-business van deliveries (eg restaurant suppliers) with business-to-home deliveries.

Of course many restaurants were already delivering takeaway meals anyway, others that previously didn’t are expanding into this area.

If you’re online and tech-savvy you can find this information for yourself on Google or other search engines, also Facebook groups and Twitter / Instagram / Nextdoor.

Via Twitter I found out about lots of deliveries local to me by searching SE3 delivery (or delivers / deliveries etc) and made this list for me and my neighbours.

Instagram‘s search is a bit restrictive – hashtags or profiles only – but it’s worth looking at local shops’ Instagram profiles to see if they’ve announced a new delivery service, and what the details are.

On Facebook you can search either for known local companies, or for local support groups.

I’ve not used Nextdoor but it’s a community forum for people to share information on any locally-relevant topic.

I also discovered quite a few other places that delivered locally to me simply by looking out of my window and spotting them drive past / park!

Your local council and / or Covid Mutual Aid group will also be able to field enquiries about what shops are open and who’s delivering locally. They have probably pooled knowledge and resources and will likely have a list of shops and businesses supplying groceries and meals (this is certainly the case for the ones I know of in South East London but I realise this will vary by location).

Many voluntary groups will have had volunteers putting a flyer through people’s doors with a phone number and an email address. Contact them for what’s available locally (and see 10. Additional local support and 11. For people not online below).

Many mutual aid groups can point you to regular supplies for local people who are unable to access food and essential toiletries due to financial or other hardship (i.e. it’s not just for people who are shielding). See also the bit at the end of 10. Additional support… for info on how to also get on the Government’s vulnerable list for free food boxes.

10. Additional local support for those who can’t get to shops 

The council and local groups mentioned in 8. Finding out about local deliveries are also providing additional volunteer support for people who need shopping brought to them, either as a one-off or on an ongoing basis. Other assistance includes collecting prescriptions, posting letters, shopping deliveries, providing home-cooked food and regular checking in calls etc.

In Greenwich we have a series of Covid Mutual Aid support groups (list of groups in the UK) for different local wards, each covering a particular range of streets – with each of these mini groups networked to other groups in the area. Enquiries are centrally managed (with permission from caller, for GDPR purposes and all volunteers are police-checked first) and there’s liaison with Greenwich Council too. Contacting either your local group directly (number on flyers that were delivered earlier during lockdown). The groups themselves usually communicate via WhatsApp and there are also other local WhatsApp groups.

Many people will have had a note through their door with a phone number and email address for local assistance (this includes  but can also ring or email the council to be put in touch with someone.

For Greenwich the local support info is here, phone: 0800 470 4831 (seven days a week, 8.30am to 6pm) and email: covid19support@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

The UK Government was also delivering free food parcels to extremely at-risk vulnerable people who don’t have a support group nearby, people can register for that here (you can also use this form to add yourself to the clinically vulnerable list if you’ve not had a letter from the NHS).

11. For people not online

Local councils are working with these groups to provide information to people in their area so contacting the council or mutual aid group can help.

Directory Enquiries
To find a council (or any other phone number) you could ask a friend who is online to find it for you. If you prefer not to do that you could ring directory enquiries. At the time of writing the Post Office’s 118 855 number is the best value, costing £1 to connect (plus your telephone provider’s access charge) with no additional charges.

BT’s directory enquiries is probably more well-known but it charges for each minute in addition to connection charge and any other access charges (depends on who you pay your bills to). BT’s phone number is 118 500.
Calls cost 77p per call plus £ 1.55 per minute including VAT, plus your phone company’s Access Charge (excluding BT payphones).

Here’s a BBC article from 2018 comparing the eyewatering costs of ringing other directory enquiries.

If you’ve kept an old copy of Yellow Pages or similar the front pages may have general local numbers too.

12. Re-using this post

Help yourself. The text of this post is published under a CC0 licence (Creative Commons – waiver) which means that you can use it in any way you like. You can copy and paste the text, edit it for your own site or publication and you don’t need my permission, don’t need to pay me and don’t need to link back to this post (though you are welcome to link to it).

The images are not mine but they are royalty free from authors who’ve uploaded their photos to Pixabay (credits below) – you can use them too and don’t have to credit them either but I think it’s quite nice to do so. You can use the screenshot one of the veg, I took it myself 🙂

  To the extent possible under law, Jo Brodie has waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to “Advice and other resources for people who want food deliveries but can’t get a supermarket delivery slot“. This work is published from the United Kingdom.

13. Image credits

Featured image by Th G from Pixabay
Supermarket image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
Produce image by Mittmac from Pixabay

14. Inspiration for this post

‘I can’t get a supermarket home delivery slot – what should I do?’ Coronavirus Q&A (20 May 2020) The Telegraph

I read the above article in The Telegraph which talked about supermarket delivery slots and answered some questions from the public. It was interesting and helpful but didn’t recommend widening one’s net to include all supermarkets, nor did it mention the non-supermarket options so I thought I’d put down some thoughts here.

This is my spare blog, my main blog is Stuff that occurs to me and my ‘tech’ blog is How to Do Techy Stuff, I’m on Twitter @JoBrodie.

15. Updates / additions

This is a sort of post-publication change-log as people read it and suggest additions. I’ve inserted the following new things into the relevant section above highlighted in yellow.

• M&S offer boxes (added 21 May)
• Waitrose offer boxes via John Lewis website (added 21 May)
• mypubshop – mostly click and collect but some shops deliver (added 21 May)
• New Covent Garden Market’s deliveries in London (added 21 May)
• Shopping Slot searches the websites of 4 supermarkets for you (added 22 May)
• Added a new Section 1 with advice on people who need to be on the priority list (22 May)
• Heinz to Home (22 May)
• Roberts Bakery (22 May)
• Dart Farm (22 May)
• Fairfield Farm (22 May)
• Asda Food Boxes (added 24 May)
• M&S partnered with Deliveroo (explicitly added to list of supermarkets on 24 May though already referred to in other sections)
• 13 October 2020 – checked most of the links and added strikethrough to text that’s out of date.