It's still proving a challenge to find a free food delivery slot, despite lockdown measures beginning to ease. The situation naturally changes with each week, but we have noticed a slight improvement with both Tesco and Sainsbury's often showing free delivery slots. Click & collect slots are much more widely available too, but if you're desperate for a delivery slot, our best advice is to keep checking back regularly.
Tesco CEO David Lewis has emailed customers to explain that – despite doing everything in its power to meet demand – the retailer is still struggling to cope. “We’ve increased the number of online orders every week from 590,000 in the first week of the crisis, to over 1 million this week. We’ll increase this further to 1.2 million slots in the next two weeks.
“This means that, since the start of the crisis, we will have effectively doubled our online capacity. While this is enough to cover the Government-provided list of people who are clinically vulnerable and don’t have a support network (around 350,000 people), it’s simply not enough for everyone who feels vulnerable at the moment.”
In a similar response, Asda has increased its capacity, adding 300,000 food delivery slots for a total of 700,000. Meanwhile, Sainsbury's has almost doubled its grocery delivery and click-and-collect slots, boosting its total from 370,000 to 600,000. Waitrose has also followed suit adding 10,000 new slots and 5,0000 rapid delivery slots.
Online supermarket Ocado, Co-Op and Iceland also claim to be making new food delivery slots available throughout the day as well. Morrisons has increased its limit of three items per customers to four, so that customers can continue to donate to food banks, and has introduced Morrisons Food Boxes where you can select a variety of boxes that include essentials to ready meals.
So which supermarkets have delivery slots available? And which other services are still running? Read on for our extensive round-up of which food delivery services are delivering right now – plus our best tips for how to get a food delivery slot if you need one.
Food delivery: quick links
Grocery delivery
- Amazon Fresh – grocery delivery to select cities
- Amazon Pantry – order everyday food essentials with Prime delivery
- Asda – no delivery slots available
- Co-op – some new delivery slots during the day, restricted to 20 item limit
- Iceland – some new delivery slots throughout the day
- Morrisons – limited slots but food boxes are available
- Ocado – some new delivery slots for priority customers
- Sainsbury's – some slots available, prioritising vulnerable customers
- Tesco – some new delivery slots throughout the day
- Waitrose – some slots available, prioritising elderly or vulnerable customers
Recipe box and meal delivery
- Allplants – plant-based meal delivery, cooked by chefs
- Feast Box – £20 off your first world food recipe box
- Mindful Chef – healthy recipe boxes with fresh ingredients for you to cook
- SimplyCook – Get a £3 trial recipe box to cook at home
Pizza delivery
- Domino's – 50% off pizza when you spend £35 or more
- Pizza Hut – get two medium pizzas and a classic side for £20
- Papa John's – contact-free pizza delivery
Takeaway delivery
- Deliveroo – takeaway delivery from top restaurants
- Just Eat – takeaway delivery from local restaurants
- Uber Eats – takeaway delivery from your favourite restaurants
Alcohol delivery
- Beer Hawk – free delivery on beer orders over £50
- The Bottle Shop – 5% off when you spend £30 with code: PUBSCLOSED5
- The Drink Shop – 20% off selected wine, beer and spirits
- Vinatis – up to 50% off select wines
How to get a food delivery slot
Though you may be reluctant to do so, most supermarkets are requesting that you visit stores in person, if you can, so they can prioritise food delivery slots for elderly or vulnerable customers. Some retailers, such as Waitrose, have closed their websites to new customers to help them do this. Others, including Sainsbury's, have been in touch with loyalty card holders who are aged over 70.
If you're a vulnerable person – or you know someone who is – you can register for support on the government's website. Tesco is prioritising orders for people on the government's vulnerable list, and will be in touch with anyone who is by email.
If you need to order food online, our best advice is to keep checking the website of your local supermarket throughout the day. If you can sign up for an account, do so: this will make it easier for you to find a delivery slot in future. Book your delivery slot first to avoid disappointment, and once you have one, most supermarkets give you around an hour to place your order.
Finally, if you can't get hold of a grocery delivery slot, don't forget there are some fantastic meal delivery services still operating too. Recipe box services like Mindful Chef deliver fresh ingredients to your door for you to cook, while meal delivery companies such as Allplants will drop off meals that have been cooked by their chefs.
When will more online grocery delivery slots become permanently available? Unfortunately, no one knows for sure. However, the major supermarkets are working around the clock to improve the supply chain, and while it currently looks like it'll continue to be difficult to book food delivery slots, we have seen slots appear at supermarkets across the country throughout the day.
We're assessing the situation daily, and we'll tell you which supermarkets are offering food delivery slots, if and when we see them.
Please remember to use all food delivery services responsibly. Only order what you need to preserve stocks for others who might be in need.
Grocery delivery: our process
We signed up to all the major supermarkets below and created a shopping basket full of popular goods. Every day, we compare five different locations – London, Leeds, Portsmouth, Manchester and Bath – to provide a sense of what stock is available in each area and whether delivery slots are currently offered. Here's the latest on which supermarkets are offering online grocery delivery today…
- Supermarkets to prioritise online orders for elderly
- Ocado suspends its online grocery delivery service due to high demand
- Best food delivery apps UK
Tesco
Next delivery slot: June 8 to June 14 (last updated 26/05/20)
Update (26/05/20): Tesco is showing some availability for home delivery slots depending on your location. We've seen slots appearing from June 8 to June 14 at a variety of times. Click & collect slots are also available if you can pick up your shopping in person.
Tesco CEO Dave Lewis reached out to customers in a recent message to address the ongoing difficulties the retailer is facing during this period of high demand.
“Before the crisis started, about 7% of grocery sales were delivered to homes (that's about 1 in every 15 households)”, explained Lewis. “To increase our capacity for deliveries and click & collect, we’ve closed stores overnight – so that we have more time to prepare orders – and recruited 12,000 new colleagues to pick these orders, and 4,000 new drivers to deliver them.
“As a result of these changes, we’ve increased the number of online orders every week from 590,000 in the first week of the crisis, to over 1 million this week. We’ll increase this further to 1.2 million slots in the next two weeks.”
According to Tesco, new food delivery slots are offered up as and when they're available each day.
How to sign up for an account
Enter a valid email address and password, and confirm whether you have a Clubcard or not. You’ll receive one automatically upon registering if you don't. Fill in your personal details, including your phone number and UK Postcode. You can then select if you’d like to receive offers and vouchers from Tesco or not.
Benefits and perks
Online shoppers can collect Clubcard points and Tesco has begun price matching Aldi on both its own-brand and branded products. A Delivery Saver pass is also available for regular customers, and comes with the added benefit of priority delivery slots during the busy Christmas and Easter periods.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Customers who shop online are encouraged to shop in-store where possible to help free up delivery slots for the elderly customers and those who are self-isolating.
Due to increased demand, Tesco isn’t accepting any new Delivery Saver customers right now either. A restriction of only three items per customer on every product line is in place, and multi-buy promotions have also been removed.
An 80 items limit is now in place for all online orders.
Sainsbury's
Next delivery slot: May 27 to May 29 (last updated 26/05/20)
Update (26/05/20): Sainsbury's is only showing a couple of free delivery slots this week. However, there is a number of click & collect slots available, but this will vary depending on your location.
Unless you’re already registered as a Sainsbury’s online customer, Sainsbury’s has paused all new online registrations. Sainsbury's has also almost doubled the amount of food delivery and click-and-collect slots on offer.
In a message to customers, Sainsbury's Chief Executive Mike Coupe has provided more insight into how the company is delivering to the elderly or vulnerable: “Many of you have written to me to tell me you are elderly or vulnerable and are struggling to book online delivery slots. We are doing our absolute best to offer online delivery slots to elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers. These customers have priority over all slots.”
Sainsbury's revealed that their customer Careline has had “one year's worth of contacts in two weeks”. Mike Coupe went on to add, “I apologise to our regular online customers, who I know are feeling very frustrated at not being able to book slots. Please bear with us and I hope you can understand why we feel the need to prioritise elderly and vulnerable customers at the moment.”
How to sign up for an account
Due to the huge increase in online orders, new registrations have been paused for the time being. To sign up for a Sainsbury’s online account, enter your email address and fill in your details on the following page. Once you’ve finished, you can start shopping.
Benefits and perks
You can collect and spend Nectar Points with each online food shop. A Delivery Pass is also available, which can help you save up to £156 per year.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Elderly customers and those deemed as vulnerable will be offered priority delivery slots.
Asda
Next delivery slot: None currently available (last updated 26/05/20)
Update (26/05/20): We haven't been able to find any free Asda home delivery slots this week, but there is availability for click & collect depending on your area.
In an email to customers, Asda CEO Roger Burnley has shared some information regarding how the company is working to deliver online shopping: “We're providing our drivers with hand sanitiser and gloves, and making as many online shopping slots available as we can. We're encouraging those that are able to safely shop in person to do so – this allows us to deliver to the highly vunerable.”
Roger Burnely went on to add “If you are self-isolating or have additional needs, please advise us in the 'other information' section when placing your order.”
How to sign up for an account
Registering is quick and easy with Asda (it says as much on its website), simply enter your email, a password and then enter your delivery postcode and you’re good to go. You can choose whether to receive exclusive offers and the latest info from Asda too if you’d like.
Benefits and perks
Competitively priced and with a Delivery Pass available, Asda online shoppers can save up to £80 and £100 by choosing a 6-month or 12-month pass. Offers are clearly highlighted on the Asda website, so you’re never likely to miss a cracking deal.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Customers are limited to a three item maximum on all food, toiletries and cleaning products when ordering online.
When placing an online delivery order, anyone who is self-isolating is advised to fill in the ‘Other information’ section to advise where their order should be left, i.e. on the doorstep.
If you're self-isolating, Asda has introduced a Volunteer Shopping Card. You can top it up with the amount of money you'd like to spend, and send it to your volunteer of choice who can then do your shop for you.
Ocado
Next delivery slot: customers will be emailed (last updated 26/05/20)
Update (26/05/20): Ocado is now only contacting customers if it is able to offer a delivery slot. The message on the retailer's website warns that customers may only get one email every couple of months to begin with, but the retailer hopes this situation will change soon. If you'd like to receive Ocado delivery updates, sign up here.
The online supermarket has seemingly ditched its queuing system in favour of a daily update that states whether or not delivery slots are available. Ocado is now letting customers book deliveries more frequently and is showing slot availability up to 21 days in advance for priority customers.
Ocado has also brought order cut-off times forward, so customers are encouraged to complete their order in one session to avoid disappointment later. In an email to existing customers on 25 March, Ocado Retail CEO Melanie Smith has said that “no matter how hard we work, we will not have enough capacity to serve the unprecedented levels of demand”.
She went on to say that “new delivery slots will be released every day for the coming week, as and when we have capacity”.
It's currently unclear whether Ocado is allowing new customers. If you do not have a delivery booked already, Ocado's website notes that there is “limited availability over the next few days”.
How to sign up for an account
You can sign up to Ocado using a Facebook and PayPal account, or simply fill in your details such as your email address and postcode to register.Tick the box if you’d like to opt out of Ocado’s offers, vouchers and gifts before you hit ‘Register’.
Benefits and perks
New customers can enjoy three months free delivery with Smart Pass, and Ocado also offers one-hour delivery windows.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Ocado had to temporarily suspend its service due to high demand, but is now its back online. Customers can only book one delivery slot every seven days to free up more slots for other customers.
Some products are limited to one or two per order, and a small number of bulky items have been removed from sale to make more room in each delivery van. The company has shared how stockpiling has affected its service during the coronavirus outbreak.
Anytime Smart Pass members who joined before 2020 will be placed in a temporary priority queue so they can book a delivery slot each week. Ocado will send an email and text message between the hours of 09:00 and 17:00 to give members access to the queue.
Morrisons
Next delivery slot: none currently available but you can order food boxes (last updated 26/05/20)
Update (26/05/20): We still can't find any Morrisons home delivery slots, but the retailer still has good availability for its new food boxes, which include a range of essential items.
How to sign up for an account
To sign up for a Morrisons online account, firstly enter your postcode to check if Morrisons deliver in your area. Once you’re given the all clear, enter your details and a password to register. You can also receive tailored offers, coupons and communications from Morrisons.
Benefits and perks
You can use a Facebook account to sign in, and Morrisons Quick Shop fills your trolley with the top things you might be wanting to buy with a single click. A Delivery Pass is also available with regular choices for those looking to do their weekly shop online.
Coronavirus measures and policies
Orders must be finalised 48 hours before delivery. Morrisons are working on introducing a number of measures to help reduce the amount of substitutes and missing items that some customers are encountering with their online food shops:
Morrisons' £35 food box delivery
Three weeks ago Morrisons launched a food box delivery service that aimed to supply customers who can't get to the shops with essential items. “A Morrisons Food Box could be a real help if you can’t currently get to a store to stock up on essentials,” says the site. “We will deliver a box of selected food and household items straight to your door.
Morrisons' food box delivery service currently has good availability for delivery slots. The company says it is “doing everything we can to increase capacity” – and we'll keep you informed with the current situation.
Waitrose
Next delivery slot: none currently available – new slots are added each day (last updated 26/05/20)
Update (26/05/20): We haven't been able to find any Waitrose home delivery slots in our research areas. There are click & collect slots, though, but you'll need to check back regularly if you'd prefer a home delivery slot.
How to sign up for an account
Signing up to Waitrose is simple – just fill in your details, such as your address and contact number, then click ‘next’ and you can start shopping straight away.
Benefits and perks
Waitrose has a number of attractive introductory offers, including a £30 saving on your first three online grocery shops. The website also includes hundreds of recipes and lists the ingredients so you can quickly add them to your basket.
Coronavirus measures and policies
The company has paused its online voucher codes along with any offer incentives until further notice. Some products have are restricted for a limited time, with customers only allowed to buy a maximum of two packets of toilet roll and three of any specific grocery item.
Entertainment products are also no longer available to order online for the foreseeable future. Substitutions for online orders cannot be returned to your driver if they have been handled, and drivers will not enter homes.
All online deliveries will be bagged as well to make them easier to collect quickly.
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