Only a few days until Christmas are many supermarkets running out of available Christmas delivery places – but you may still be able to have your purchases delivered for the big day.
Demand for supermarket deliveries during the Christmas season has been high this year, due to a combination of the surge in online shopping since the pandemic and rumors of food shortages that could cause shoppers to struggle to get hold of a Christmas turkey.
In the past few weeks, Ocado shoppers have complained about missing out on Christmas delivery windows despite paying for a Smart Pass, and Tesco Delivery Pass customers also found they couldn’t get preferred delivery windows when it opened in November.
Here we explain the dates and process to get a Christmas supermarket grocery delivery place with each supermarket. Not all supermarkets have released their slots yet, but we’ll keep this story updated as we learn more.
Scroll down to read the full story or jump straight to your favorite supermarket using the links below:
Aldi
Aldi does not offer a delivery service for groceries, but offers click-and-collect in some shops. The slots from December 19 to 23 can now be booked online (Aldi.de).
Items from the Christmas Food-to-Order range must be added by 11:50 pm on December 15th – the only changes you can make after that will be to remove or reduce the number of these items in your order. Food-to-order items include a range of festive main, side and dessert dishes – they are highlighted online with a blue banner indicating when the product is ready to be picked up.
You then have until 11:50 p.m. on the evening before your pick-up day to change the non-food-to-order products on your list.
Aldi Christmas baskets (Aldi.co.uk/hampers) can also be ordered – but standard delivery takes three to five days, so delivery time before Christmas is short. They’ll start shipping November 28th, and you’ll be given a tracking number so you know when yours will arrive.
For purchases in stores, the Aldi Christmas calendar shows when items are available in stores. While mince pies have been available since September 26, the Christmas turkeys didn’t arrive until December 19.
Asda
Asda (Asda.com) has now opened its Christmas delivery slots to all customers.
Customers with an Asda Delivery Pass had priority access to the delivery slots. This pass starts at £ 6 a month and you can use it when you spend £ 40 or more. You can also use it for next day deliveries.
Co-op
Last year, the Co-op allowed buyers to place their Christmas orders five to seven days before the delivery date. From now on, delivery until Christmas Eve is possible.
The Christmas range is now live on its website (Co-op.co.uk), but currently only for same-day delivery or click-and-collect.
Iceland
On December 13th, Island (Island.co.uk) opened 450,000 Christmas delivery points to guarantee delivery before Christmas.
The supermarket also guaranteed a Christmas turkey to 150,000 customers who registered using its online reservation form and selected their online delivery date by Monday 22 November.
When you’ve done this, you’ll be asked six days before the due date to complete your order online, where you can add the reserved turkey to your remaining Christmas essences.
There is a £ 40 minimum turnover, no delivery charges and two hour delivery times are provided up to six days in advance.
Marks and Spencer
The M&S “Christmas Food to Order” service (MarksAndSpencer.com), which is available free of charge in most M&S branches in England, Scotland and Wales, is now fully booked.
If you’ve already booked the service, you’ll need to collect your pre-ordered shop from the store between December 22nd and 24th.
At the time of booking, buyers were required to add a minimum of £ 40 worth of items to their cart as a non-refundable deposit. If the items in your last shopping cart are more than € 40, pay the balance when you collect your delivery from the store.
Since M&S does not sell its full range of groceries online, the selection is limited to special Christmas products and does not cover things like simple tubers or sprouts.
Unless otherwise stated, M&S says that all items in its Christmas Food-to-Order stores will be fresh at least until Boxing Day.
Morrisons
Morrisons (Morrisons.com) Christmas delivery times have opened to all customers. As with all supermarkets, demand has been high – but the supermarket advises customers on Twitter to check out more information on delivery window availability via email and on its website.
Morrisons has also released details of a new service for Christmas collections. The service can now be booked online or in one of the 464 participating Morrisons stores and enables you to book a collective date for your Christmas range between December 21 and 24.
This collection includes 134 items, such as turkey, party food, wine and desserts, with vegan and gluten-free options.
You must now make a deposit of £ 20 on a minimum wager of £ 20. You pay the remaining balance for all extras when you pick it up.
Those with a Morrisons Delivery Pass had priority booking celebratory delivery slots. The pass costs from £ 5 a month and covers unlimited deliveries (even during peak hours) as long as you spend £ 40 or more.
Ocado
As a lead over many other supermarkets, Ocado (Ocado.com) started offering Christmas food deliveries to loyal customers at the beginning of October.
Although Ocado sold out very quickly, it contacted some customers on December 15 and said it had just opened additional delivery slots. So if you’re still looking for a slot, you might be in luck trying to book quickly.
Ocado has also advised customers to keep checking the website to see if more delivery dates are available – this is indicated by a star button that appears next to the “Book Delivery” tab. Whether or not you can secure one depends on demand in your area and on whether customers cancel the slots they have booked.
Buyers using Ocado Reserved – the free service that automatically books your preferred delivery date every week or fortnight – will not automatically receive their usual delivery date between December 20th and 27th and will have to book it themselves.
As soon as you have booked, the cut-off time for the confirmation of your order is two days before your delivery at 11.30 p.m. You should get an email / SMS message to remind you. You also need to spend at least € 90 on your order.
In its online FAQs, Ocado says that every meal you order for Christmas is guaranteed to keep until Christmas Day.
It was also recently reported that Ocado has taken special measures to ensure that the Christmas dinner is not damaged by replacement items by anyone. If a turkey, piece of meat, or a whole salmon is missing from the order, employees are sent on mopeds to find a replacement in Ocado’s vast warehouses.
Hopefully this should calm you down – especially since we recently discovered that some supermarkets are supplying past-it products.
Sainsbury’s
All Sainsbury’s customers can now book their Christmas delivery dates.
The slots for Delivery Pass customers were gradually opened in this order:
- Slots for December 20th available from November 23rd;
- Slots available for December 21st from November 24th;
- Slots available for December 22nd starting November 25th;
- Slots for December 23rd will be available starting November 26th.
Delivery slots for those without a delivery pass worked as follows:
- Slots available for December 20th starting November 30th;
- Slots for December 21st available from December 1st;
- Slots for December 22nd available from December 2nd;
- Slots for December 23rd will be available starting December 3rd.
Shoppers can book delivery dates on Sainsbury’s online grocery website. You can only place one order that arrives between December 20th and 23rd.
In an email to customers, Sainsbury’s CEO said the supermarket has more grocery delivery slots and more click-and-collect slots than ever before.
A Sainsbury’s Delivery Pass starts at £ 10 for three months. The pass allows you to see time slots in advance and get priority during busy times, and includes up to one free delivery per day within a 1 hour time slot of your choice.
Sainsbury’s click-and-collect service is also available; Pickup is free if you spend € 40 or more, or € 4 if you spend less.
Tesco
Christmas slots for customers of Tesco’s Delivery Saver program opened on November 16, while slots for non-Delivery Saver customers opened on November 23. The slots are available throughout the Christmas season.
It costs £ 6.99 a month to become a delivery saver; You can book delivery dates up to four weeks in advance, get free delivery and collection (when you spend £ 40 or more on deliveries and £ 25 on Click & Collect), collect Clubcard points and get priority slots for Christmas and Easter.
Alternatively, you can book a click-and-collect slot, but these are only available up to three weeks in advance.
Waitrose
Waitrose & Partners has already approved its Christmas delivery dates, which are between December 20th and 24th.
Due to the high demand, we recommend that all those who have not yet booked are asked to keep asking about cancellations. If you can’t bag a delivery slot, there are a few alternatives.
Those who choose the Waitrose Christmas Entertaining Collection (details at Waitrose.com) can access different delivery windows than those available to normal grocery shoppers. The items available through this service include pre-made buffet meals, canapés, desserts and the all-important Christmas turkey. You must have placed your order by 15th December.
The minimum turnover is € 40, with a delivery fee of € 3.
Alternatively, you can use the click-and-collect service of the supermarket, if this is offered in your local branch, or try to secure a slightly earlier delivery date – slots until December 19 will be released as usual up to three weeks in advance.
This story was originally published on October 7, 2021 and has since been updated to add more information. Last updated: December 20th.