Going to the supermarket for a huge shop moments after arriving in your
idyllic holiday home has to rank as one of the most stressful events of any
summer. The alternative - to do your shopping before you leave home - also
has its drawbacks: the shopping takes up valuable space in the car while
anything that needs to go in the fridge risks going off in the hot car
during the eight hours you are stuck behind a stream of endless caravans on
the M5.
The ability to do your food shopping online has revolutionised the weekly shop
for many people and given self-catering holidaymakers a third alternative:
now you can order your food and drink several days before leaving and
arrange for it to turn up on your doorstep within hours of your arrival.
Online supermarket shopping works particularly well for large groups of
friends and family who plan to share the cooking duties. One person makes
the initial order and others who are cooking then go into the order to add
the ingredients for their own meals.
Rachel Ashton, who works for an investment bank in London, regularly goes away
with groups of friends who all share the cooking. She is a fan of online
shopping but says that you end up spending more than you would at the local
shops.
"Can you imagine how horrible it would be to arrive in Devon after five
hours in the car to have to have gone to the supermarket with the kids and
the other 1000 people who had arrived that day with their tired and grumpy
children to fight over the last pint of organic full fat milk."
On a recent holiday to Devon, she says she ended up changing the items that
other people had ordered. "I upgraded the tea bags and changed things
to organic.”
She has some tips for anyone planning to do the same. "I'd recommend that
when you place the order you give as much detail as you have about the
location of the holiday house. Also, book your slot weeks in advance - I
tend to order several bottles of wine to hold the slot. My guess is that
this will become more popular and as most properties change over
Friday/Saturday you may not be able to get the delivery when you want."
Another online holiday shopping fan is Emma Parker, a mother of young twins
and a five year old son. “Now we’re a family of five, we tend to go self
catering and I really didn’t want to waste precious holiday time finding the
local supermarket,” she says. “I actually checked before we booked the
holiday to make sure that it was an address that Ocado deliver to. It was
very important to us to have our first family holiday with the twins
completely hassle free”.
She says ordering in advance helped plan the holiday budget. “We really
noticed that our food bill went up immediately when the twins arrived, going
from one to three children – everything increased, so I wanted to be able to
control our basic food budget so we could enjoy some treats out and about.
Being able to shop from our usual Ocado shopping lists for family favourites
was useful as well as adding some holiday treats and necessities such as sun
protection.”
The growth of organic farming and box delivery schemes around the country also
means you don't have to sacrifice your principles when you are on holiday.
Most organic farms will deliver a one-off box of organic fruit and veg to
your holiday home if you are in their delivery area.
Yet internet shopping does have its downsides. Despite the efforts of the
online food shops, little can prepare you for the annoyance of discovering
that a key ingredient for your first night's feast is missing. Some will
make a clever effort to make an appropriate substitution while others will
just hold their hands up and say they have failed, meaning that you still
have to brave the local shops. This is particularly annoying if you have
ordered an unusual ingredient that may be hard to find in the nearby shops.
Where to shop for your holiday
Here are some suppliers who offer online ordering for deliveries to holiday
homes.
Cornwall
Fish and seafood is one thing you don’t want to be gently simmering away in
your boot on the long journey to Cornwall. Instead, order direct from local
fishmongers Wing of St Mawes,
set up by local fisherman Robert Clifford-Wing 23 years ago. The firm will
deliver anything from Cornish scallops to monkfish using their own
refrigerated vans throughout the county. Prices vary but a dozen scallops
will cost you £7.20 while a kilo of monkfish tails will set you back £12.60.
Seriously Good is run by former
Hackney resident Angie Dodd who upped sticks from the capital to move to
Cornwall. Seriously Good stocks all sorts of local produce, from Cornish
cream tea kits and cheeseboards to pilchard fillets and Cornish apple
juice.The firm runs a mail order service for the whole of the UK and a free
local delivery service for the area around Truro and St Austell.
Devon
The Local Food Company is
based in Modbury, claimed to be the first plastic bag free town in the UK.
They deliver in the local area (15 miles around Modbury – an area extending
from Plymouth to Totnes and Slapton) on Wednesdays and Fridays. Local
delivery costs £3. You can get everything from handmade fishcakes from
Flying Fish Feasts in Honiton, organic apple juice from Heron Valley in
Loddiswell and organic steaks from the Well hung Meat Company. The distance
to all of the suppliers from the company’s head office are shown on the
company’s website.
Riverford, based in Staveford in
South Devon, was an early organic convert in 1987 and has since become one
of the biggest organic box schemes in the UK. Riverford covers most of the
south of England while sister companies River Nene and River Swale, deliver
to East Anglia and the North East respectively. In the Salcombe and Torbay
area, delivery to your holiday home on a Friday or Saturday is free of
charge. A medium-sized box costing £12 might contain a butternut squash,
courgettes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, little gem lettuce,
rhubarb, vine tomatoes and new potatoes.
Norfolk
The Blakeney Deli was set up by
chef Kelby Light and restaurateur Rob Williams in 2004 and has become hugely
popular in the north Norfolk town. The pair can arrange local deliveries for
everything in the shop, including homemade soups and terrines, local organic
produce and wine. They can also make dinner for you and drop it off at your
property. A three-course menu costs £25 per person (min 8).
Abbey Farm in Flitcham, part of the
Sandringham estate in west Norfolk, has been running an organic box scheme
since 2002/. The Cross family now grown more than 50 varieties of organic
fruit and vegetables on the farm. The farm delivers to most of north and
north west Norfolk for £1.35. A large veg box containing ten items costs
£13.80.
North West
Howbarrow Organic Farm in
Cartmel in the Lake District delivers throughout the region, on Thursdays in
the central lake District and on Fridays near Windermere. Family boxes for
four people cost either £15 or £20 and include 16 or more items, including
anything from new potatoes and carrots to kohl rabi and chard. As well as
supplying organic veg from the farm, which went organic in 1998, they can
supply organic and other green items, such as toiletries, frozen food, meat
and fish. Delivery costs just £2.50 to most Lake District addresses. Minimum
order of £25 for non-registered users.
Northern Harvest operates from
Kenyon Hall Farm in Warrington and offers deliveries to South Lancashire,
Greater Manchester and Merseyside. The minimum order is £15 plus £3
delivery. Delivery is on Thursdays and Fridays mainly but to some areas for
a £5 charge on Saturdays. You can order set boxes of fruit and veg, either
organic (£8 to £20) or conventional (£6 to £10), as well as a full range of
groceries, many of them sourced locally.
Pembrokeshire
Phil Rogers converted the family farm, Cwmrath, in Summerhill to organic
production in 2001 and set up Pembrokeshire
Coast Organic Meats in 2006. If you’re planning a barbecue at your
holiday place overlooking one of the county’s amazing beaches, then try one
of the farm’s £39.99 organic BBQ packs, which includes sirloin steak, lamb
chops, beef and oregano grills and minted lamb grills for four people.
Calon Wen delivers £19 and £15 organic
veg boxes and £7 fruit boxes throughout Pembrokeshire free of charge. A
typical box might contain potatoes, onion ,carrots, chard, courgettes, leeks
and salad. The company has recently started selling organic milk in
recyclable eco packs and can also deliver other dairy items such as cheese
and eggs.
Yorkshire
Low Leases Organic Farm in
Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire is run by Rob and Elaine McGregor. They run an
organic box scheme along with other local producers with prices ranging from
£6.50 to £12. You can also get organic chicken, rare breed pork, dairy
products and cases of organic wine. Delivery is free for fruit and veg
boxes, £7.50 for wine and £10 for organic meat boxes. Deliveries take place
on Tuesdays to Fridays depending on your location in Yorkshire or the North
East.
The Crabtree family run Bolton
Abbey Foods from a farm on the Duke of Devonshire’s estate in the
Yorkshire Dales. The firm supplies beef and lamb from its own herds, ranging
from sauasages and burgers to mixed boxes (ranging in price from £45 to £95.
Delivery is free on orders over £150 or £9.99 for smaller orders.
Nationwide
Majestic operates a home delivery
service from its network of 136 stores around the UK. Delivery on mainland
UK is free of charge as long as you order a minimum of 12 bottles of wine.
Majestic always has plenty of special offers. At the moment, look out for
Heidsieck Gold Top Vintage 2002 champagne, half price at £15.99 if you buy
two or more bottles and the £69 summer celebration mixed case.
Ocado is by far the best of the online
supermarkets when it comes to holiday shopping. The ability to specify one
hour timeslots is a particular godsend, enabling you to time the delivery
closely with your planned arrival. The site also allows you to have up to
three delivery addresses – one for your main residence and two others for
holiday destinations. It comes as little surprise that the company was named
best online supermarket of 2007 by industry magazine The Grocer in June.
Until recently, deliveries over £75 were free. However, as of 23 July, the
company has added charges of up to £3 for orders over £75 (off-peak delivers
are still free) and up to £6 for lower priced orders.
The Local Food Company deliver nationwide too.
Thanks,
Dionne, Modbury, Devon