How to save money at Uber Eats

Offers and discounts not to miss

The number of takeaways ordered is increasing every year. And with easy to use delivery services from providers like Uber Eats, it’s no wonder, as a nation, that we spend so much on food deliveries. The average annual spend is £641 per person which is equivalent to £12 each week.

So are there ways to keep the cost of your Uber Eats takeaway down? We’ve looked at all the ways to save.

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Keep an eye out for welcome offers

If you’re not yet using Uber Eats, but you want to join up, then keep an eye out for welcome offers. You’ll often see codes that will give £12 off your first order over £20 or £15 off your first order over £30.

Alternatively, going via a cashback site the first time can offer money back. At the time of writing, Quidco is offering new Uber Eats customers £2.40 cashback and TopCashback offers £3 for new customers with a minimum spend. These pay less but sometimes can be combined with voucher codes.

Get an Uber One subscription

Uber Eats offers the Uber One membership which costs £5.99 a month or £59.99 for the year. For this subscription fee, you get free delivery on orders over £15 and 5% off takeaways.

You’ll also get £5 cashback if your order arrives later than the “latest arrival by’” time as well as 5% off grocery orders over £25.

They also promise to give you better promotions than non-members for your favourite restaurants.

This sounds like a lot to pay for a few quid off your orders, and we don’t think it’s worth it just for savings on food. But where it might work out better is if you also regularly use Uber rides or pay for Disney+.

Uber One membership also gives you 5% off Uber Rides and 10% off Uber Exec and Uber LUX rides. Small amounts but they could help you cover the monthly cost.

But best of all is a free annual Disney+ Standard subscription. Full price this costs £79.90, so If you’re already this it actually works out cheaper to subscribe through Uber One!  You can read all about this in our Uber One review.

If you’re a Uber Eats member, you’ll get lots of pop up offers promoting Uber One. Currently on my app, I can get 50% off Uber One for two months, although they often offer a one month trial for free.

Check your email and app for offers

Uber Eats will often email you promotions or you can find them in the promotion tab in your account. 

They are usually along the lines of a discount with a minimum spend but often need to be activated before use. I currently have a 30% off a minimum order of £15 and I can easily see the restaurants included in the promotion by clicking the shop now button. 

There’s also additional money off discounts in the Uber Eats app which can be found for individual restaurants including free items, 15% off orders of £20 and 10% of orders of £30 or more. These are visible in the offers tab.

These can be stacked with other promotions, such as Uber One membership discounts.

There is however, a minimum order value to obtain many of the discounts that Uber Eats offers. They work better if you’re ordering for a family or group of friends as the threshold is often a £15 minimum spend.

Order from closer restaurants

Delivery charges vary from restaurant to restaurant, but generally you’ll pay less if you order from places closer to where you live. At the very least, avoid ones which are a decent distance away.

Earn cashback on orders

TopCashback is giving 40p for existing customers – it’s not much but you may as well claim it. If you’re a subscriber to Complete Savings, you’ll get 10% back on your Uber Eats orders.

Buy discounted gift cards

Cashback sites like Jam Doughnut and Cheddar offer cashback on gift card purchases and are a really easy way to save money on your orders. 

At the time of writing, Uber Eats vouchers have 4.25% cashback on Jam Doughnut, 3% cashback on Cheddar, 2.5% on TopGiftCards, 4% on Snip and 3.5% on HyperJar.

Get train tickets via Uber

You can use any Uber Credits you have to pay for your Uber Eats orders, and one way to earn these is when you purchase train, coach or Eurostar tickets or hire a car through Uber. The general rate is 10% back.

You may also be given credit for a late delivery. Remember to check your account for any since they expire 180 days from the date of issue.

Get 20% off with Three

Three customers can download the Three+ app to save 20% off an Uber Eats order every week. Minimum order of £15 excluding delivery. More on the Three+ app here.

Extra charges on Uber Eats

Service fee

Uber Eats charges a service fee based on the order amount before any discounts or promotions are applied. A minimum and/or maximum amount may also apply which you’ll be able to see on the fees information screen for the restaurant you choose.

Looking back at my past orders, the fee tends to be £2.99 for orders around the £30 to £40 mark before discount and £2.86 for the one and only order I have done under £30.

Small order fee

There may also be a small order fee, the cost of which is chosen by the restaurant. 

Delivery fee

The delivery fee varies based on your location, so you’ll pay less for nearby restaurants. You’ll be able to see the delivery free before you select the restaurant. A quick glance at my Uber Eats app and I can see delivery fees ranging from 79p to £10. The £10 was for a restaurant six miles away so it’s always best to pick takeaways nearer to your location if you want to keep the delivery fee down.

Priority delivery fee

And don’t forget the extra charge if you want priority delivery to get your food faster (and hotter!), which varies in price. A quick look at my app and we’re looking at another £2.99.

Is Uber Eats the cheapest takeaway delivery service?

This all depends on where you are ordering from, since the other competitors, Deliveroo and Just Eat, may have better offers on the takeaway you want. 

It’s best to take a quick look at who is offering the best deal, if any, before you order. That said, Uber Eats offers frequent discounts, with regular 30% off your entire order incentives to keep you coming back for more. 

And don’t forget, you can use Uber Eats for grocery deliveries too and even combine it with your takeaway delivery. Although it will usually cost you more with inflated product prices, delivery fees and service charges, you can sometimes get a great deal where you can save 60% off your order, which may make it cheaper than going to the shops yourself!