What you’ll really pay if you get your groceries delivered from a takeaway service.

During the lockdowns it was understandable that grocery home delivery services rocketed in popularity. Now it’s never been easier to get takeaways or your supermarket shopping delivered to your front door – including getting those groceries collected and dropped off by Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

You can order supplies and get them within a few hours, if not less. It’s certainly convenient. But as with using these apps and websites for takeaways, I wanted to find out if you’ll actually be overpaying.

So I’ve compared prices from the apps vs going direct to the supermarkets, plus looked at any extra charges. Here’s what you need to know before ordering.

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Which delivery apps offer grocery delivery

You’ll find the major supermarkets as well as some convenience stores on either Uber Eats or Deliveroo. Just Eat is moving into the space too, with a handful of Asda stores on board and smaller convenience stores.

There are similar services such as Getir, Gorillas and Beelivery too. These often have their own warehouses rather than working with traditional retailers. I’m not covering here as the reach is still limited around the country – though I plan to look at these in the future.

Which supermarkets are on Uber Eats and Deliveroo?

The apps have partnerships with Asda, Co-op, Iceland, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, as well as smaller shops like McColls, One-Stop and even some petrol stations.

Of course you need the supermarket to be in your delivery area to appear on the app. Where I live there’s no Iceland for example, so I had to play around with postcodes around the country to get a fuller list. And even if you have a store near you, they might not partner with the apps in your area.

I couldn’t find any Tesco stores. Aldi stopped offering this at the start of the year while M&S Food ended in 2020.

Not all supermarkets are available on both apps. These are the main supermarkets and stores I found across each app.

Supermarket	Delivery App
Asda	Uber Eats
Co-op	Deliveroo
Iceland	Uber Eats
Majestic	Deliveroo
Morrisons	Deliveroo / Uber Eats
Sainsbury’s	Uber Eats / Uber Eats
Waitrose	Deliveroo

Ordering & delivery

Using these apps is completely separate to the supermarket’s own delivery service, so you don’t need an account with the supermarket itself.

You will need to download the Deliveroo or Uber Eats app, or access it via a web browser. You then need to sign up if you haven’t already.

Making an order is exactly the same as with a takeaway. If you have a participating supermarket near you it’ll appear on the app.

Add the items you want to your basket and pay. Then wait for them to arrive at your door.

Charges and extra fees

On Deliveroo most of the supermarkets say it’s free delivery, but on Uber Eats all added a fee of around £2. Some charged a different rate depending on how close you were to the supermarket, others charged a flat fee.

There’s also a minimum order cost, though that is usually around £15 – less than if you went direct via a supermarket’s own webpage. If you don’t meet this threshold you’ll be charged an additional fee, often around £3.

You’ll also find most add an extra service charge. For Uber Eats it’s 10% of the order. On Deliveroo it was generally 5%, though with a minimum of 49p and cap of £2

And on top of this you might be charged for carrier bags at 10p per bag, though one dummy order I set up added 40p despite having just four items. There’s also the option to provide a driver tip.

It’s possible to request a specific time slot or just as for it as soon as possible. You’ll get an indication of when the delivery will be made and you can track progress. In my experience of using both for takeaways there’s always a good chance it’ll be late! You might be charged more for this or a priority order.

Shopping experience & cost

It’s a drastically reduced range

The first thing I noticed was that you can’t order anything you want. There are dozens rather than thousands of products available.

This means it’s impossible to do a full shop this way. And even if you only need a few things you’ll likley have to compromise or go without.

Prices are higher

This is the real kicker. I checked for each supermarket and the prices were all noticeably higher. Here’s a small selection of random products at each supermarket/app.

Supermarket	Product	Direct	Deliveroo/Uber Eats	Mark up
Asda	Cadbury’s Giant Buttons	£1.25	£1.50	20%
Iceland	10 rashers of bacon	£2	£2.75	37.5%
Morrisons	Cathedral City extra mature cheddar (350g)	£3.50 (on offer at £2.75)	£3.70	6% (34%)
Sainsbury’s	Febreze Classic Spray	£3 (on offer at £2)	£3.30	10% (65%)
Waitrose	Sourdough prawn pizza	£5.75 (on offer at £3.83)	£6.75	17% (76%)

All the items I checked cost more on the app than buying direct from the supermarket – and that’s beore those extra service charges.

You miss out on special offers

The prices you see aren’t just higher – they don’t take into account special offers at the supermarket. This means you’re not just paying the premium added on top, you’re missing out on further savings.

A good example here was the pizza from Waitrose. Normally it’d be 17% cheaper in store (£1 less), but the price right now is cut to £3.83, meaning ordering via Deliveroo would 76% more (£2.92 extra).

You also won’t get reduced products – one of my favourite ways to save at the supermarket.

You can’t collect loyalty points

A small point, but you won’t be able to use any loyalty schemes. So you can’t collect your Nectar points or use your MyWaitrose card to nab extra discounts and so on.

Extra discounts

I’m often getting emails or notifications from both apps saying I can get 50% off my groceries order or £10 off, so it’s worth looking for these.

However, don’t think this will make your basket cheaper! Since items are already more expensive and there are extra charges on top, you might find you’re only saving a few quid if anything at all. Plus the reduced range means you might be struggling to meet a £40 minimum order of things you actually need. Don’t be tempted to order things you don’t want or need just to reach a discount threshold.

If you’ve not used either before then these welcome deals will give you an extra saving on any order (including takeaways).

• Free £10 on your first Uber Eats order with code eats-5ngkw (min spend £15 before delivery)
• £2.50 off each of your first four orders on Deliveroo (promo via link)

The pros and cons of using takeaway apps for groceries

Pros

• Quick delivery
• An alternative way to get delivery if all direct slots are full
• Lower minimum order total cost than going direct

Cons

• Limited range of products
• Increased prices
• No special offers
• Extra service charges

Should you order groceries from Deliveroo and Uber Eats?