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Supermarket Christmas delivery slots are opening - when can you book yours?
Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda have revealed when you can book
All the major supermarkets, including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco, have now announced their Christmas delivery slot dates.
With the festive season approaching, it’s time to mark your calendar and secure a slot for your grocery delivery if you're an online shopper.
Here, we reveal how to book your Christmas food delivery and how you can save money on your festive shop.
Which Christmas delivery slots are available to book?
Asda
Asda has opened delivery booking to all customers.
The minimum online spend at Asda is £40 for delivery and £25 for click and collect.
Orders can be delivered or collected from 20 to 24 December.
Morrisons
Morrisons has opened delivery booking to all customers.
The minimum online spend is £25.
Orders can be delivered between 20-24 December. The final day to place a new click-and-collect order for turkey is Monday 16 December.
Ocado
Ocado opened Christmas delivery slots to members with a Smart Pass, its paid-for subscription service, way back in September.
Slots were gradually released to non-subscribers online after this date.
Delivery slots booked for 20-24 December will have a minimum spend of £90.
Smart pass members who signed up after 2009 usually have to pay for Christmas deliveries from 20-24 December. However, anytime Smart Pass customers can get a free delivery voucher. To qualify, you need to sign up via the email you receive by 30 November to get a voucher that entitles you to up to £9.99 in delivery charges.
Sainsbury's
Sainsbury's has opened delivery booking to all customers.
Order can be delivered or collected between 18-24 December. You can only book one delivery slot during the period.
The minimum online spend for festive home deliveries is £40 and for click-and-collect, £25. Changes to your basket can be made up to 11pm the day before your delivery or collection is due.
Tesco
Those with an 'anytime' or click-and-collect delivery pass can book their slot from Tuesday 5 November at 6am. If you don't currently have one of these passes you have until 11.59pm on Monday 4 November to sign up and still get early access.
Slots will open for everyone, including those with an 'off-peak' delivery pass, on Tuesday 12 November at 6am.
Christmas orders will be delivered or ready to collect up to and including 24 December (or 23 December for stores not open on Christmas Eve).
Waitrose
Waitrose has opened delivery booking to all customers.
Its Christmas delivery slots run from Friday 20 December to Tuesday 24 December.
Each slot costs £4 with a minimum spend of £40.
- Find out more: which are the UK's best and worst supermarkets?
Should you pay for a delivery pass?
If you regularly have your groceries delivered, it can work out cheaper to buy a delivery pass than to pay for deliveries each time you shop.
These passes often give you priority booking for Christmas delivery slots.
| Supermarket | Anytime delivery pass monthly cost | Midweek or off-peak delivery pass cost |
|---|---|---|
| Asda | £6.95 | £3.95 |
| Morrisons | £8 | £5 |
| Ocado | £8.99 | £3.99 |
| Tesco | £6.99 | £3.99 |
| Sainsbury's | £7.50 | £4 |
- Find out more: how to spend less at the supermarket
How to save money on your Christmas food shopping
Follow these tips to help bring down the cost of your festive food shop.
1. Shop at the cheapest supermarket
Each month we compare the UK's biggest grocers to reveal the cheapest.
Discounters Aldi and Lidl are unfailingly the winners, but if you prefer the range of a bigger store and the convenience of online deliveries, Asda is a good bet.
- Find out more: cheapest supermarket 2024
2. Get cashback on your spending
You can earn money back on purchases if you use a cashback credit card. Just remember to pay off your full balance each month to avoid cashback gains being wiped out by interest charges.
Some debit card providers also offer cashback. Chase, for example, pays 1% cashback on everyday debit card spending for the first year after opening your account.
Alternatively, shopping via a cashback site such as Quidco or TopCashback could be worthwhile - just make sure you go via the cashback site link before making your purchase, or it won't be registered.
- Find out more: cashback sites explained
3. Make the most of loyalty cards
Most supermarkets offer loyalty schemes and many - including Morrisons More, MyWaitrose, Sainsbury's Nectar and Tesco Clubcard - include lower prices for members on selected items. They usually also allow you to collect points when you shop, which you can then convert into money-off vouchers.
Tesco Clubcard vouchers double in value when you spend them with its reward partners, and Nectar points can also be used with around 300 other companies.
- Find out more: loyalty cards compared
4. Check out Christmas saver schemes
Many supermarkets have Christmas saver schemes which allow you to save throughout the year when you do your weekly shopping, then claim a bonus to spend during the festive season.
Asda, Co-up, Iceland, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all offer schemes with bonuses ranging from 3-6%.
- Find out more: best supermarket Christmas saver schemes
This article was originally published on 24 September 2024 and has since been updated with new information as more supermarkets have launched their Christmas delivery slots.
