So, for some reason a few months ago, I received an email into my inbox inform me that Ocado were now delivering in my area. I guess I must have signed up for alerts way back and totally forgotten, but in any event, I decided to have a bit of a nosy on their site and see what they had to offer above and beyond my usual Sainsbury's delivery service.
For those of you who don't know, Ocado is an online supermarket who deliver to your door.
Being a vegetarian, mainstream supermarket options can be a bit limited at times, although granted ranges are improving generally, and so naturally this was my first port of call on Ocado's site.
There is heaps, and I mean heaps, of veggie options. Stuff I'd never before seen or even heard of. Types of fake 'meat' that I'd never tried before, basically it's a bit of a treasure trove for all things veggie (and vegan).
You could be forgiven for thinking that this post is sponsored, but nope. I just genuinely love the service and wanted to share some of the great little deals and also some of my favourite products with you.
So to start, Ocado always have great deals on, whether that be insane 3 for 'x' pounds, their three month free delivery pass, a certain percentage off or free gifts (shout out to my tea towel and chocs), you'll always get these deals emailed to your inbox when you sign up. I also love the returning of carrier bags scheme - you get money back for each bag returned (even from your previous orders) which is awesome because is anyone else who gets home delivery literally SWIMMING in bags?! You need them to take the food into the house because there is literally nothing worse than unloading those crates without, but then they just sort of sit there.. Props Ocado.
On to my favourite bit- FOOD. I love food.
First up- THE BRAND NAME - Pieminister. I got these by chance as a substitue to the same filling but from Square Pie as they were out of stock (you can turn substitutions on or off) and I laughed so hard when I saw the name. It was also a lucky twist of fate really that these were substitutions because they are soooo much better than Square Pie's offering (sorry Square Pie, you served me well for a time but your day in the sun is over). They have little sesame seeds on the top which I love and go perfectly with some parmentier potatoes on the side.
The BEST veggie bacon I've ever had. It even looks more realistic than the rest with little fake pieces of fat on. That probably sounds a bit gross to some but it obviously doesn't taste like fat (because of course it's not real fat) but that aside if you are getting weirded out by it, it taste blooming great. And it's done in a frying pan in couple of minutes too - so you absolutely have time far a 'bacon' butty before you rush off to work.
Another VegiDeli one (which FYI I believe is a vegan brand). I've had mock duck from a chinese once before and I was not about it. It felt rubbery and weird and tasted like.. well not much. I LOVE these pieces. I fry them for a few minutes then stick them on tortillas with cucumber, spring onions and lashings of hoi sin sauce. So good.
I've never liked Quorn burgers. I find them to taste quite plasticky and chemically. I instead usually stick to Linda McCartney, HOWEVER, we have a contender with these guys. I love sticking cheese on mine, and again they're fried in a few minutes, so very convenient. Also the shelf life of these, as with most, if not all, of Ocado's veggie stock is bloody brilliant. I find Sainsbury's fridge veggie stuff tends to have about four/five days tops. These all have weeks, if not a month, and that's great because food wasteage sucks.
It's not too long since Quorn started selling their vegan fish fingers which I was all over initially because since they discontinued their "fish" pie years ago, I'd had nothing of a similar texture. These guys though - great. Perfect if you want to do a vegan take of fish and chips, fuss free - oven for about fifteen minutes if I recall correctly and really tasty.
Ocado also stock Waitrose Food. I love these cauliflower bites. I appreciate that not all veggies/vegans like 'meat' substitutes and this would be my top pick, alongside the pie (sorry for the cheese vegans), for those of you that's applicable to. I love cauliflower. I think these are awesome. Not enough people give cauliflower a fair chance.
I've never been one to preach about being vegetarian, and if you are cool, vegan; cool, neither; great - you do you, but I do know how tricky it can be to get variation sometimes when you're shopping in regular supermarkets (and if you're unfortunate enough to only live near a spar, good luck getting anything more than quorn mince once a month when they have about three bags delivered), so hopefully this might help. Any new vegetarians and vegans - get yourself on to Ocado, it's so much easier these days than it used to be to avoid meat, but still keep variation, over eleven years ago when I made the switch.
If you don't like the idea of meat substitutes, as I mentioned earlier, there are so many other great choices on Ocado that will suit you too. I personally don't have an issue with meat substitutes; I stopped eating meat because I felt bad, so for me, no meat in whatever shape or form is a good thing. I know some people don't like the taste or texture of meat, while others take the view of "if you don't want to eat meat, why eat anything that resembles it?" - totally fine. Still so may choices.
And if you do eat meat - Ocado has loads of that too, and general groceries. It's worth checking out in this instance for the great deals they always have going on.
Anyone else hungry now?..
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