With the current lockdown, I am so excited that I don’t have to leave my home to purchase essentials for my family since Uber Eats is now delivering essentials through their app. This means I can now spend quality time with Maddie before dinner while waiting for my order from the app to arrive at my home in under an hour prepped and ready to be popped into the oven.

I put the app to the test this weekend and ordered a frozen meal from one of our favourite Italian spots here in Umhlanga and once again Uber Eats has lived up to its ability to fit into our lives with such ease.

Uber Eats has partnered with a number of stores in South Africa so depending on your area you can order groceries, medicine that doesn’t require a script, frozen meals, fresh fruit juices and ready-made healthy meals to toiletries, household goods and vitamins.

There are about four different stores within our area that we could choose from including; Old Town Italy, Baseline Health, The Pantry Convenience Store and Willy Wonka. So a nice mix of heat and eat options, health items, everyday items including cereals, noodles, dairy products and cakes as well as a sweet shop for those sweet cravings!

The app is so easy to use – you are able to filter for the right essentials so that exploring is easy. You can look up stores according to specific items such as household cleaning, fresh fruits and vegetables, and milk. Each store also has a list of goods available including product description, price and some even have pictures of what the products look like.

Ordering is as easy as: 

1. Finalising your order and reviewing your basket.
2. My favourite new feature on the app is the Contactless drop-off. In light of COVID-19, you can request a no-contact delivery by simply selecting the delivery option ‘Leave at the door’ at checkout to reduce interaction.
3. When everything looks right, just tap place order–and pay. The delivery fee is a minimum of R25. Uber Eats is promoting contactless transactions and is only accepting payments by credit or debit card so you don’t have to worry about paying when the delivery person arrives at your door.
4. You can then follow your order in real-time in the app. First, you’ll see the grocery or convenience store accept and start prepping. Then, when the order’s almost ready, a delivery person will go to the store to pick it up. Next, they’ll drive to you. You’ll be able to see their name and photo and track progress on the map.

Once he hoots, buzzes or knocks, open your gate to let him drop off your order at your door and avoid contact when retrieving your order. What blew me away was the delivery person took a photo of where he left our order and sent it to me on the app. We had no interaction at all, only a Thank you through the window! There is also an in-app chat feature which allows you to communicate with the delivery person if need be. And you are able to tip the driver once he has left via the app.

Delivery times might vary depending on the hours of each store but standard operating hours of delivery are between 9 am to 5 pm and the delivery is rarely longer than a 40/45 minute wait depending on the demand of the service. Our order took a quick 20 minutes to arrive at our home.

We were super impressed at how quick and easy it was to browse the app, select our order, place and pay for our order and have it delivered to our home in a quick 20 minutes with no face-to-face contact with the driver! A big thumbs up from us and I cannot wait to utilise the app again during the lockdown period and beyond.

 This blog post is a paid partnership with Uber Eats.