I know there are a lot of people out there who enjoy grocery shopping, who get energized by walking the aisles surrounded by endless ideas and food inspiration. But, you know what, I really don’t enjoy it. At times, I hate it. For starters, I am usually doing my grocery shopping with all four of my children in tow. And keeping them wrangled from skipping up and down the aisles, bringing me foods they’d like me to put in the cart and keeping the impatient baby happy, exhausts me. Then, there’s the checking out–watching that bill total go higher and higher, knowing that I’ll be back in another week spending all that money again, doing it all over again? It makes me weak in the knees. And then, once it’s in the car, it’s the unloading and putting away. Even with four helpers, it still wears me down. Grocery shopping is not my favorite thing.
So this summer, when a local grocery store began offering online grocery shopping as part of a store remodel and relaunch, I was the first in line. For the past seven weeks, I have converted to an online shopper. And while I have been in the grocery store once or twice since then, I have yet to do a major shop. I’m doing it all online.
Here’s the basics of how it works:
I go to my grocery store’s website, select my items and fill up my “cart”. When I’m finished shopping I choose a time slot to pick up my groceries. At the selected time I drive to my store, pull into a special lane in front where I’m greeted by a girl with a receipt. While I sign and pay (at my car) another grocery clerk is loading the groceries into the back of my trunk. It’s bliss.
So if that doesn’t sound good enough as is, here are 5 reasons why I’m a online shopping convert (and evangelist!), and 4 more things you should know before you shop:
It saves me money. (Roughly $30 per trip.)I have no problem saying no to my children. But in the rush to make my grocery shopping trips as quick and painless as possible, I don’t have the time or the mental energy to comparison shop. I tend to just grab what’s familiar or what seems like a good deal. The grocery store’s website tells me what’s on sale, and also includes the unit price beside each product. It’s quick and easy to see which chicken soup is the best bang for my buck.
I shop the sales. We don’t get a newspaper and I don’t get a circular for my grocery store. The weekly sale circular for my grocery store is online AND completely clickable! If there’s something in the circular that I’d like to purchase, I click on it, select the quantity and it goes straight into my cart.
They do a good job picking my produce. That’s the biggest gripe I hear about online shopping–”But I want to pick my own produce!” I get that, but I’ve yet to get a moldy head of cauliflower or a rotten grape.
I can quickly re-evaluate and remove items before I check out. As I shop, the website gives me a running total. When I reach a number that gets scary, I know that it’s time to reevaluate my purchases. It’s a whole lot easier to study my list for any frivolous purchases or things I don’t really need that are just adding to my bill.
It saves me time, energy and doesn’t make me grumpy. I think that’s pretty self-explanatory, right?
But even though I’m pretty much sold-out on the process, there are still a few things you should know, and a few kinks I’m working out:
It isn’t free. My store charges $10 for curbside service and $20 for home delivery. Though I only used home delivery once, on a particularly crazy week, my weekly bill still reflects savings despite the fee.
I can’t be spontaneous. My store requires a four hour lead time for grocery pick-up and only delivers on specific days of the week. I have to plan ahead.
Half a pound of broccoli isn’t enough. Ummm, apparently I’m no good at estimating. It’s taking a little practice to order the proper sizes of peanut butter or adequate amounts of fruit and veggies. In store I shop visually, and online I have to go with the numbers.
I forget to save my favorites. The store allows you to save your favorite items on an online list so that it is easy to re-shop for them on your next visit–except I keep forgetting to save things. It can make the online part a little more time-consuming. What I really wish is that the website kept a record of each of my orders so that I could tweak and reorder from them.
I know online grocery shopping isn’t for everyone. And it isn’t available for everyone either. But for me, with a big brood of kids in tow and a lot of extra stuff on my plate, this is one little luxury that’s saving me time, money and most importantly sanity.
So what do you think? Do you shop online? Would you, if you could? What tips do you have for online shopping or streamlining trips to the grocery store with kids in tow and a giant grocery list?
{About Molly, our Education + Learning blogger: She’s a homeschool mom of four and freelance writer that lives in a fixer-upper farmhouse in rural Maryland. You can find her at her blog Mommy Coddle, and on twitter as MommyCoddle}
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
If this was available in my area, I would totally use it. That sounds like a lovely dream!
I’ve been trying to find a grocery store that does this, but haven’t had any luck. I would totally do it! I know I would save time and money, and a lot of headaches.
I love peapod and fresh direct for delivery. Peapod is connected with Stop and Shop. I live in New York City so this is the only way to go it seems.
this sounds like heaven. our local grocer teased us with hints of online shopping, but it never came to fruition.
Ooooohh man, for a brief while peapod delivered in Atlanta. Having that handsome peapod guy bring groceries into my kitchen was like a PG rated fantasy for this mama
I decided just yesterday to start doing Amazon.com autoship for a few of my staples so I can spend leas time in the store. No stores here offer this or I would be all over it like stink on poop.
I don’t have that option either were I live, but I go at night or on the weekend when the hubby is home to watch the kids! It is my Time Out! And he gladly lets me since I am home all day long with the kids!
This does save me time and money as I can walk up and down the isles by myself and the kids are not asking for things or running off!
We just started using Amazon Subscribe & Save, and I love it. We went back over our grocery receipts to figure out how often we buy things and for how much, and we were able to figure out whether it was a deal to buy online and how often we needed to get another shipment. It costs nothing to sign up, which is great!
I use Peapod and whenever I do it I feel guilty, like it’s so luxurious it has to be wasteful. But then I actually shop, and I nearly ALWAYS spend $30-$50 less than I would in the store, and they deliver it to me and then BRING IT IN MY HOUSE! So really, the $6.95 delivery fee (even when i tip the delivery guy $5 each time!) is practically free. I wish I could get over my guilt that it’s too easy, I think I’d actually save a lot of money! They have lovely produce, too.
My dad shops online for groceries. But that’s because he’s basically agoraphobic now. He rarely leaves his house. We were living with him for 3 years and I did all the shopping. He has a bad back and is in pain all the time so he doesn’t go any where (maybe once a month he’d get his hair cut or go to the store). Once we moved he had to figure out how to get food and his car barely runs. So he shifted to online shopping.
I have no clue if it’s available here. We only buy store brands so it would have to be through a local store and we go to the cheapest place which is Wal-mart (as much as I hate that store). Safeway is way too expensive for us to do a majority of our shopping. Same for Fred Meyer. We buy our meat, most of our frozen veggies and household stuff at Costco because it’s the only economical way to get the stuff with 5 kids. Produce and items we don’t use often we get at Wal-mart and 90% of the time we buy their brand not name brand. There are only a few things we buy name brand.
I avoid shopping with the kids and always have. When they were babies/toddlers/little I shopped when my husband had off (which was during the week) or before/after he went to work. Which ever was easiest. If the kids came with me then my husband was there, too. Now I don’t drive (long story) so to get to the store my husband has to drive us so he goes with us. We shop while the kids are at school (since he still has off during the week) so it’s just the baby with us. In the summer they usually come with us but they are no longer required to stay by us. They are 11, 10, 9 and 5 1/2 and I usually send them off to look at the toys or video games. Or they are several aisles away drooling over stuff I would never buy them. They don’t beg or ask for stuff because they know they won’t get it.
Usually, though, it’s just me, hubby and the baby or the three of us and our 5yo because she only goes to school 3 days a week. It’s really not an issue for me. If my husband ever gets the issues with our vehicle straightened out so I can drive again then I’ll do the shopping alone on my husband’s days off like I always did before.
Yes, yes, yes! You can also bring your coupons to pick up and Viola! You saved your $10 fee (and sanity)! I love online food shopping!
That sounds awesome!! Which store do you shop at? I have only heard of delivery services separate from the grocery store- and they charge a large fee
Hi Brie,
I shop at a store called Shop Rite. I’m pretty know it’s a chain, but not sure if it’s regional-specific.
I wish they would do this where I live at. With 5 kids this would be awesome for me!
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