For a very long time Stuart has been the shopper in our family.  Not that he likes it, but it was necessary.  We also had someone cook for us for over a year, when we had this service she did the shopping for what she made and we just had to pick up other necessities, that really helped, but over the past few months I’ve started cooking again.  Even with my increased symptoms I’ve been able to keep this up;  I say “I”, but actually, we cook together most nights, it’s just more fun that way.  Grocery shopping was once again totally Stuart’s responsibility.

I have been able to go to the grocery store with Stuart, most of the time, but it just takes so much time and he has a lot of responsibilities outside of that.  I was feeling pretty guilty that I couldn’t go on my own.  I really wanted to take some of that responsibility off of him.  So I looked into ordering our groceries.

This started when we I took him on our weekend getaway.  I found out I could order groceries locally and have them delivered to our house.  It was great!  For the first delivery the fee was waived, however, I was expected to pay a tip.  After that first delivery it was just too expensive to pay the fee and a tip every time I ordered groceries, so I started searching for other options.  Different stores offer different options so I did my research.  The grocery store we use most often offers both delivery and pick up.  You can order your groceries online and either have them delivered or pick them up at the store.  Picking them up is cheaper, and it is really not a big deal for us.  Stuart just drops by and picks them up on his way home.  He doesn’t even have to get out of the car.  It cost about $5 each time, or $99 a year.  After we tried it for a little while and saw that it was a good fit for us, we went ahead and paid for the year.  We get groceries every week so that is a pretty good deal.  And we are not expected to tip.

Each week we plan out our menu and I order it all on line.  You can give your shopper notes to make sure you get just what you want.  For example, I can ask for green bananas if I want, and if I want part of my bunch of bananas to be green and part to be ripe, I can have that too.  Most of the time I have been very pleased with the produce I’ve received.  There have been a couple of times that I wasn’t thrilled, but I’m not sure if it was the shoppers fault or if that was all there was to choose from that day.  I make sure and give more detailed notes now, I let them know if the produce isn’t at it’s peak, I’d rather pass that day, or they are authorized to get a different variety.  (like if I order a regular cucumber, they can substitute a hot house one…something like that)

This has worked out so well.  We save money because we aren’t picking up things we don’t need.  I have the sales right there in front of me, so it’s easy to see when things we normally use go on sale and I can stock up on them.

It does have a few hurdles.  Not everything on their site has the ingredients listed and that’s really important to me.  So sometimes I have to Google it.  It can be harder to compare items to make sure I’m getting the best bang for the buck. Sometimes there are things I know they carry, but they don’t come up when I search.  If I really have a hard time with that though, I message my shopper and just have them pick it up for me.

Now if it were just easier to meal plan.

Have you tried ordering your groceries?  What was your experience?

Do you have any tips for meal planning when there are sooo many food restrictions we have to consider?

Good Eating everyone!