Do you think grocery shopping online is a luxury reserved for rich people with personal assistants? I used to too, but now, I swear by it. And it’s a lot cheaper than you think.
When I came home from work tonight, I was tired, cranky, and starving. I wandered over to the fridge to see what to cook for dinner tonight, and stared into the void that was my icebox. Nothing stared back at me because I hadn’t had the energy to go to the grocery store this week, and the idea of sitting in those weeknight supermarket lines really, really stresses me out.
My attention traveled upward to the freezer, where I pillaged for whatever food I could get my hands on. An old bag of peas. A freezer burned ham hock of unknown age and origin. A box of Trader Joe’s enchiladas. Fail.
As I sat down and started clicking through GrubHub, about to order an expensive high-salt, high-fat meal on wheels, I remembered something: GROCERY DELIVERY. But that’s only for rich folks, right?
Wrong.
It turns out, grocery shopping online has come a long way since I first looked up PeaPod back in the 90s. Back then, it cost a good chunk of change to have food delivered from the supermarket, and I remember thinking, “Wow, it must be nice to have someone just drop off your groceries without having to lift a finger. Someday, when I’m rich and famous, I’m going to have to give that a try.”
Enter the $4 Personal Shopper
Flash forward to right now: I’m neither rich or famous, but I get my groceries delivered at least once a week… and it only costs me about $4.
Working hard pays off in many ways, but it generally wrecks havoc with your eating habits. Grocery shopping is the last thing I want to do after a full day of The Hustle, and if there’s no groceries, there’s no cooking healthy meals. And that’s why Instacart was a game changer for me.
Tell me the truth: does going to the grocery store often feel like a big old bucket of fail?
If you’re like me and find it tough to carve out the time and energy to brave the aisles at your local supermarket, think about doing your grocery shopping online. There are many services out there, including Google Express and PeaPod, but I know and love Instacart because they only charge $3.99 for delivery if you order over $35 worth of groceries. (Plus, here’s a $10 off coupon. – note, affiliate link!) During the week you can order within an hour or two of delivery, or you can schedule hours or days in the future for that perfect primetime delivery slot.
It’s super handy to sit down and plan out all your ideas for dinner for the week, then enter the ingredients directly into Instacart’s shopping list and have the groceries just show up at your house. There’s no hurry, no stress, and no impulse buying (that’s a big one for me, especially at the grocery store). All you have to do it compare your online grocery shopping list to the list in your hand, click send, and voila! Done!
They’ll even do your shopping for dinner parties – including picking up a handful of artisan cheeses for a cheese plate.
Grocery Shopping Online Is A Game Changer!
I don’t know about you, but paying $4 to have someone else run around the grocery store and stand in that god-awful line sounds like a great deal to me. What’s your time worth? What’s your SANITY worth? Honestly, this one little thing has radically changed the way I go about my week, and made huge improvements in how I eat. Because instead of having a greasy pizza or salty Chinese food show up on my porch, I open the door to find apples, carrots, eggs, and chicken breasts instead. All fixins for a great home cooked meal that won’t make me regret my food choices.
(By the way – I’m writing this because I love Instacart. They in no way asked me to write this. I’m just sharing because really, it’s a game-changer for busy folks who can’t seem to make it to the grocery shopping, or spend their entire time there hating life.)
What are you waiting for?
This content was originally posted on FearlessFresh.com.