Grocery shopping tips during Coronavirus quarantine #3

[PayrollNerd]

I trekked over to Publix at 4pm because I finally got to the point I needed some things for recipes. It has been awhile since I had gone. It wasn’t too busy and thankfully, everyone was wearing masks. My bill was $80 and I had $35 in gift cards. Yay!

It is a good thing there were no arrows on the floor. I was all over the place. I haven’t been hungry today. I can’t seem to find anything that appeals to me. I’m not nauseous either. I’m worn out now tho!

 

[mickey2942]

I just put in my order for Albertson's pickup today. This is really saving me a lot of money. I am a total "impulse shopper".

 

[PayrollNerd]

I put together some ingredients from the food handout. So yummy. Ham, turkey, cheese, spinach, tomatoes and bacon on a sub roll. I’m calling it food prep for the week because the ham is 3 lbs, the pack of turkey is 2 lbs! I won’t need to cook for days.

 

[mickey2942]

I just put in my order for Albertson's pickup today. This is really saving me a lot of money. I am a total "impulse shopper".

Meh, it is worth it, totally. The potatoes, I would have passed on, and might take them back. Every thing else was fine. Shopping is such a chore for me. Exhausting. This, click, click, done. Drive over and pick up the groceries. No extra cost.

 

[JDG]

Put in my second order to Walmart for groceries, being delivered on Tuesday morning. Yay!

Did not order any chocolate this time, gotta get those sugars down.

Not saving much money, I just keep on clicking away!

If you do a pickup but get there a bit late due to traffic, is it a problem??

We have a subway being built on the main drag from my place to Walmart and there can be major disruptions.

I'm also getting dead dawg lazy and prefer to have the groceries brought to the porch as my back is playing me up something awful.

Is it worth the delivery fee? Opinions appreciated.

 

[Yesiamapirate]

Put in my second order to Walmart for groceries, being delivered on Tuesday morning. Yay!

Did not order any chocolate this time, gotta get those sugars down.

Not saving much money, I just keep on clicking away!

If you do a pickup but get there a bit late due to traffic, is it a problem??

We have a subway being built on the main drag from my place to Walmart and there can be major disruptions.

I'm also getting dead dawg lazy and prefer to have the groceries brought to the porch as my back is playing me up something awful.

Is it worth the delivery fee? Opinions appreciated.

Porch delivery is very convenient. Whole Foods by us delivers for free. I do tip well.
And I too, am getting dead dog lazy!!

 

[mickey2942]

Porch delivery is very convenient. Whole Foods by us delivers for free. I do tip well.
And I too, am getting dead dog lazy!!

We don't have Whole Foods here, they deliver free to my Mom, so I order for her. This may sound awful, but I sort of love how all stores have gone to curbside pickup and delivery free.

There is no problem picking up a bit late, or even early.

 

[JDG]

We don't have Whole Foods here, they deliver free to my Mom, so I order for her. This may sound awful, but I sort of love how all stores have gone to curbside pickup and delivery free.

There is no problem picking up a bit late, or even early.

Thanks Mickey, good to know that if you dont exactly hit the time slot its not a problem.

With all the construction and an occasional detour, no guarantee about arrival, just a guesstimate!

I dont think its awful to love this new shopping mode; my limited experiences have almost won me over.

Why would one ever want to be in a store again, esp. during a pandemic?!

 

[LadyL]

I'm with you guys. I LOVE grocery pickup. One store here is $3, one is $5 and I think it's free right now at Walmart.

 

[JDG]

Walmart order is awaiting pickup.

This time I have a couple of questions about 'substitutions'.

Ordered two sweet potatoes and am getting one.

Ordered four bananas and am getting ONE.

I like bananas!! Are they being rationed now???

Does this seem 'odd' to anyone else?

Dont know if I should call customer service or not, they might take away my ONE banana!

Anyone??

ETA: Called customer service and they say there was a 'glitch in the system'. hmm
My robotic shopper was having a bad night??

 

[kalvis]

Walmart order is awaiting pickup.

This time I have a couple of questions about 'substitutions'.

Ordered two sweet potatoes and am getting one.

Ordered four bananas and am getting ONE.

I like bananas!! Are they being rationed now???

Does this seem 'odd' to anyone else?

Dont know if I should call customer service or not, they might take away my ONE banana!

Anyone??

Too funny! We like bananas too.

I did the same thing when I started doing grocery pick ups. It probably has something to do with the unit of measure Walmart uses. I use a local grocery store pick up and they use quantity vs. pounds for unit of measure.

Hope this helps or maybe someone else will jump in with a better solution.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Walmart pickup was terrible. Store is consistently out of items and got wrong items - which they require you to come in the store and take the items to the customer service desk. No thanks.

I won’t use Instacart because of things I observed either in the store or in the parking lot. Eating and then touching the groceries selected, putting the bags of groceries in back seat sandwiched between three young children who were putting their hands in the bags, pulling out items, etc. No masks on. No cleaning of hands, wipes, hand sanitizer.

The grocery stores here let maskless people shop - employees at the entrances don’t say a word if you don’t have a mask on. Don’t even offer them one.

We have 5 grocery stores close to home.
Only one offers curbside pickup. Of course, it is the highest priced store.

Curbside is nice for stock/standard items.

 

[JDG]

Ontario is about to go under more strict lockdown, the rules will be given out today.

One of the 'ideas' is to shorten the hours for grocery/necessities shopping!!!!

Do the 'brains' who make the rules not realize that that will make the stores more crowded and the lineups outside longer??

We won't have to worry about COVID if we are freezing to death in the lineups, eh?

I'm definitely going to find a green grocers where I can dash in and buy some fresh fruits, like bananas.

Dont care what they cost, so long as its a quick trip in and out.

 

[JDG]

Walmart pickup was terrible. Store is consistently out of items and got wrong items - which they require you to come in the store and take the items to the customer service desk. No thanks.

I won’t use Instacart because of things I observed either in the store or in the parking lot. Eating and then touching the groceries selected, putting the bags of groceries in back seat sandwiched between three young children who were putting their hands in the bags, pulling out items, etc. No masks on. No cleaning of hands, wipes, hand sanitizer.

The grocery stores here let maskless people shop - employees at the entrances don’t say a word if you don’t have a mask on. Don’t even offer them one.

We have 5 grocery stores close to home.
Only one offers curbside pickup. Of course, it is the highest priced store.

Curbside is nice for stock/standard items.

Thank you for this information, very helpful.

I won't use Instacart because you need an app and I have yet to use Apps.

Good to know there is little to No sanitation requirements. ugh

 

[Panhypopit]

I finally use Walmart shopping to get some things like eggs and some things we needed... she packed the eggs next to heavy stuff and bam... got home with broken eggs... next time I will not leave and get eggs inside with me. Live and learn! But it was easy! Early on the subs were brutal, we ended up with about 100 tortillas... no more!

 

[MimosaMornings]

Thank you for this information, very helpful.

I won't use Instacart because you need an app and I have yet to use Apps.

Good to know there is little to No sanitation requirements. ugh

I have family and friends that love instacart. My cousin works in a grocery store so I get his observations.
Some areas/stores are strict on mask wearing and some aren’t. Not everyone has my standards on hand washing/sanitizing.
It really depends on where you live, what is available and your personal preference.

 

[kalvis]

Ontario is about to go under more strict lockdown, the rules will be given out today.

One of the 'ideas' is to shorten the hours for grocery/necessities shopping!!!!

Do the 'brains' who make the rules not realize that that will make the stores more crowded and the lineups outside longer??

We won't have to worry about COVID if we are freezing to death in the lineups, eh?

I'm definitely going to find a green grocers where I can dash in and buy some fresh fruits, like bananas.

Dont care what they cost, so long as its a quick trip in and out.

I can relate to your concern about shortening grocery store shopping hours. It only causes a crowding issue. The brains who make these rules probably aren't doing their own grocery shopping. (My apologies if I offended anyone)

I live in a small town of only 20,000 people and approx. 36,000 in the entire county. We only have 3 grocery stores (Walmart, Save a Lot and Jay C's). The closest larger city is 45 minutes driving distance. With more people eating at home because of the pandemic, all of these stores are extremely busy all the time.

If I need only 1 or 2 items (bread or milk) I will run into Dollar General.

There were talks early 2020 that we were getting a Aldi's but that has not happened yet because of the pandemic.

Sorry for rambling. I am home from work waiting on my covid swab results. I tested Saturday because of cold symptoms. I seriously think it is just a cold. No fever, just sore throat, cough and congestion. Actually feeling better!

 

[Panhypopit]

We got an Aldi nearby and it has been super for us as it is small, not super busy when we go and set up post COVID so it has lots of safeguards built in. Most everyone is wearing masks, and they have stuff to clean the cart and your hands... but you get idiots who let the clothes hang off the end so the fluid lands on the floor...
plus most of the food has been great... the main issue has been the German chocolate is way way too good and bad for the waistline!

 

[PayrollNerd]

Produce pick up this morning was very quiet. Very few cars in line. I could hear the volunteers talking about how surprised they were at the lack of cars. They had dozens of bags of produce stacked up. It is rather dreary here today but not particularly cold.

Everyone got 2 bags and a package of 2 heads of iceberg lettuce.

One bag had a papaya and a carton of mushrooms. Neither of these are something I can eat. I will share them with a friend.

The other one had a small mesh bag of Brussels sprouts, a little mesh sling of garlic, a package of romaine lettuce with 3 small heads in it and a head of celery. All of this we will use.

I’m really glad I picked up a small bottle of Olive Garden dressing at Publix. Plus I put Lima beans in the crockpot at 6am. Making cornbread to go with them. Yummy.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

I didn't think to mention this earlier in the pandemic, but I get a lot of my groceries from Azure Standard.

They are a distributor with warehouses in north central Oregon. They also have farms and grow their own veggies, seeds and garden starts in springtime, and flour among many other items.

They deliver to all over the USA, or nearly so.

One can place a personal order to be shipped UPS (I think it's a $400 minimum so not something for regular use, but perhaps an annual stock up of bulk staples etc.) No frozen or chilled items that way obviously.

But many towns have a monthly Azure Standard buying club or group where the minimum order applies to the whole group so individuals can opt for as much or as little as they want. And produce, chilled and frozen items can be bought this way.

Prices are not low as these are largely organic items. But it's a good way to buy in bulk, especially for those of us who live rurally and our little stores don't carry organic, or bulk sizes.

And now with the pandemic it's a way to avoid going into grocery stores.

For anyone who wants to look into it they can be found at azurestandard.com