Grocery shopping tips during Coronavirus quarantine #3

[killarney rose]

We do this with each of the grands. Its their special time of one on one with them.

 

[JDG]

Just put in my first grocery order for Walmart. Thought it would end with a confirmation email or some sort of notice that I had finished. But it has not, just a hint that I can keep shopping for 90 minutes.

What should I expect now? An email? Nothing to show that the order 'went through' but I dont want to resend and get twice the 'stuff' at twice the price. lol

Anyone?

 

[Chelly]

Just put in my first grocery order for Walmart. Thought it would end with a confirmation email or some sort of notice that I had finished. But it has not, just a hint that I can keep shopping for 90 minutes.

What should I expect now? An email? Nothing to show that the order 'went through' but I dont want to resend and get twice the 'stuff' at twice the price. lol

Anyone?

You should have gotten an email by now. Go back to your order and scroll down to bottom page to make sure you hit the Submit tab.

 

[Chelly]

The tab may say Place Order, but I think you may have missed a step. Confirmation email usually arrives immediately after placing order.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Just put in my first grocery order for Walmart. Thought it would end with a confirmation email or some sort of notice that I had finished. But it has not, just a hint that I can keep shopping for 90 minutes.

What should I expect now? An email? Nothing to show that the order 'went through' but I dont want to resend and get twice the 'stuff' at twice the price. lol

Anyone?

I’ve never done a Walmart order. I have found confirmation emails in the Junk folder. I also look on my online bank account to see if the charge is pending. A few times, the rain seems to drown the internet and the confirmation email shows up later than expected. In that case, I find my email comes thru quicker on my iPhone than on my laptop. No idea why tho.

 

[JDG]

Thank you, thank you and thank you!

I got sooo excited at the idea of not having to stand in line ups in the freezing rain/snow that I did not complete the process.

I needed to Place Order but stopped after confirming my cc number and phone number.

If this goes according to plan, I may use it forever or until we are out of COVID times.

 

[JDG]

I have had a number of regular deliveries from Walmart and always got a confirmation email almost immediately so knew something was amiss.

So happy that they'll bring cat food/litter and other items, saves me a ton of time and energy.

Once the weather is better, I may even try the pickup services.

This very much reminds me of my mothers catalogue shopping, everything was delivered to the house. She rarely shopped unless it was clothing that she wanted to try on.

 

[PayrollNerd]

I have had a number of regular deliveries from Walmart and always got a confirmation email almost immediately so knew something was amiss.

So happy that they'll bring cat food/litter and other items, saves me a ton of time and energy.

Once the weather is better, I may even try the pickup services.

This very much reminds me of my mothers catalogue shopping, everything was delivered to the house. She rarely shopped unless it was clothing that she wanted to try on.

That is a safer alternative for you anyway. Even without C-19, navigating in bad weather with big bags of supplies can be dangerous. Now you will only need to get them from your vehicle to your home. Stay warm!

 

[ButForFortune]

We have been doing the majority of our grocery shopping online at Walmart since the beginning of all this and have been pleased. Regarding substitutions - their policy (provided it hasn't changed recently) is that any substitutions are never billed at a higher price than your original choice. We have often actually received much more expensive items (such as a 5 pound bag of apples or oranges instead of an unavailable 3 pound bag, name brand items instead of generic, etc.) charged at the cheaper price. At least at our Walmart they seem to be pretty efficient at the substitutions.

Other stores do not seem to have this policy in effect. An example is that our Ralphs (already a rather expensive grocery store) will charge you the price of the substituted item and sometimes a little sticker shock is involved when you see your final total.

 

[JDG]

ButForFortune, I tried to get Walmart delivery/pickup in the spring but the time slots were impossible to book.

Is there a 'trick' to booking one?? I would sit online at the top of the hour as the slots opened but they were gone in a flash. Once the lineups get long, more and more people will revert to paying for delivery from Walmart.

Gave up and used a boutique grocer nearby who will deliver if you spend $50 and at their prices, its easy to spend $50 but without the selection.

Many used App deliveries but I dont use apps.

 

[killarney rose]

I went to the WM app after lunch today to place an order. Today was full, but tomorrow was completely open. That is the day i was wanting.

 

[JDG]

That is a safer alternative for you anyway. Even without C-19, navigating in bad weather with big bags of supplies can be dangerous. Now you will only need to get them from your vehicle to your home. Stay warm!

Having the groceries delivered, so just have to get them from the uncovered porch to indoors. Its pouring down, so I hope to be quick! lol

Was impressed that there was only one substitution. Got a text at 6:58am but at least it gives you a chance to decline their choice if need be. It's chocolate, so it's okay!

So far, so good!

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

DH will make his once-monthly trek to Costco today. He would ordinarily go on the weekend, but now that he's retired, he thinks a weekday will be less crowded. I rarely go to Costco because it is just too big for a pleasant shopping experience. I would never be able to manage the large packaging by myself, and I don't even enjoy being in the cavernous store when I'm with DH. I don't particularly care for Meijer, either, and have not been since last March.

We don't get much food at Costco - mostly canned tomatoes, olives, artichokes, pasta sauce, etc. that I use frequently. When they have their delicious sockeye salmon, DH usually gets a couple of packages for the freezer. Costco is also good for personal care items, cleaning and paper products, OTC meds, Perrier/bottled water, etc.

? for those who are doing grocery delivery: Are you likely to continue online ordering/delivery when the pandemic ends?

 

[Yesiamapirate]

DH will make his once-monthly trek to Costco today. He would ordinarily go on the weekend, but now that he's retired, he thinks a weekday will be less crowded. I rarely go to Costco because it is just too big for a pleasant shopping experience. I would never be able to manage the large packaging by myself, and I don't even enjoy being in the cavernous store when I'm with DH. I don't particularly care for Meijer, either, and have not been since last March.

We don't get much food at Costco - mostly canned tomatoes, olives, artichokes, pasta sauce, etc. that I use frequently. When they have their delicious sockeye salmon, DH usually gets a couple of packages for the freezer. Costco is also good for personal care items, cleaning and paper products, OTC meds, Perrier/bottled water, etc.

? for those who are doing grocery delivery: Are you likely to continue online ordering/delivery when the pandemic ends?

I have been loving the convenience of grocery deliver. But I cannot wait to go back to my old way of shopping. I use Costco just as you describe above. But I used to only buy what I needed fresh for a few days. We shopped on a regular basis at stores like Nino’s. Holiday Market in Canton, Whole Foods, Agricole Farm store, People’s Food Co-op and the like. I have never been a real fan of the big grocery store.

 

[MimosaMornings]

I will probably do a hybrid of curbside and in store shopping since my favorite lower cost stores do not offer delivery or curbside.
(I tried instacart and had multiple issues)

 

[JDG]

BDE, if the delivery service is as good as I've heard it is, yes I will continue to use it.

Our next adventure is the pickup service. Might end up with a hybrid of both, depending on the driving conditions (winter weather) and the amount of construction. The subway will be completed, some day.

TO is undergoing a LOT of construction and some days its just not worth taking the car out.

We let our Costco membership expire, it was just not worth it for the two of us but it was great when the children were still at home.

I did enjoy seeing items that are not available elsewhere but COVID has given me a whole new appreciation of why we should not be in crowds of people, sharing a store space with 300 strangers etc.

Dont even ask if I'll be going on a cruise anytime soon! lol

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

...Dont even ask if I'll be going on a cruise anytime soon! lol

In a normal year, DH and I would likely be in "cruise countdown" mode for our annual late January-early February sailing to escape Michigan winter for a week or two and celebrate my late January birthday. Next month, we would also have been celebrating DH's retirement, and we had long planned a Mediterranean cruise for our 50th anniversary next June. Neither trip will happen due to the pandemic, and we're not even sure that we'll ever feel safe on a cruise ship in the future. We get periodic calls from a Princess cruise agent encouraging us to take advantage of fantastic deals on cruises with lots of perks if we book now for a cruise in 2022. No amount of enticement is going to work for us at this juncture, and if we lose the benefits of our future cruise deposit, so be it. The $100 per person deposit is totally refundable if we don't book a cruise by January, 2022.

 

[killarney rose]

I will continue to use grocery pick up at WM. I have a back story there. I worked for them for a long time. A year before i quit, the company changed. Doing things to make us long timers quit so they could replace us with part timers. I have a lot of anger towards them, they hurt a lot of faithful employees. So on principle, i have boycotted them all these years.

the few times i have gone in to shop the store has gone downhill so much. Not well stocked, no one to help if needed, no cashiers, just self checkouts. We used to be the number one store in the district.

I’d leave with my blood pressure pounding, it just wasnt worth the aggravation. But this grocery pick up is a whole new story. That is at my convenience and i like it a lot. It makes up for all the annoyance of in person shopping so i will definitely continue to use it unless things change for the worse with it.

 

[PayrollNerd]

I will continue to use grocery pick up at WM. I have a back story there. I worked for them for a long time. A year before i quit, the company changed. Doing things to make us long timers quit so they could replace us with part timers. I have a lot of anger towards them, they hurt a lot of faithful employees. So on principle, i have boycotted them all these years.

the few times i have gone in to shop the store has gone downhill so much. Not well stocked, no one to help if needed, no cashiers, just self checkouts. We used to be the number one store in the district.

I’d leave with my blood pressure pounding, it just wasnt worth the aggravation. But this grocery pick up is a whole new story. That is at my convenience and i like it a lot. It makes up for all the annoyance of in person shopping so i will definitely continue to use it unless things change for the worse with it.

I don't go in our Walmart much at all, even before Covid. It is a dirty store and their produce is lousy. If Walmart is the only place I can find something, then I'll pop in, not get a cart, just grab what I need and leave. There are a few other Walmart stores in a 15 mile area and they are much cleaner but very busy too.

 

[killarney rose]

I dont buy WM produce or meats.