Online Grocery Shopping: A Review

I feel kind of lame writing a post about grocery shopping, but that's just where my life is at right now so I am going to embrace it.

BACKGROUND
Before I review the process of ordering groceries online, let me start by explaining my current process. For as random and unorganized as I am in general, I actually have this area of my life down to a predictable routine. I typically plan meals for one week at a time. I'll sit down on Sunday morning or afternoon and make a list of what we're going to have each night and what I need to buy. Then I'll circle everything I need to get at Walmart (basically whatever Aldi doesn't carry), head there, then finish out the trip by going to Aldi, then home. I go on Sundays so I can go without children.

A $1 steno pad, cut in half. The groceries go on the left, the meal plan goes on the right. Yes, that says "Tim yogurt".  

I like meal planning and getting it all over with in one day. I forget things sometimes but for the most part I feel pretty prepared. Some weeks I struggle to figure out what we should eat, and sometimes nothing sounds good so it takes longer.

For the past several weeks, I've been receiving emails from Walmart saying that they have a new online grocery shopping deal and that I should try it out. The emails have included a coupon for $10 off, and the service is free. I just have to pick up the food. I have been exhausted this week with all the house stuff, going out of town, and a poorly-timed cold, so I decided to finally give it a try.


THE "SHOPPING"
I sat down last night around 10pm and started adding things to my cart. I'd started a partial paper list so I added those items first. I've used Walmart's Savings Catcher program for a while now and because of that, they already had a small list of items I typically buy started for me, which I thought was very cool. I found the shopping experience to be very easy. I was able to create a list of favorite items, which was useful. I had the option of shopping by department or searching specific items. I mostly searched and it didn't take too long.

I liked how it kept a running total of how much I had spent. I try to do this as I am shopping, but I am not very good at mental math and it's hard to juggle a calculator and a grocery list while pushing a cart. I have a ballpark of how much I want to spend each week and I liked being able to tell how close I was while I was shopping. I was also happy to learn that I could add items like cat litter and vitamins to the list too.

When I finished, it was time to pay and schedule a time for pick up. Before I paid, it asked if there was anything else I wanted and showed a few items that I've bought in the past. I decided that yes, it would be good to have a couple of these things, so I added them as well. Then I paid with my debit card and scheduled a pick up time. I was a little confused about this initially because it was a one hour slot, but further reading showed me that my food would be ready by the start of the pick up time (in my case, 10am) and would be ready until the end of the window (11am) after which it would be put away. I was told I'd receive a call when it was ready. I went to bed kind of excited that I had finished my shopping from, well, my bed.


THE PICK UP
So this morning around 9:25, I received a call that my groceries were ready. I was surprised because it was 35 minutes before my pick up window. Luckily that wasn't a problem. I told them I would be there in about 15 minutes. Unfortunately for me, I went to the wrong Walmart (I'm special like that) and then I had to call them and let them know I'd be late. The lady laughed and told me it had happened before and that she would wheel my food back into the refrigerator. The correct location was quite a ways from my house, but it is very close to our church so if I want to try this again, I could schedule a pick up time for right after church so we could pick our food up on the way home.

When we finally got there, I parked in a reserved spot and called to let her know I was there. She came right out with my food and I helped her load it into the trunk. She told me that two items were not available so I had not been charged for them. It wasn't a big deal, but it would have been cool to have been able to substitute. One of the items was a package of blueberry yogurt and I would have been happy to sub in a different flavor, if that were an option. She presented me with a goody bag full of random sample items that we probably won't ever use, and I was on my way. I wasn't given a printed out receipt, which would have been handy for checking things over, but I do have a receipt in my email and could have done that.

The Freebies were pretty lame, but this little bag is cute. 

Lexi and I unloaded everything and it seems that everything was there. We noticed that they used a TON of bags, but I can see that some people would be picky about loading things separately. We Franzens are pretty simple creatures who like to make the fewest possible trips from the car to the kitchen so we tend to cram as much as possible into each bag. It's not a big deal because I will use the bags for cleaning out the litter box.

Holy bags, Batman!

PROS
+ Shopping from my bed! When I felt like it!
+ No herding children through the stores
+ Easy!
+ Free pick up
+ Can potentially free up 1-2 hours of my Sunday afternoons
+ Favorites list makes shopping quick
+ It was easy to compare prices between generics and name brands
+ Got $10 off my first order


CONS
- It's kind of a trek from my house unless I plan strategically
- Website was a little slow
- Substitutions? The FAQ says there is a way to substitute but I can't figure it out.  Before checking out, you can select whether or not you want to allow substitutions for each item, HOWEVER, it seems these substitutions are more about size/quantity of a specific item rather than flavors.
- Have to buy everything at Walmart
- Doesn't work with Savings Catcher  It DOES work with Savings Catcher! They provide a code to enter into the app.
- Timing. Picking up early wasn't a problem today but could be in the future.


THE VERDICT
Overall, I was very pleased with this process! I was really not looking forward to shopping this week and this certainly made it easier on me and the kids. I could see myself working on the list throughout the week which would streamline things even more. I'm not sure if I can give up shopping at Aldi altogether, but for busy weeks like the ones we've been having, this could be a real time saver, especially if I strategically schedule the pick up for a time when I'm near the store. I think I'll try it again.

This post was brought to you by a helpful cat.