When you can’t make it into the grocery store, the ability to have your weekly haul dropped into the trunk of your parked car or delivered to your door is crucial in making sure the fridge stays full. I have been relying on grocery delivery service since my days in Prince George’s County, MD when Peapod first hit the scene and I didn’t have a car. With three growing school-aged boys, a stocked fridge was a must.
Over time, my need for a delivery service is more out of convenience than necessity. Even more so now with the current COVID pandemic. With two more kids added to the mix, including one that is home full time, playing kiddie carpool between work meetings and keeping up with a toddler leaves very little time to shop in-store. With a staple grocery list that is slightly tweaked weekly depending on my meal plan, I can easily save my favorites and quickly add things to my cart and check out with time to spare. Here are my picks for grocery shopping services I’ve used over the years.
Grocery Pick Up
- Walmart – While I love the savings I get at Walmart, it isn’t my favorite store when it comes to my usual mommy getaways. But when I saw pick up being offered at my local store, I immediately jumped on it. Just tell the app you are on the way, park in a numbered space, and open your trunk. It’s that easy and takes less than 10 minutes.
- Kroger – Kroger is my least favorite grocery store, probably because their stores aren’t the prettiest I’ve seen. However, I give huge props to Kroger for coming up the curve fast when it comes to providing alternative options for customers. It’s pick up service is just one of the new features I am loving about Kroger. Another is their new Kroger Wallet app.
- Target – I didn’t think Target could do anything wrong, until I started using their Drive Up service. Don’t get me wrong, I still love cruising up to their drive up stalls and imagining the honk sound my arrival gives to alert the customer service team to bring out my order. My issue is they don’t offer everything in their grocery aisles for pick up, including frozen foods and refrigerated items. However, if you need to grab some bread and a new tinker toy for the little one riding around with you, I highly recommend using Target’s Drive Up service.
Grocery Delivery
- Instacart – Instacart is what I have been using lately for my grocery shopping, opting for two week hauls instead of my usual once a week (hello pandemic). What I love most about Instacart is being able to order from multiple stores for delivery in one shopping click. I even took my love to the next level by making it official with a delivery membership. For just under $10 a month, I get unlimited deliveries and no service fees. Plus you can shop your local Sam’s Club without a membership card (having a membership provides additional savings on items). For $10 off your first Instacart order, click here!
- Walmart – Walmart is, once again, on my list of favs again when it comes to grocery delivery service. With a minimum of $30 per order, Walmart can bring your groceries to your door for a small delivery fee. If you love using their service as much as I did (if Instacart didn’t offer Sams, I would still be using Walmart delivery), take the plunge and sign up for their Delivery Unlimited membership for $12.95 per month or $98 annually.
- Shipt – I’ve used Shipt a couple of times through my Target app, and the service was great. With no delivery fee for orders over $35, it’s a sweet deal. On their site, the stores in my area were a little different, with Costco replacing Sams, but overall it was the same selection as Instacart. The main difference between Instacart and Shipt is when you order online, Instacart offers a sort of guest check out for those who don’t want to sign up for their membership. Instead of free delivery, you pay a standard delivery fee (or sometimes no fee at all if there is a promotion). With Shipt, the only way to get your free delivery is to sign up for their program at $14.00 per month.
Produce Delivery
While I haven’t taken the dive into produce delivery as of yet, a few of my friends have been raving about the ones that they’ve tried, and since I’m all about sharing in the knowledge – here you go.
- Misfits Market – Misfits Market offers ugly, organic fruits and veggies delivered directly to you for up to 40% less than grocery store prices. My good friend has been using this service for a while and has yet to receive an “ugly” piece of produce, but it may be where she is located since offerings are locally sourced. Hopefully if you use their service you can save some ugly produce from becoming food waste.
- Imperfect Foods – Imperfect Foods runs on the same concept of Misfit Markets, only it also provides conventional produce in its offerings with a little more flexibility on your choice selection. I am all for their mission to eliminate food waste, which is a huge problem in our country.
- Local Harvest – Local Harvest is great in that it connects you with local farmers in your area so you are not only buying farm-fresh produce, you are also supporting your local economy which is extremely important. They even have listings for Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs, which work the same way as the online produce companies only you will be linked directly with the farmer who is supplying your produce.
There are so many ways you can fit grocery shopping into your schedule, even without leaving the house. Hopefully one of these top 9 grocery delivery services will work out for you and your household.
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