Did you know that you can go to HEB website, pick out your groceries, pay for them, and for a small fee, someone will deliver these groceries to your door?
…
THEY BROUGHT MY GROCERIES TO ME.
I didn’t have to go out, I didn’t have to wrestle with the awful San Marcos HEB parking lot, I didn’t have to fight the car traffic driving up to the store or the human traffic inside the store, and I bought exactly what I wanted without any impulse purchases such as odd-colored cheese nobody will ever eat.
I saw Asian Pears on the website and I thought, “Ooh, I would love an Asian Pear,” and I bought them and now I am eating an Asian Pear someone brought to my doorstep last night. Delivery tastes delicious.
I bought local Texas honey for Gordon – he is still sick – and mushrooms, and pork ribeye so I can make him Russian otbivnie. (Okay, so technically it’s schnitzel, but we call it by the Russian name.)
I am a domestic goddess.
I don’t know what sorcery is this, but I am so down with it.
Giant grocery stores have that, too, with their Peapod service. My mom used to do that the last few years of her life, which worked well since she was home to receive the groceries. They brought them right into the house. I think overall she was satisfied, although you’re a bit hit-and-miss with vegetables and fruit. I can’t remember if they took coupons on the website.
Overall, it saved her from driving, parking, using a motorized grocery cart, and so on.
Take a look at the imperfect website. https://www.imperfectproduce.com/
I not only buy my groceries online through whichever grocery stores appropriate for my location (almost all major grocery stores have a minimal cost or free delivery service at this point in urban areas). I buy my produce from these folks. I have to tell you the number one reason why something is in perfect is it is the wrong size or surplus. Don’t know about you but I’m perfectly okay with not round tomatoes, small avocados, or too many heads of lettuce ordered in return for very good quality at discount pricing…and delivered to boot.
Thanks for sharing this link! A lot of the produce the local food pantry I work at is not “perfect.” Which is why it is donated…
Just started Imperfect Produce. The other service I use is Crowd Cow which I haven’t really price compared against the grocery store but it lets you know the supplier of your meat.
Thanks – sadly they don’t operate in NYC yet but I will keep my eye out. I’ve always thought it was a bit insane to require a fruit or veggie to be perfect – especially if I am going to cut it up anyways.
My dad did all the household chores until he died, and my mom used Peapod from that moment on. I’m not sure she’s physically grocery shopped more than a handful of times in her life (she had also never pumped her own gas, my dad made sure the car was always gassed up for her). I just can’t justify it where I’m living now — in Wien, you’re never more than a couple blocks from a grocery store, and specifically for us, we have 5 within 2 blocks of our apartment building. Someday we’ll get a house outside the city and I will totally indulge.
My sister says that she will never again do another Walmart grocery store run without doing online purchase. She has two kids and says nothing is more time saving than placing your order online….. Driving up to the online pickup parking spot….and the nice person walk it out to your car without even getting out…..and that is the Walmart level of service.
Highly recommended for anyone with young children.
I think some of our local stores have delivery services, but I’m nit-picky and I choose all our produce and meat personally. I am so glad you found it, though! I hope Gordon is at least improving by now!
Go on and be your wicked domestic Goddess You. Get well!
+1!
+2
+1
+1!!
+1
Life saver when you are backlogged or sick. Enjoy!
YAY! Enjoy your domestic Goddess-ness. I use HEB, In Houston, TX and Cypress, TX the fruits and veggies have always been 90% good selections. The few times they got it wrong in the past year, they credited me for the items and didn’t question it at all. I wish you all better health and don’t stress out over catching up, we know you have deadlines but you risk relapsing…please don’t relapse. Hugs and get healthy wishes.
+1
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I started using instacart during my last round of radiation/chemo and got hooked. It is so easy to order and have it delivered. I have also reduced impulse buys. It’s awesome.
Some stores also have a curb side pickup service where you order online, then pull up to the marked spot in the parking lot and they’ll load your car without you having to go inside. I haven’t tried it yet, but definitely plan to since I hate shopping, especially between Thanksgiving and mid-January.
Mine has a service where you can place your order and it will be ready to pick up when you get there too. Currently mine is about a block away. I’ll miss it when they tear down the mall for the 8 condo towers going in. Unless the market drops out which could happen if interest rates go up again.
??
Yes it’s very handy and they really don’t give the customer the bad groceries as that would be a bad business decision. Caveat: if it’s through Instacart they have also increased the item price but the buyer can sort the display by price and, like you said, miss more of the impulse items. Also the double buys, do I have enough oil? Well I can check my cabinet to verify that!
I haven’t had to brave the HEB parking lot or the masses inside the store in like 9 months. Life changer! I am trying to limit myself to only going in person to H-E-B for the holiday meals. My only complaint is their timeslots fill up fast. I use Shipt when I just cannot wait! Best. Thing. Ever.
Enjoy! You deserve every perk!!
Our grocery stores have pickup and/or delivery. An entrepreneur has started a a service (NOT GrubHub – we are too small) that delivers from about 40 restaurants. You can pick food from one restaurant or several – for a small fee. They will also pickup your groceries from the stores that have curbside pickup and deliver them to your door. All this has happened in the last six months. WHY COULDN’T THIS HAVE HAPPENED 18 MONTHS AGO? I was suffering from a broken pelvic bone, could barely walk much less drive, and hated asking for help. As a result, I ate peanut butter crackers and lots of pizza. The only restaurants that delivered were pizza.
hahahaha, “what sorcery is this…”
Enjoy. and thanks for the smile.
+1
YAY FOR ONLINE SHOPPING WHEN YOU ARE AS SICK AS A DOG! I used Prime Now through by Amazon when I was sick last month. Got my elderberry syrup, electrolyte aater, more tea and lemons to put in my tea. It’s such a wonderful thing when you feel too sick to leave the apartment. I find instacart really pricey but I live in Brooklyn and the supermarket is a block away. I really can’t justify paying extra.
Apologies for the typos
Grocery delivery, and even pick up as you wait in your car in the lot, are gifts from the Gods, especially to working people and those who are sick. I bless whomever thought it up.
From the UK, I am always puzzled by this and thought, for a long time, that Americans didn’t have this service. We are lucky enough that some supermarkets will even deliver for free above a certain spend (which is relatively low and easy to achieve with a 2/3 person family.
Glad you found a way and you are happy with what you are getting! I was worried last week when you said you were sick and still had to drive to the store to do the groceries.
Laughing out loud over here. You always put a smile on my face Ilona. Keep the random comments coming 🙂
+1. Think of sunshine and it will make him feel better.
Heh! I agree that online grocery shopping is an absolute and complete godsend…. and not just when sick and/or under stress…
Here in the UK, thankfully most of the supermarkets have an online delivery option which makes life so much easier. In our case, I have two ‘standard’ lists with ASDA, which is a UK supermarket that Walmart bought, that I use (these are my choices that I have in my online account): the usual one consists of bulky ‘standard’ non-perishable stuff (dog food, cleaning items, toilet paper, kitchen roll, tinned tomatoes etc) that I use once a month or so. The other one is my ‘stress list’ of food, non-prescription medicines etc., which I only use when ill/massively busy. Whereas I usually prefer to use local and small retailers/local markets for fresh food (and I recognise that I am lucky to have this option, even though it is time-consumption), when illness, family problems or work deadline strike, not having to think of going out for shopping is such a bonus.
So glad that it has worked for you. I have lived in parts of the UK where long trips for food and other shopping items were the only option. A whole lot of no fun when ill.
Mmmm… ‘time consuming’, not ‘time consumption’. That’ll teach me to post on my phone….
Yaaasss! Makes such huge difference in my life too. Our stores will do delivery or drive up pick up. When I actually go to the store I always greet the picker introduce myself and say thanks. Gas in our town is $4.13 gal for my big machine do it’s very worth it.
That’s awful! Don’t know what town you are from, but our gas prices have been around $2.41, sometimes lower, this past week, though it does go up and down.
My friends long ago jumped on the grocery delivery bandwagon. I still love the tactile engagement of the whole process and sometimes being led to an item might not consider if I only encounter it online.
PS highly recommend Amazon subscribe and save chewy.com too. Free shipping great prices. Win wi.n all around. Really cannot face creating go bag lists for me and three animals in case of wild fires. Ugh.
Stay safe! I hope that you don’t have a problem.
It is fabulous sorcery and I love it! It seems like we are going back in time where grocery stores deliver and give more personalized service. Nice!
Domestic Goddess, you rock!!
I been thinking about the grocery delivery service in my area. It would cut down on the I’ve just left work so I’m starving and grabbing random crap that I really don’t need.
Schnitzel? I miss my Russian grandmother’s schnitzel with homemade noodles. My mother never got the recipes; language barrier and well, lots of other issues my mom had.
Mushrooms pork and noodles sounds wonderful.
I started using Kroger’s Clicklist about a year ago and just tried their new option for delivery. I literally got my order 2 hours after submission. Their app is awesome and easy to use. With 3 young kids and a husband that does shift work this is AMAZING. Really helps me stay in my budget and as a bonus Kroger started sending me paper coupons in addition to the ones online that actually cater to what I buy. Last week I cut $40 off my bill just in coupons on stuff I was already going to buy. When I drive to the pick up I just had them all the coupons that apply to my list and by u adjust the receipt right there. I don’t get out of the car to load or anything. Their produce is always good- but I do write in the special instructions to be specific when asking for the furthest ‘best by’ date otherwise they just grab the one in front. Have only had one item that wasn’t good. Plus I add up all my points and have gotten up to 90 cents off per gallon of gas. Every little bit helps- especially when your trying to buy healthy or organic for a big family.
I’ve been doing that for the last 2 years with Woolworths here.
Is excellent.
I keep effusively espousing the benefits to anyone of my acquaintance who’ll listen.
As you say – helps to fight impulse purchases. Also :
* no hassle with having to travel to the shop yourself, deal with parking, dealing with trolleys, walking around the shop etcetera (arthritis);
* you get to find out specials with a click of the button. Specials you likely would not have seen walking around the shop sticking to the aisles you usually stick to. Something to be a little treat every other fortnight or so. I like to buy some squid jackets every now and then to make my own salt and pepper calamari. ;
* you can take a few hours to get away from your computer screen, review your order in your head, then come back and make any adjustments before you finalise it (helps with that impulse purchase thing, and also to keep the finances under control);
* if Woolies or the product supplier has snapped a picture of the labeling you can take time to check out the nutritional information, or even the preparation instructions and whether you’ll need additional ingredients. I’ve changed my favorite hot beverage because I discovered my previous one was basically sugar and salt. The new one is basically straight cocoa. ?.
The plastic bags situation is a bit of a worry. Previously I developed my reusable bag habit to a fine art. Now it’s all plastic bags again. I keep handing bundles of them back to the delivery driver for recycling (they do actually recycle – so they say – not use them with other customers – there’s health & safety reasons why they can’t) but they’re still overflowing my bag cupboard. They do offer a shop-to-bench service, but I don’t like allowing outsiders into my personal spaces and the kitchen counts as my personal space.
Karen above mentioned schnitzel. I’ve been having regular schnitzel again after not having it for years – the specials/search function is truly marvellous! You can see pics of them and work out which ones have the better crumbing, and which ones are real meat not reconstituted shit, keep an eye out for specials. Freakin’ awesome!
The coupons situation is irksome. They keep trying to encourage me to make weekly orders. I order fortnightly. Frequently getting coupons to encourage me to order by the end of the week is freaking annoying.
Also … bundles? All they are is the same product at the same price in bundles of multiples. Why….? Why would I bother?
Still. Love it!
Lol we do that too.
Stress free shopping .?
Wonderful invention
I think my local grocery delivers to your car, which I may take advantage of soon because the dog goes with me to work every day and it’s getting too cold to leave him in the car while I run errands, which means I tend to go a couple weeks without going to a proper grocer and instead do my food shopping at the Dollar General :/
Brilliant. I love food delivery services – especially if you know a storm is rolling in and you don’t want to fight crowds at the store! I <3 delivery!
peapod, here, is quite a bit more expensive. we just recently got the order online and they bring it to your car option, of course now that my kid is 5 and shopping with her isn’t quite as much of a nightmare. i’d have given A LOT for this service a few years ago…
my first shipment from imperfect produce arrives this week and i’m pretty excited about it.
Amazon primenow is wonderful. Delivery 2 hours after order from local whole foods! No delivery fee above $40.
I like Peapod too, especially for holiday cooking. Make a list and it all shows up in your kitchen, not just at the door. I
We use Instacart for our groceries and Amazon for most everything else. I am an in-home family caregiver for my deaf-blind octogenerian Grandmother and when I discovered Instacart, I too felt like a domestic goddess. Delivery FTW!
Respect. That is one tough job – you and your grandmother are lucky to have each other.
Thank you! She is amazing and I’m glad to spend as much time with her as I can.
I’m lost – what is a Russian “schnitzel” (or an American “schnitzel”)?
“Schnitzel” is the pinnacle of clichéd Germanness of food – apart from overcooked cabbage and “Eisbein” (yuck!). Trawling for “Russian Schnitzel” on German recipe websites resulted in a marriage of two clichés:
“Schnitzel” with beetroot sauce, sour cream and a garnish of caviar 🙂
Hi Irvel,
I googled for “otbivnie rezept” & found this:
https://www.kochphilosophen.com/otbivnie-geklopfte-schweinspl%C3%A4tzchen/
Yummy!
For us, schnitzel was always a thinly cut, tenderized pork chop (no bone), breaded, pan fried and served with a yummy mushroom gravy. Pork loin would be nicer, but it was more expensive when I was a kid. We’d generally have purple cabbage cooked with apples, onions and a hint of cider vinegar. Plus mashed potatoes. There are other gravies that I’ve had at various friends’ houses, but I love the mushroom best. Comfort food, in short.
My mother (who’s from Texas) just calls it “chicken fried”.
That sounds a lot like breaded pork tenderloin which I get and love at a local Bohemian restaurant!
I used to shop online and pick up at the store. I could sit in my car and read while they brought my groceries out. LOVED it! I could double check my purchases to make sure I didn’t miss something, check my pantry to see if I actually needed something, put stuff back if I was over budget, peruse the sales and check my coupons.
Only reason I don’t do it anymore is that I have to schedule a pick-up time and that pick-up time is usually 2 days in the future. All of today’s and tomorrow’s pick-up times are taken.
HEB Rocks.
Amazing magic indeed!
We use Walmart and Jet for most of our dry goods and boxed groceries (cereal). It is 50% or more less than in our neighborhood. We tend to buy other items locally. Of course for that it means walking between 1 to 8 blocks depending on the store (and carry it all back). No cars or parking for us in Manhattan.
I know!!!! I ❤️ HEB! It’s one of the best parts of living in Texas. I discovered this magic after I had my last baby. It was from God. I’m so glad you got a little break and happy magic!
We have this as standard in the UK it’s amazing no need to get out of bed to do your food shopping ?
We have a regional grocery that has delivery service, and also curbside pick-up. I have a coworker who stops for pick-up on his way home from work.
I like the idea… but haven’t mastered the art of shopping for food items in online format. How do you know how big the thing is? What if there’s something tasty that you miss because you didn’t walk past it?
No thanks, which I know will put me in the bottom 1%. The only kind of shopping I like is grocery. I love to see what’s on special and taste test the wine of the week or the new food item. And farmer’s markets are just plain fun. I do most of my other shopping on line as it’s just too annoying going from store to store to store to find the item I want, be it a blouse or sd card. But I can definitely see having food delivered if you’re sick! I do remember dragging myself out one weekend years ago to Walgreens and being so thankful I could also buy a damned can of soup (I usually make it, but I was way too sick and out of my own, drat it). So go for it!
+1. Grocery shopping is the only kind of in-person shopping I like too… But my grown daughters live together and the youngest (26) adores Amazon (she’s a Prime member so she gets her $$$ worth). And I benefit because they have so many deliveries that I now get the extra, insulated, sturdy, Amazon delivery bags, lol. Delivery is creeping into our house though, all of the dog food is delivered, and since my feet are only happy with very particular shoe brands, it’s easier to shop online for those. It seems to me that this is one of those things that has come full circle….pioneers went into town (rarely) and tried to load up when they came in….and many items came by mail order. I’m old enough to remember milk and cloth diapers (for baby brother) being delivered. Here we are again, using delivery more and more.
I love grocery shopping in a NEW grocery store (including an unfamiliar branch of a local chain but ESPECIALLY in a country I haven’t been to before), but I could just do without the weekly grind shopping. We have a butcher directly across the street and two open air produce markets by the two closest subway stations. All the stores send us circulars with the week’s special items (or we can look online), and two of the five grocery stores within 1,5 blocks of us have non-food weekly “specials”. Those are also the two we don’t generally shop at, so if I hadn’t been paying attention to the circulars already, I never would have found these (which, btw, come ONLY in adult sizes. They are in no way children’s slippers).
Cute!
I live alone and Instacart is godsend when I am sick (or when I simple do not want to face all the people at the store). I just have to be able to make it downstairs to open the front door.
And if groceries are too much effort, Doordash brings me ready made food.
OMG! I just love this, the utter enjoyment of something so useful and mundane. Like being able to order pizza and have it delivered to a spot my friends and I are hanging out at. Or calling an Uber to drive you to the store so you can purchase more liquor and get safely home, lol. (yes a single guyfriend of mine did that bcse he was watching Monday night football and had a couple of beers and ran out. He also Ubered through the drive through to pick up Taco Bell.)
Love it, Live it and then Laugh!
The local Wal-Mart Supercenter offers curbside pickup – I LOVE it! Order the night before – pick you time; you can even add to the order up to 2am the next morning! O_O Pull up – the staff load it right into your vehicle. Saves this single mom a little of what’s left of her sanity! LOL
Hope everyone gets feeling better at your home soon!
I’m reading all these accounts of online grocery shopping and delivery and I’m whining. One of my pet peeves is grocery shopping. Which is a complete bit of sniveling ridiculousness. I should be grateful I can go. So many can not. But, I live under a mile from the closest grocery, and two or three others within a mile of that. We only have two people in the house. I’m concentrating very hard on how I can justify this, and falling short. Damn it.
LOL
LOL – in our area the service is free – that’s an easy justification! 🙂
how about, delivery is 1) a space saver 2) allows you to buy fresher 3) a time saver 4) helps reduce your carbon footprint –maybe….
Thank you for the suggestions, all good. I’m making a list. Especially this time of year, grocery shopping can be vicious! If I don’t manage the delivery, I’m definitely trying the online order/pickup. The HEB less than two miles away has that. As I’ve shuffled through the store, I’ve seen employees filling plastic boxes loaded onto carts. I’m sure they are filling online orders. One of those will soon be mine!
I used to get a little homicidal during holiday grocery shopping, when the parking lot was full and people would park in the loading zones “just running in for a minute”. And of course everyone’s in there, so even if you are just getting a couple of things you’re going to be in line for a while, plus it’s better than even odds you run into someone you know and get to talking, and now you’re way past a minute, and I can’t get my car to the curb to load it. *SHRIEK* It’s always a Lexus or BMW or something equally expensive too, because those owners’ time is *so much more valuable* than that of the peasants with Toyotas or Fords or what-have-you.
Now that they have cart corrals in the parking lots, it’s less infuriating, except when they’re lined up so you can’t even get the cart out.
I will go you one step further. Where I am, for a small tip, the driver will deliver my groceries to my kitchen table for me.
I’m glad to hear that HEB was a good experience for you. It sux having to drag yourself to the store when you are sick. Also glad to hear that you are feeling well enough to cook. Take it as easy as you can manage. The world will still be here when Y’all are feeling better 🙂
The down side to living in the sticks in the mountains….very few places deliver. =(. But I applaud your domestic goddess ness!!! I hate shopping.
God bless HEB! (And having just used the San Marcos one, cheers for avoiding that parking lot!)
I’ve lived all over the US. HEB is hands down the best grocery store.
Lol I do this every time I’m sick. It’s the best!
Best thing ever! Enjoy
Here in the UK most supermarket chains deliver. I live in Scotland where a lot of the accommodations are apartments and not only do they deliver the deliver to my 4th floor apartment.
I used to travel a lot for work so I would be getting a Friday pm flight which would get me home between 2030 and 2100, so I used to order my delivery for the last slot between 2200 and 2300
Enough time to get home dump my stuff have a shower and my shopping would turn up. Easy
Our local grocery chain also does online ordering with a time slot to pick it up in. They bring it out to the car, too. One thing I really like is that they use paper bags with sturdy handles. After I’ve put the groceries away, the bags are available for me to load up with my recyclables (we have single-stream here) and I can just drop them by the grocery bagful into the recycling toter on my way out the door in the mornings. 🙂
It is not an option for those of us at the back end of nowhere? I am thinking I might be just a tad jealous ?
Just about all of our grocery stores have the home delivery option or you can go and pick up the groceries at the store. One store did it and the others had to follow through. I think this is wonderful especially for people who can’t get out easily. My concern is the employee’s choice of fruit/vegetables.
I work in the produce section and help the personal shoppers. The best thing you can do about fruit and veg is to be very specific with what you need. For instance each item usually comes with a comment section so I’d specify green bananas or peach: “will eat today need ripe” Salad: dinner in 3 days no close dated items etc. They do try to get you what you want but they don’t always know what that is.
I love the online shopping and pick up service. We relied on it for my Father-in-law, so he wouldn’t have to go out in the snow for groceries.
We did and still do get odd substitutions. Once I ordered three avocados and ended up with two pints of guacamole instead. Another time it was bok choy instead of green onions. I don’t snarl when it happens, just flip through my recipes and consider it a challenge.
I haven’t used the delivery option yet, as I still have an “errand boy” living at home. I did use the H-E-B curbside for buying my Thanksgiving meal last year, and will do so again this year, because it was so worth it. I hate crowds, so it is one of the most amazing innovations that has come along since they did it way back in the 50’s, or so my Mama says.
We live too far out for delivery, but pickup is almost as good. I LOVE it. I can order groceries in bed at night, and then sit in my car and wait for them to be loaded into the car the next day. And somebody else can pick them up, if I can’t. I had gotten to the point where I really hated to grocery shop. Now it is a pleasant experience. Hurray for online shopping!
I laughed so hard at this post!
I am trying to talk my elderly mother into using the delivery service. No luck yet.
So…does Dina like the idea of delivery?
I live in Peoria Illinois. I am 72 and have bad health. A groceries chain “Hy-Vee” offers the same service here. If you get over 100 dollars the order is free, under 100 is 5 bucks. I would wear my relatives out with store runs if it weren’t for them.
It is good to be the goddess! Enjoy and feel better, you and yours, soon!
I wish we had it where I live. As I work 84 hours a week, am single and live alone (except for my cat), I would dearly love for either grocery delivery or curbside pickup either one.
I can’t even get the in the store pickup here when I get off work as it is not available when I get off work at 3 am.
You know, Walmart has an app, you can shop online, it compares prices and refunds you the difference if you get something that goes on sale later in the month and they have a pick up service, so you don’t have to go in.
Not where I am at. I tried that. Walmart is the only thing even open when I get off work, other than 1 gas station in town.
Hehe, we’ve been doing this for months…and I don’t think I can ever go back. I can work AND shop AT THE SAME TIME! It’s awesome 😛
I am still spry enough to prefer picking out my own package of meat, my choice of vegetables and the carton of milk with the youngest use-by date. But for many folks that have to access to a personal vehicle, this is great.
So glad you tried the grocery delivery!
It’s the best invention ever, why would I ever go back into the store and deal with the carts that wobble, the crowded isles and bagging and unbanning the food when I got home.
It is a 21st century miracle ??
Oops unbagging ?
Grocery is the bomb! I really don’t enjoy grocery shopping and I figured out how to order for 2 weeks at a time with a short trip in between to pick up milk, etc. Enjoy!
I have 3 lil ones and am homebound so Shipt and Instacart have been godsends. I’ve also used Doordash for food delivery when we all got sick and nobody wanted to cook. We are usually a pretty frugal family, but the time it saves us when things are hectic in our lives more than makes up for it.
I catch myself thinking, “we are living in the future” more and more often lately. My 5yo texts his dad by dictating to Siri. He plays music by telling our living room speaker to “Hey Google, play Joe Hisaishi” and even gets her to translate words into Chinese for him so he can communicate with his grandma when they video chat. I can’t wait to see what the next few decades will bring.
I use the grocery pick up, all the time, at Kroger. Pick out what I want online, say when I’ll come then show up. I live too far out for delivery of anything. I just need someone to put it away.
I love it that these services are springing up all across the country and for those of us who are temporarily or chronically ill it’s a life saver. I use a combination of Amazon Prime Pantry for staples and Safeway delivery plus maybe one trip a month to pick my own produce and visit my favorite health food store for specialty items. I’m glad this saved you another trip where you had to cope with your symptoms while trying to focus on driving.
a technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from…
Oooh! Perfect. Groceries to my door…totally magic.
LOL
That and having OTC meds delivered when I was too sick to get out of the house to buy some. 🙂
I’m in love with grocery delivery as well. The only let down has been sometimes the fruit is sub-par. Like I’d never pick out for myself what they got me. But boy does it make my life easier in the dead of winter, because I don’t drive and groceries are a chore even in nice weather.
I’m too far out for delivery (13 miles to the nearest store-really rural), but I would use it in a heartbeat!
Offer a really big tip (at least $25) with a minimum largish order, ($100 or so) and they will probably either bend the rules, or someone will bring it to you after they end their shift. 🙂
I live in NJ and as far as I’m concerned, HEB is magical, even without delivery. I had a Puritan upbringing and find delivery just a little decadent though. I may get over it in a few years, who knows?
I am with you 100%, I’ve totally gotten onboard with online grocery shopping now I have a baby, especially now I’m back at work. I’m in the UK and all the big chains do online offerings. Most also have apps which are ace. My favourite has this cool thing where if you remember something after you’ve checked out, you can add it with one click, until a few hours before your delivery, you don’t have to go through the check out process again. Life changing in a first world way.
Its just a wonderful thing, especially when you are sick. Yay for delivery…and HEB even if they wont move closer than Burleson.
I’m in Washington state and Safeway delivers. If the load is big enough they will deliver for free! Good thing I am a progressive cuz that sounds a bit too much like communism 🙂
If I go to the foodstore on my own I rarely get what I intended but I always end up with high caloric substances. I’ve heard of things called “lists” but I’m not exactly sure what they are or what you do with them….
I’m moving to Eugene Oregon this week so I’ll have to find out if they also have “magic” there.
We’ve been doing curbside pickup for about 2 years now. It’s been the best thing ever. Not as good as delivery, but best thing ever. 😀
Good news for the weary and sickly laden!
Definitely the upside of technology, and such a godsend when you’re ill, can’t drive, can’t get a sitter, can’t bear arguing with your kids in the store…. The same skillset that makes for an organized corporate executive makes for an organized mother in charge of a household. More power to us! Save the energy wasted here for something more satisfying or rewarding 😉
They don’t deliver to my neighborhood. But curbside is almost as good. I dislike the fact that all items are slightly marked up from regular pricing though.
For shame, for s h a m e
Ain’t L I F E grand!
I don’t get Asian Pears, maybe i’ve never had a good one
But this you deserve revel, darling heart, revel
I had foot surgery last winter and was stuck in a chair for 6 weeks. I discovered my local grocery store had delivery and I could order on line. Instead of having to bother friends and family to shop for me, I could do it myself! And indulge my self when I was having a pity party and had a craving. Ice cream at 7PM? At my doorstep by 8PM.
YES! Grocery delivery is a wonderful thing. When my husband was working on our old house and all by himself, I could order his groceries and have them delivered to him from another state!
It’s also nice that they keep a list of what you’ve ordered, so you can just replicate a previous order and add or delete from it. And with Albertson’s/Safeway, they are really good about selecting good produce and fruits. Some don’t deliver beer, though. 🙁
We have a similar service here …. but when I ‘ordered’ my basic grocery list … Orange Juice, fruit, veggies, etc. I discovered that the prices were marked up … the OJ was marked up 40%!!!! And then there was that small delivery fee …
I aspire to being a domestic goddess …. but for now, I will brave the horror of the Wegman’s parking lot and the less than stellar customer service 🙁
Happy you are beginning to feel better. Hopefully, Gordon will rise from his sick bed soonest.
Take caer
Discovered the joys of this last year- aging parents (only one of whom drives), my own medical issues, and overall reluctance to go out- have made this a godsend. Fortunately, my area has several options available though I’d never heard of imperfect fruit or door dash for meals. Definitely checking them out.
Learned the hard way to be very specific regarding substitutions and still choose my own fruit & meats, even deli lunchmeats.
Staying with CVS because they’re the only truly 24 hour pharmacy in the area though it’s possible my life might truly be complete if only they delivered.
Speaking of CVS, I remember a very concerned young man asking if he could help me after I’d sat down (too weary/sick to stand) & spread every flu remedy in front of me. Looking up at him after coughing and wheezing in order to answer a mumbled “no dank you”, he backed away in horror and never returned. Only the flu I had last February was worse.
Getting my shot next week. Hopefully this year’s is more effective. Also best wishes that you all feel better soon.
I occasionally do grocery delivery, but have found it can be problematic. Say you want 1 lb of frozen bison, so you order it. But the store is out. Sometimes they will ask if you want to sub something for it, and sometimes they will not. (Ground beef will also work, but the recipe asks for bison.). If they don’t ask about a substitution, you can end up with all ingredients for a meal except the main one… which means you need to go out and buy it, thus negating the delivery advantage. Don’t get me wrong: I’m so there when I’m sick, but these issues tend to mean that sickness is the only time I use it.
So I loved y’all before for your writing – but now I realize it’s so much more. Finally someone understands me! My family and friends think I’m crazy but grocery delivery is easily one of the top ten things that has ever happened to me. #blessed
I did delivery when it was first available (I live in San Francisco in the heart of technovation so we first had delivery around 2000). Maybe it has improved since then? My frustration with it was lack of if/else (if there is this cheese, get it, if not, get this cheese. If there is this meat, get it, if not, don’t bother) and also the choosing of produce. (I can’t say 1.5 lbs of bananas, I need 6-8 medium to large size bananas, as green as you can get them, no brown blemishes). Also delivery windows were 4 hours long. I’d rush to get home by 5.30 in case they delivered that early, and then end up waiting around until 9.32. Annoying. But maybe I should give it another try.
We have Safeway delivery here in WA, but I mainly use Amazon Fresh for grocery delivery…is that not available all over the U.S.? I thought it was available everywhere, but maybe not. I live in the country, but surprisingly both Safeway and Amazon deliver to my little town.
I find that I spend a lot less on groceries since I started shopping online…no more impulse buying!
Nope, I live out in the middle of South Dakota in a decent sized town. I don’t even really get 2 day delivery with Prime. If I order on Thursday or Friday, I don’t get it till Tuesday. Back when I was in Arkansas I would even get deliveries on Sunday, so the no Saturday delivery, even if you pay for 2nd day, is a drag.
Amazon Fresh isn’t available in most of Washington state. I suspect you live in King, Pierce, or southern Snohomish county. My suburban area in Thurston county doesn’t get Amazon Fresh. Just saying.
Safeway delivery from Safeway is cheaper than Instacart but requires day before selection. Also the Kroger affiliate Fred Meyer is cheaper than Safeway when using Instacart so if your area has more than one option I suggest a little comparison work.
But Safeway Instacart gets access to more deli options. Sigh
Everyone makes their own decisions as to what is important, yes?
I love HEB and have used both their home delivery and curbside pickup. Keep your cell handy for either: For home delivery, if they have to substitute they will text you and you can text back your preferred alternatives, but you need to be prompt as they are moving quickly for you. For curbside pickup they will also text you and you can either text back to Remove the subs or have them Call you. With a call you can also pick and choose refusals or provide a Sub.
And, Wed to Sat they just eliminated the $5 curbside fee! There has been a small learning curve to manage it most efficiently on both sides but HEB is incredibly responsive in their customer service. I was also a little picky about selecting my produce etc., but I’ve never gotten any produce or fresh items that are below par, either.
I LOATHE the time lost to grocery shopping and also keep on my list much more from home than when in store, lol. So easy to reorder by pulling up prior lists, too. Love our tech toys!!
We have that here too through spud.ca and it is awesome!!! 🙂
We have delivery and I have used it a few times but you don’t get many of the sales and the prices are higher and you have a choice of paying like $6 per delivery or signing up for unlimited for about $100 a year. I tend to use the WalMart market since prices are the same as in the store and they bring them to the car and load them for ZERO (I am buying gift cards for a couple of them for Christmas since they “discourage” tipping) but when you are ill or injured and can’t get out, that delivery option would be a godsend at any price.
We’re one of those picky households that shops around and finds the best deal on the specific items we like and then go to multiple places for them (only three, but that’s still more than most people). Amazon Prime has been a huge help with that since a lot of items are even cheaper and will do same or next day delivery. Especially for those heavy items, like kitty litter, that can be a pain to bring up with all your other groceries to your second floor apartment. 🙂
I am a Instacart shopper in Raleigh area of North Carolina. I am not sure if H-E-B is a instacart since that store is not in this area. Ilona if it is a Instacart store you can also shop at Costco and Petco I believe. I am glad you tried a service like this. I hope your family feels better soon. BTW when I shop and drive i mostly listen to your books while i work. Today I finished listening to Kate Daniels book 7 then started book 8.
I LOVE HEB! We live on Kauai so can’t take advantage of this service. My sister works for them and they are a wonderful company to work. Great benefits!
Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, deliver over here and I hear Morrisons is going to start delivering soon. I haven’t done a ‘big shop’ by going to the actual supermarket for years. It. Is. Awesome. I love the internet. If I wanted to I probably wouldn’t ever have to leave the house.
Supermarket delivery in the UK is so common and has been around for years I just assumed it was that way everywhere. Stupid really the UK is of a size that even the out of the way places don’t take more than a couple of hrs to reach but I guess distance would be more of an issue in America.
Still if it’s coming in, you have a couple of interesting experiences awaiting. The yearly delivery fee. For a yearly fee over here (usually about the cost of 12 deliveries) you can have unlimited deliveries as long as the shopping comes to over £40. You will find yourself buying more just because you can.
This fee also also gets you priority access to the xmas booking slot. This is very important as these are much sort after slots to make sure your groceries are fresh for xmas. Mum sets her alarm for 11.50pm the day before the slots are due to become available and jumps on line to try to get the Christmas eve one she wants. Apparently she is not the only one because the Tesco website has crashed from overuse the last couple of years!
Glad your feeling better.
I live in the UK and buy all our meat from Donald Russell, in Scotland. The meat arrives frozen, in good size (one pound frozen hamburger, 4 sausages, etc.). Just unload and put in the freezer. It’s no more expensive than the best range in the supermarket. Only problem: sometimes, you’ve defrosted something put out in the morning and by evening, after a hard day, you just want to have chinese food delivered.
I’m UK too (London itself – never more than 5mins from a Tesco Local!) and we Brits love the delivery service. Home delivery is pretty much ubiquitous here for anything and everything. For grocery shopping in some stores you can even shop in store and then arrange home delivery of your shopping for later that day if it’s within the catchment area and over a certain amount. Ironically though if you’re in the Scottish Highlands where delivery would be bloody helpful it’s not on offer from most supermarkets!
Glad to read you’re a domestic goddess, Ilona! 😀
I’m probably one of the few people to say this, but I like going grocery shopping (I hear the groans from here…). I went with my mom when she went grocery shopping when I was younger, so for me it was time spent with her. The trick I use is to get up early in the morning on Saturday to go shopping. That way I can take my time and not get bumped into (and not get frustrated) by other people.
Fort Worth doesn’t have HEB. There is Central Market (which HEB owns), but I would need hazardous duty pay to go there (people are crazy with parking and going into the store…people are even nuttier).
The best ever thing when ill or knackered ???
I discovered grocery delivery a year ago and I’ve probably only been inside a grocery store 3 times since then! I love shopping in my PJs!
**Heads up, BDH. IRON AND MAGIC is in the finals of the Goodreads contest, Fantasy section. Be sure to vote.**
Anne in Virginia
I think about trying the grocery delivery service but I never do. Problem is, I still don’t feel like going to the grocery store when I get home from work so I end up with no groceries 🙁
LOVE this service (and HEB). Awesome to curb impulse shopping. Also saves me from the idiots that park in the middle of an isle so no one can get through, while they talk on their phones or to their friend they run into.
Good Flow is my favorite Texas honey. I know the family and they are awesome folks! I’m glad you guys are getting well.
You forgot the best part, you can shop in your PJs.
I KNOW right??? ????❤
When my co-opt started delivering groceries in the Stockholm areaa few years ago I could hardly believe it! I have hardly gone to a store for more than a forgotten carton of milk since they started three years ago!
And you know what they are rolling out now! WEEKEND DELIVERIES!!!!!
I’m a pretty good planner, but delieveries EVERY DAY is just, what is this, the future??? ?
Oooo, and do you guys in other countries have “dinner bags”? I don’t know how to translate it, but almost ALL big chains have them now in Sweden. It’s a bag of all the groceries and ingredients you need to make all the dinners that week for 4 people, and the recipies. It started as a subscription for ecological dinners, by a chef, but everyone copies it, and now you have for 2 people, for vegetarians, still ecological ones, low cost ones enabling you to feed four people a balanced and tasty diet kids will like but that’s healthy and really cheap, you name them and you can get them these days. I think it’s a really great idea, that someone with usefull skills, usually a chef or a dietrist or someone who knows about food, thinks up a menue for the week that is probably more nutritious than your ordinary recepies, the store assemblies everything you need, and it’s all delivered to your door!
Speaking of, I should do my weekend shop on my tablet right now, be done with it… (and get to choose the best delivery time, yay?)
We have multiple subscription boxes that are recipes and ingredients for dinners but the grocery chains haven’t bought in to it yet. I think that one chain may be trying this out.
Comparing U.S. and U.K. grocery shopping – the two things that I think the U.S. needs to pick up on are more smaller portion sales and refrigerated pre made meals vs frozen. Delivery is obviously picking up and competition should start driving down the pricing.
Just my opinion.
I love these options! I just can’t get many cuz I live in Wyoming. But can order Hello Fresh and stuff. Can only get deliveries from the local Albertson’s. Too bad produce is so bad out here cuz everything is shipped in.
Such is life when you choose to live in the lowest population state. So many things here are awesome to over come the deficiencies. ?
I think the beauty of the area must make up for not having 2 hr delivery on ur groceries… I know which one id pick! Ur so lucky!
I have Peapod and it is a LIFE SAVER. I make the grocery list, choose a two hour window, and a nice man brings the groceries. No wandering the aisles or wrangling things in and out of the car. It’s 2-3 hours of my life back. Usually I use the window I set as cleaning time so I’m not interrupted from writing or something like that. So it gets the house cleaner as well.
THE BEST.
Oh, I wish I had grocery store delivery where I live. I barely get pizza delivery. I am a wee bit envious, but I am happy for you.
I live in Western Michigan and almost all of our chain stores have adopted home delivery and/or online order and curbside pickup. What a wonderful convenience!
I think most supermarkets have delivery now, don’t they?
Not where I live. 🙁
Is this a new thing in the US? We’ve had home delivery groceries in my part of Australia for over ten years. It is great. It used to be a bit more expensive but now it is the same price as shopping in-store. I wish Costco would do it too like they do in the US.
More recent here is click and collect which works well for our family. I have a disability, so I’ll shop online in the morning and my husband will collect it on the way home from work in the evening. It means he can pop in a get a few extras while they are bringing out the order.
I’m all for technology improving our quality of life. I’m glad you could get what you needed without leaving the house.
Ilona, I’m glad you’re feeling better. Hope Gordon feels better soon. Take care.
I use Shipt. They are like Lyft and Uber for grocery shopping. They will cover a bunch of nearby stores for delivery depending on your zip code. Mine covers H-E-B, Kroger’s and Target ?. It is exceedingly mind bogglingly convenient!!! Of course there is a membership fee and a minimum order to qualify for free delivery, but the cost-benefits ratio is favorable ??
Don’t u live in Houston? Houston also has PrimeNow from Amazon. That means they’ll deliver things to your door within 2 HOURS of you ordering it. And Amazon also has a grocery. There is basically no reason to leave your house anymore. Enjoy!
I haven’t done the HEB delivery, but I do order my groceries online. I go through and pick out what I want (usually looking at my past purchase history since I tend to order the same things), then schedule my pick up day & time … and voila! I sit in my van, they bring it out and load it for me, I sign and then I drive off. It’s wonderful!
I live in Connecticut. We have had local grocery store deliveries for a few years. Last year when I had rotator cuff surgery I ordered my groceries online. When the young man arrived with my things, he took one look at the sling and offered not only to bring my groceries into the kitchen for me, he also offered to put the cold items into the fridge. He said that he had had shoulder surgery and knew how hard it was to do things one handed. I called the store to express my surprise and delight. What a great young man, and experience. That act of kindness was worth far more than the pittance the delivery cost me. 🙂
I’m glad that you have discovered a way to make your home life easier.
Wish I lived close enough to a large-ish town for grocery delivery……it sounds positively blissful.
in the UK nearly every supermarket will home deliver or you can get them to prepare and bag it and you swing by on your way home from work and they put it in the boot for you, i am really suprised this is a new thing in the US as its been a thing for many years here.
Wow! This is something I had not ever considered before! Very cool!
My local grocery store also delivers and it is free if you spend $100 and a nominal fee if under. What I really love is that they deliver out in the country… pizza places, other restaurants won’t deliver to me, but the grocery store will. Unfortunately, they can’t deliver alcohol so I still have to go into town once and a while for that. Oh, and their substitutions can be interesting, but you since I have used them for quite sometime and they know me, they usually just call me regarding any subs.