Grocery Shopping Online: Why It’s the Bees Knees

Are you on board with online grocery shopping? Has it completely changed your grocery shopping routine for the better like it has for me? We cook better meals, save more money, and generally can’t get enough of what a time-saver it’s truly become for our fam.

About 2.5 years ago, Hadley and I were in Alabama for a month staying with my parents during one of Jamie’s deployments, and my mom casually mentioned that the Walmart around the corner had launched grocery pickup (select Alabama Wal-Marts were some of the first stores to roll this out.) Neither of us had heard of another grocery story doing this before nor had my mom tried it yet, but I was instantly intrigued. I placed an order a few days later and literally haven’t stopped grocery shopping this way since.

My jaw hit the floor a few months ago at a MOPS meeting during a conversation about meal planning and grocery shopping when I found out that the majority of the moms in the room (all who have young children) cited that they’d never tried online grocery shopping before. I couldn’t believe that everybody hadn’t started grocery shopping this way.

Different strokes for different folks of course, but online grocery shopping makes me glad to see 2018. 😉 What a time to be alive! Order food online, pick it up, save money, save sanity, save time… I could just cry all the happiest tears.

Here are five reasons why I totally dig shopping for my groceries online.

1. I save money because I only buy what I need (I keep a running list on a magnetized notepad on our refrigerator and then add to it when/if I meal plan.)
2. Online shopping allows me to see all sizes and brands of the item I need, which saves me money because I can choose the most affordable option.
3. It saves me on average of 30 minutes per week. Shopping online usually takes me about 15 minutes, and then sitting and waiting for my order usually takes 5-10 minutes. This isn’t a tremendous time savings, but it adds up and frees up my schedule week after week.
4. I don’t enjoy grocery shopping with my 2 and 4 year old daughters. I wouldn’t say they misbehave (they’re honestly really good), but they’re still 2 and 4 years old. They still ask for every single treat they see, they want cookies from the bakery (and then cry when they accidentally drop it on the floor), they beg for candy in the checkout aisle, they want to ride in the cart, then walk, then get back in the cart. They’re simply little kids, so running around the store doing a big grocery trip each week just isn’t my favorite thing in the world. Short trips here and there are fine, but the weekly big trip usually induces a bit of stress if they’re on board.
5. It’s a lifesaver when we return home from traveling. I always order groceries before we leave for our trips and then pick up our order either the night we return or the next morning. It’s so fabulous.
6. It’s helpful in remembering to always grab our weekly staples. Most websites will remind you of the items you frequently purchase, so I always be sure to skim that list when I’m done to make sure I’m not forgetting something.
7. Online grocery shopping has made me much more inclined to cook meals with lengthier ingredient lists and/or with ingredients that I don’t normally use. When I meal plan, I’ll usually pull up the recipes I want to cook in separate browsers and then add the ingredients one-by-one to my grocery order. I’m not intimidated by a recipe with a long list of ingredients (several that I may not have shopped for before) because I know I don’t actually have to physically browse the store to find them. I can just browse a website using a search bar instead.

The three biggest complaints I’ve heard about online grocery shopping are:

1. “I want to pick my own produce.” I so get you. I actually find that the produce is better because the people picking it want to make sure to please you. They know you’re going to be miffed if they select bad produce, so in my experience they usually do a great job.
2. “I like to use paper coupons.” I don’t. Paper coupons usually make me buy things I didn’t originally need, so I have no rebuttal to the paper coupon thing. If you like to use paper coupons, I totally agree that online grocery shopping probably isn’t going to be your jam.
3. “I like the social aspect of walking the aisles and shopping.” I’ve heard/read about some who think that online grocery shopping is just another thing that is going to keep us isolated from being/talking with other people. I so get that. I just don’t think that online grocery shopping alone is going to be the downfall of society. I think it’s just a part of the social shift our society is making in general. I just cannot dislike a service that makes an occasionally stressful required task so painless and simple.

PS: As for which grocery stores we personally use, Walmart’s pickup has worked great (except we’ve learned that morning pick-ups are better and that evenings can take a while, which is super annoying.) We also used Hy-Vee’s free grocery delivery in Manhattan, Kansas, which was a flipping DREAM. Cannot recommend it enough if you have a Hy-Vee nearby!

Let’s chat!

Yay or nay on the online grocery shopping thing?