What a week! And it’s only Tuesday. hahaha!
This past weekend was supposed to be full of baseball and the rain was determined not to let that happen. As I’m typing this on Monday early, early morning I can hear it raining outside now, but I have my fingers crossed baseball will still be played this afternoon.
I don’t know about you, but I love taking a little look at how you guys do things in your homes. It’s fun to see the way others go about handling the big and more often than not, the small things.
Here are a few of the topics we’ve covered in this series…
Three Kids {Shared when I was a mom of three}
Today, I’m talking about how I handle groceries. This task used to take a couple hours each week and now it takes me around thirty minutes. Winning!
I sit down weekly with my computer, planner, and this new meal planner to figure out our meals and get the grocery shopping started.
My favorite places for recipes are Shay’s blog, friends {word of mouth}, and Pinterest.
I ordered this meal planner from Erin a few months ago. It’s super helpful and makes recycling meals super easy.
This is a look at the inside. There’s a perforated edge right in the middle of the page. See what I mean about easy to remember and recycle recipes/meals? The pages on the left have your past meals so any family favorites are easy to remember.
A look at the process…my brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews arrived last night so with baseball up in the air my goal was to have some food on hand that was easy.
I didn’t take a picture of my planner but I had my planner out as well to see what nights would be all ten of us here for dinner around dinner time, what nights kids have practice and we might be eating in shifts, etc.
I write all my groceries on the right and then hop on over to my local grocery store online.
This is my mid-online grocery order. If you haven’t tried the online grocery order, stop what you’re doing and TRY IT!
It cuts down on grocery shopping time tremendously. Typically by the time I drive to my grocery store, call, they bring my order to the car, and I return home it’s under thirty minutes. Saves me lots of time every week!
Plus, I don’t know about you but I’m an add to cart kind of girl. I walk by the double stuff Oreos and guess what? I’m tossing a box in my cart. But online shopping doesn’t really tempt me that way. Well, at least when I’m grocery shopping. 😉
I find myself really sticking to the list as well as saving money!
Grocery pick-up is CRAZY easy! You pull into a designated spot, call, and they bring your groceries.
I might pop into the store once a week to grab something we need that’s fresh. But that’s it! Super easy! And it saves me time.
How do YOU handle the grocery shopping? Do YOU grocery pick up? And if so, what are two words you’d use to describe it?
XO
I have been trying to do curbside pick up here as much as possible due to COVID. I am also grocery shopping for my Mom who is in the high risk category. The problem has been that until 3 weeks ago, getting a time slot was nearly impossible. That has improved a lot. They also were not allowed to sub so several times I went to pick up my groceries and they had only a 1/4 of the items. They can sub again and this week they had everything but 3 items and so my time in the store was short. I usually just reorder from my last order, then add in specifics for meals during the week. I also do a lot of our non-perishables and toiletries through amazon and target.
Grocery shopping has really changed wear I am and I 100% think it is needed but certainly my impulse buying is down, I just want to get in and out as quick as I can. They only allow a certain amount of people in, our whole state does require masks ( which is excellent), they have arrows for traffic flow which do annoy me, and there are marks in which to stand while checking out. Not to mention great big sneeze guards at the check outs. I try to do the scan it app or tool so that I just use my own bags and self checkout. The whole process I am sure will feel not as sci-fi to me soon but not yet!!
I had a baby baby back in September and I live just outside of NYC. Going to the grocery store was not happening. Our local stores do not offer grocery pick up so I use Amazon Fresh and Amazon Whole Foods. Like you mentioned it has definitely helped the grocery bills.
Before the pandemic, I did online grocery shopping every week. I absolutely LOVE it!!! But when everything happened my stores weren't doing online shopping for a while cuz the stores were out of SO MUCH. I still haven't gone back to it yet cuz my stores here are still struggling to keep certain things in stock. I'm HOPING by the time school starts back, stores will be better stocked cuz the grocery pick-up SAVES me when I go back to work.
I need that meal planning notebook!! How fun is that?!
I started the curbside about 2 years ago. I go on and off of using it. Normally after they don’t have something’s I need I go back to shopping myself. As a teacher I would only use it during the school year on Mondays so my weekends can be filled with family and fun. During summer I prefer to go and pick out my produce, etc….but it is a major time and money saver!
I love meal planning and online grocery shopping! I hate shopping at Walmart for groceries so I pay a $4.99 fee to shop at my local grocery store. They text me about any substitutions of if they are out of something. Generally, they do a good job but the last two times, I've not been happy with my shopper. I wish they would shop like they are shopping for themselves. I asked for a zucchini yesterday and I kid you not, it was barely 4 inches long!! LOL!!
That meal planning notebook seems like a game changer. Plus, Im sure shopping online saves you money and helps when you don't just put things in your cart because I am so guilty of that. I love seeing how Erika does life!!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
We have been doing delivery since all this started but yesterday the driver forgot to leave a couple of the bags. I just checked the prices on those sweet potato fries. 3.99 for pick up at the store. $4.19 for delivery. I think we need to start picking up the groceries.
I use HEB curbside most of the time. It works great and is super fast. I keep a running cart of things we need until I am ready to add some meals and checkout. I don't think there are any HEBs in your area, which I am surprised about. One of the many reasons why I like them is because they do great things for the community.
As a person who has battled autoimmune disorders for years, I started online grocery shopping about 10 years ago. When my fatigue was at its' worst, that last way I wanted to expend energy was on being in a grocery store (although I love to grocery shop!)
I also find that I impulse shop way less if I do it online and I also don't forget things as much or accidently buy things like olive olive (pricey and lasts a long time) two trips in a row.
I typically end up saving at least the shopping fee due to this.
Patty
GoodBetterBestFood.blogspot.com
I think one time you mentioned you used a grocery service when you go on vacation and get the house stocked ahead of time. What was that app again? Thank you!! Love following your blog💗
Oh my gosh Girl – you are SO RIGHT about online shopping. But I didn't realise this until lockdown – all of my friends had been banging on at me about doing it 'you MUST try it, it is SO MUCH easier etc etc' but I didn't get it. Now I totally do and my life is much improved as a consequence haha! Love the idea of the planner – I am going to have to suck it up, order one and pay any crazy international postage – it will be worth it! BTW – crazy about sweet potato fries too. The best with mayo. Or garlic mayo, even better. Yum.
I paid $98 for the year for grocery delivery, so…I go online, order my groceries and have them delivered. Talk about time-saving. I can make my list by adding to my cart until I am ready for delivery. They deliver to my door, I get to help the driver have a job, and NO IMPULSE BUYING…hahaha. LOVE IT!!!
We only have one store near us that offers grocery pick up and they don't carry much of what I buy! I do want to try it one of these days though. Luckily I have my list down to a science and can be in and out of the store in under 30 (but when you add in my commute it's a good hour round trip at least!).