My Seven Week Review of Ordering Groceries Online

 

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Several weeks ago after I saw a couple of friends post online that they had shopped online for groceries, I decided to give it a try. I was hesitant at first because, with ADD, I thought it would be a nightmare trying to think about everything I needed to add to an online cart. At the same time with very long days homeschooling my big kids, I did not enjoy spending so much time at the grocery store on Sunday afternoons after church. I figured I could try it once, and if it didn’t work out, then no harm was done. Plus, I found a $10 off my first order code, which made it even more appealing. I was a little surprised to discover that I loved the experience and I saved quite a bit of money. I’ve been shopping online now for the past seven weeks and waited to write a blog post so I could give you a comprehensive review over several weeks. I’ve included steps below on how to get started and my week by week review along with pictures from our first experience. 

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Here’s how I created my first cart:

  1. Click here to create an account and see if it is available in your area. Currently, it is not available where I live. However, we attend church about 30 minutes away, and it is available there, so I schedule our grocery pick-up for Sunday afternoons after church, and it works out perfectly. This link will also give you $10 off your first order (minimum order $50).
  2. I started shopping by clicking “shop by department” and I virtually walked up and down the aisles adding the items that we needed to my cart. I only did this the first time to make sure I didn’t miss anything. Since then, I have been able to click on my previous order to reordered those items that we use each week, and then I add the rest of the items from my list. I’ve even added hair spray, mascara, disinfectant spray. Yes, we are that lazy.

Week 1: Here’s the verdict on the Walmart Grocery pick-up. It is the most fabulous option ever in the history of grocery shopping. They called me when it was ready, we drove straight over in the air conditioning, and I pulled in the designated parking spot. Once there, I called to let them know I had arrived and what space I was parked. Within 4 minutes, Nick brought out my groceries, showed me the produce for approval, and loaded everything in my car. I literally just gained an hour a week of freedom because I hate grocery shopping! I also spent at least $50 less than I normally would. Here are several of pictures I took when I picked up my groceries so you could experience it with me.

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I wasn’t the only one excited about not going grocery shopping.

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I pulled into an empty parking space and called the number on the sign to let them know I had arrived to pick up my groceries.

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It took only a few minutes before Nick started rolling out my groceries to my car.

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I guess I might have been the first person to ask him for permission to document the process in pictures. I opened the back of my SUV, and he began loading my groceries.

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He showed me all the produce for approval. He did a great job. I told him those were the BEST green peppers, cucumbers, grapes, apples, and onions I had ever seen in my entire life.

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Nick is fabulous! He has no idea just how helpful this service is to this busy momma! Thank you just didn’t feel like enough, but he wasn’t allowed to accept any tips. I just had to get a selfie with him because I was so excited!

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This sweet picture of our baby says it all. During this season of my life, I need to do everything I can to stay on the balance beam of life and give myself breathing room. If you’ve ever gone grocery shopping with a sleepy toddler, who missed their morning nap, you know how miserable it can be for everyone. Today, our precious girl was able to stay in the air conditioned car and sleep peacefully while our groceries were delivered and loaded into our vehicle. It was a much more pleasant experience I can assure you.

Week 2: Looks like the 1-2pm time slot on Sundays is busy! I ordered my groceries super late on Saturday night and missed all of the time slots that were convenient to me. However, I enjoyed it so much I wasn’t willing to spend an hour in the grocery store on Sunday afternoon, so I searched for other stores near me and drove 12 extra minutes to another store that was close by that had the time slot I needed. Was it worth it? Yes! I spent $75 less than I normally would, and I didn’t have to shop. (This is the only week I had a problem choosing my favorite location and time spot. Every other week since the location and time of our choosing has been available, even when I’ve placed our order the evening before.)

Week 3: They had to substitute an item for the first time that I added to my list that was no longer in stock. Instead of an 18 count of taco shells they replaced it with two 12 count boxes but only charged me for one.

Week 4: Nick said he didn’t like all the liquid sloshing around in our lean ground beef packaging so before he loaded it in my car, he ran back inside and grabbed a new one plus an extra for our patience without charging us for the second package.

Week 5: It is fabulous. I can’t think of one negative thing to say about it at all. It took me 7 minutes to order our groceries online. So far I’ve added at least 5 hours back to my life and each time I’ve saved between $50 and $75 from what I would have typically spent in the store.

Week 6: They were out of our favorite peanut butter (Smucker’s Natural Chunky), so they asked my hubby if it was acceptable if they substituted with a larger sized jar of our favorite brand without charging us extra……ummmmmmm, yes!

Week 7: This week there was a couple of substitutions, but they have always gone through each substituted item with us to make sure they are acceptable. None were a big deal except for a particular pack of crackers. I’m pregnant and picky, and they had substituted with a kind we already had at home, so they just took those off our total.

All in all, I will continue grocery shopping online. We usually do run in and grab bananas because my hubby is so picky about the exact type of bananas he likes (small and green), and deli meat because we like ours shaved but not falling apart and there isn’t an option online to choose how we’d like ours sliced. However, those two or three items just take a second, so it’s no biggie. I still don’t have one negative thing to say about shopping online. In fact, I would say the customer service is better than I’ve experienced in store. Most of all, I’ve saved so much time each week and hundreds of dollars at this point. If you haven’t tried it but would like to give it a shot, here is a code for $10 off your first trip.

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4 Comments

  1. Thanks for the review of the Walmart online shopping experience. It really is of great value to me.

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