Sunday, January 22, 2017

Online grocery shopping and the best Coconut milk

Wow, I have never ordered fresh groceries using the internet before.  I happened to be looking for a brand of Coconut milk online when a suggestion for the Instacart service came along.  So I decided I would give it a try, and order a few things.  Wikipedia defines Instacart as an online grocery delivery service.  I had never heard of it, but I had heard of PeaPod and delivery services offered by the grocery stores themselves.  This is different, as a personal grocery shopper will get assigned your list and then he or she will pick out your items and then deliver them to your home.  I was blown away at how easy this turned out to be.  But would the produce and the meats I selected be as good as those I would pick out myself?  That was the part I was most curious about.
Below are screen shots of my phone as the order started to get filled.  You can watch it in real time, which is pretty fascinating. I placed my order and in about two hours I had my groceries. 



I selected Market Basket, a local grocery store that I like to shop at, 
however you can pick from several stores, Whole Foods and Costco. 
Above is my list and you can leave a notation about no substitutions or
you can have the shopper pick out a similar item.


My shopper's name was Ardyth, and you can see as Ardyth shopped, it goes into the section of "shopped".  If I wanted to communicate with her, I could hit the chat button to reach her as she shopped.
Onions!  
I needed some sweet onions and I hadn't added them to the original shopping list.
So I used the chat button to ask her if she could add them.
 Ardyth wrote write back, "sure".  This was so bizarre, talking to someone who was picking out my groceries. 
 Then she sent me a photo of the onions she got for me.  Yup, those were the ones!
I could see my other choices in her cart, like the sparkling water and the almond milk.
 Ardyth called me when she arrived at my home.  
She pulled up in an older model jeep with her 10 year old son who helped bring in the groceries.
Real people doing real things to make a buck.  She mentioned her son plays football.  I handed
her a tip, and off she went.  You can tip through the app but I read some reviews about the tipping process and you can do it that way, but I thought this way it will go directly to her.
 And how about the produce?  It was just as nice as what I would pick for myself.  
The chicken was perfect as well.  One thing I wanted was some Chicken Party Wings for
the Patriots game today, but they were sold out, so that was noted and I was not charged.
In the end, you get a grocery receipt for what it actually cost and you do pay a little bit more per item as well as a 10% service charge and then tip on top of that.  I think this service is a great option for quite a few categories like those who can't get to a store, those feeling under the weather, the elderly who want their groceries but don't want to take a shuttle bus or rely on others, or those who want to avoid the weekend crowds.  If I broke my foot or had the flu, I know I can still shop for our food!  And I think of my parents, in their 80s in Florida, they can use this service right from their iPhones.  Mom and Dad, how about it?  It really was easy to use! 
One must go to your Apps on your phone and find Instacart and then download it to your phone,
and then you can set up your own account and pick the store you want to shop from.
 It all started because I was searching for this one brand of extra delicious Coconut milk.  The one in the middle there is the winner.  Why, you may ask?  Well hubs and I are doing the Whole 30 diet plan again for 30 days and we cannot have any dairy, so we use this in our coffee every morning.  
And it is simply the best we have tried, and we have tried a lot!
Evergreen Coconut Milk.  Simply the best. 
(Note: this post is NOT sponsored, it is just a passing along of 
information I hope you will find useful.)
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4 comments:

  1. What an awesome service! I don't believe I've seen that brand of coconut milk here in OK. Hubby and I are starting Whole 30 on Thursday so I need to stock up! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Wow!...I have never wanted to order my groceries on-line because I like to pick out my "perishables" myself...but i cannot believe that they send you pics and you can chat?!!!...that's amazing!....what a time saver this is...and I dread grocery shopping!!!....I wonder if you can get the same "shopper" if you request them?

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  3. Fascinating. Thanks for sharing this experience. (Seriously--I know so little of what happens in the cities).
    Now all I need to do is get a smart phone and move house!!!!!
    I live in a rural area and while shopping can be a pain, mostly it's an excuse to get out and meet up with my friends who are shopping and have a chat in the grocery store's cafe. Retirement is great if you can have it!
    But perfect for people in the city. (If only Whole Food would move in....but I dream!)
    Hope you are having a great day, Amy.

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  4. My daughters both live and work in the "big city" and have used a service similar to this. One has used Walmart, and the other one has used Hy-Vee, and both were very satisfied. I was so envious! Then I got Infuenza A couple weeks ago, and decided to see what was available to me out in our rural area. We have a Walmart about 25 miles away and a Hy-Vee about 12 miles away. Hy-Vee had the service in the town about 12 miles from our little village. So, I went online and registered and ordered my groceries. Now, I have to drive up to the store to the pick-up area and they will bring them out and put them in my car. Better than running around the store, not feeling great, and exposing others. I buy groceries weekly, so there was around $100.00 of groceries. No service charge for online shopping as long as the bill is over $100.00. In among my canned goods, paper products, etc, I had fresh fruits and veggies, and a little meat. I was extremely happy!!! And used the service again, the following week. And was very happy again! I have to drive to this large town for other things, so it is not out of my way, and this saves me time and effort. I LOVE the convenience and no longer have to envy my daughters!

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