I have a confession to make. I can’t stand grocery shopping. I know this may seem a bit extreme, but it’s true. I really can’t stand it. I love the outcome of grocery shopping. It’s a blessing to have food on the table – one I try not to take for granted.
The end result of a trip to the grocery is fantastic – it’s everything it takes to get to that point that I dread. And here’s why…..
A trip to the grocery requires that I:
- plan meals for the week
- check to see what ingredients I need
- make my list
- head to the store (with my children in tow)
- get out of the car and into the building – let’s hope the Indiana weather is cooperating (again with children in tow and for those of you who still have very little ones [although you are very blessed] – you have my grocery sympathies)
- make my way through the aisles to find said ingredients on list and then make my way back through again to find the two or three things I missed the first time around
- checkout (while repeatedly telling children they may not have any of the well-placed, perfectly marketed items in the checkout line – candy, hand sanitizer, you know what I’m talking about)
- head back to the car (hopefully without too much extra food that children have convinced me we “need” even though it was most definitely NOT on the list)
- unload groceries from cart into car
- wait for everyone to get buckled and situated
- drive back home
- unload groceries from car into the house and finally
- put the food away…..just in time to start dinner…….
I bet you are exhausted just from reading that list. And there lies my problem with grocery shopping. It takes a long time.
A Long. Long. Time.
My sweet husband understands how much the grocery store and I do not agree with each other and thankfully he doesn’t share the same sentiments. He is fine with grocery shopping and consequently, for years now, he has done the majority of it.
While this seemed to work well for us, it did cause me to suffer from an overabundance of unnecessary mommy guilt.
You see, I’m a stay-at-home mom and felt like this was part of my job description. Not because anyone said anything to make me feel this way – it was just my own self-induced guilt based on a checklist of things I created in my mind that I was “supposed” to be doing if I was staying home.
My husband told me time and time again he didn’t mind, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t doing my “job.” Even though I struggled with feelings of guilt, my feeling of dislike for the grocery trumped those emotions. So, I would make the list and send him to the store while I pushed the guilty feelings down into the pit where unpleasant feelings sometimes go.
All of this went on for years, until just recently.
Just recently something amazing happened that revolutionized my shopping experience and turned me from a grocery-hater into a grocery-lover. What happened to me can be summed up like this – Kroger ClickList.
Wonderful, fabulous, time-saving ClickList. For all of you busy people out there (which seems to be just about everyone), if you share my grocery sentiments – this is the solution you’ve been waiting for.
Here’s how ClickList works:
- First, you visit their website and create an account (which doesn’t take too long.)
- Then, you are able to start your grocery shopping. Say what?! Yes! Your grocery shopping! If you want sour cream, just type “sour cream” and what they offer will pop up on your screen. Click to add it to your cart and BAM! There it is! You may be wondering, what about produce? Well, I think Kroger has great produce and that hasn’t been an issue for me, but there is a section where you can leave comments and specifically let them know what you are looking for. (Also, if you don’t like what you see when it arrives to your car – they would be happy to run in and grab you another.)
- Once you are finished shopping, you pick a day and time for delivery. They are open from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm, seven days a week. The pickup time is in one hour increments. For example, you can choose to pick up on a Monday from 9:00-10:00 am and show up at any point during that hour. It is important to note that, in my experience, the soonest time I have been able to reserve has been four hours from when I have finished with my shopping. (Or, if you log on and go immediately to the top of the page where it says “Soonest Pickup” and then click on “Reserve”, you can look for first available time slot and reserve it before you do your shopping.)
- When you arrive to pick up your groceries, you will pull into a designated parking spot reserved for ClickList customers. Each parking spot has a sign with a number and a phone number to call when you arrive.
- Dial the number and they will ask where your car is parked. All you need to do now is give them your number, crank up the tunes, sit back and relax while they bring the groceries to you. It’s so easy.
- Once they arrive with your groceries, you can pay right there in the parking lot. Which brings up a good question – What’s the cost? Sounds too good to be true, right? If you consider time to be money, then the cost here is minimal. You can have your shopping done and groceries delivered to your car for the minimal cost of just $4.95 and for the first three times you try the service, this fee is waived.
I just removed six items from the long list I wrote previously. Six time-consuming items are now gone. I used to dread grocery shopping and now I actually look forward to it and as a bonus, the self-inflicted mommy guilt has vanished. I can now hold my head high while I wear the badge of “grocery shopper” with great honor.
If you find yourself in the same predicament I was in, I highly recommend giving this a try. For those of you who love grocery shopping (my sister is one of those people), this may not be for you all of time – but it could be a life-saver some of the time. I have some friends who just use the service when they are in a pinch. Wherever you find yourself on the grocery shopping spectrum, just know this option exists. A wonderful, fabulous, time-saving option.
Here are some other local stores who offer services similar to Kroger ClickList. Select stores offer these services, so be sure to search their websites to find the store closest to you.
And, for those of you who would rather skip making the trip and instead would like to have the groceries delivered directly to your doorstep, here are some options for you:
- AmazonFresh
- Jet
- Shipt
- Green BEAN Delivery – delivers fresh and local, organic produce
- Oberweis Dairy – delivers a variety of dairy products
- Peapod
- Good 2 Go Groceries
- Schwan’s Home Delivery
- Whole Foods Market Grocery Delivery
How about a service that delivers the recipes and ingredients needed to make restaurant style meals from the comfort of your own home? If that’s more your style, then check these out:
Have you tried any of these services? What did you think? Please comment below or send me an email ([email protected]) and let me know your thoughts. I would love to hear from you!
Jennifer Thompson is a stay-at-home mom of four spunky, sweet, kind and sometimes a bit wild children. She has a passion for the written word and thinks that libraries and bookstores are the coolest places ever. When not hanging out with family or writing, she can be found enjoying a good cup of coffee, running, spending quality time with friends, working on some type of project around the house, planning the family’s next trip to her favorite destination – Walloon Lake, Michigan, or very possibly – reading a book.
Jennifer enjoys writing about her parenting experience and outings with her children for Indy’s Child as a freelance writer and blogger and also keeps a personal blog, www.trulyyoursjen.com, that she has fun writing when time allows.
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