Online grocery delivery can be a huge help if you live in a food desert or don’t want to take public transportation when shopping for your essentials. It can also be helpful as a supplement to typical grocery shopping—like if you have staple ingredients at home, but you need fresh produce, and you can’t leave the house.
When you place your order with any of these services, don’t forget to choose your substitutions after checking out. That’ll help your shopper make replacement picks if something is out of stock. Also, keep in mind that delivery tends to be cheaper if the weather is nice and it’s not a busy time. For example, if you’re buying stuffing and cranberries for Thanksgiving dinner, it’ll be cheaper to place your order and get it delivered a few days in advance than waiting until the day before. Don’t forget to tip your delivery folks!
For Local Groceries
My town has several different grocery stores, all of which have wildly varying prices. To get the best deals, I go to one place for produce, one place for pantry items, and another place for meat. Instacart was a game-changer for me. It lets you see the prices of different items across different retailers, and the cost is usually the same as what it would be in the store, if not cheaper. The mental load feels like less work, too—I can methodically go through my grocery list and figure out the best place to buy from. These conveniences, combined with frequent coupons and the option for discounted gift cards, offset the cost of delivery and tips for me.