The first time I used a grocery delivery service was in March 2016 because my husband had broken his ankle. He was totally immobilized for 8 weeks and the first weekend after his surgery. I attempted to take my then 13-month old to the store for our weekly groceries and she tossed an egg on the ground. (We were at Aldi and the cashier wasn’t thinking and placed the eggs next to her while we were checking out.)
For the next 7 weeks, I used Peapod to have my groceries delivered and avoided taking the toddler into any stores that required me to actually focus. Peapod is quite generous with new customers and they give free delivery for 60 days as well as $20 off your first order. I felt like a dang millionaire getting my groceries delivered every week. However, once my husband had fully recovered, I decided to go back to in-store grocery shopping because I knew the prices were lower at Aldi. I didn’t think I needed to use a grocery delivery service full-time.
However, Instacart came to my area in May 2018 and I would intermittently use it when I was having a crazy week. The beauty of Instacart is that you can typically get groceries delivered in a few hours of putting in your order. As a meal plan educator, I always tell my students that if you’re too busy to meal plan, stop grocery shopping! Use that time to meal plan and then get your groceries delivered. Trust me when I say it’s a much better use of time. Here are three reasons meal planners use grocery delivery services.
Saving Money With a Grocery Delivery Service
From August 2018 to November of 2018 (12 weeks) I challenged myself to only spend $100/week on groceries in order to save $720 for Christmas gifts that year. It was quite successful! However, one week I was unable to get to the grocery store over the weekend so I needed to use Instacart to get my groceries delivered. I was shocked when using my new tactics for saving money every week, I only went over my budget by $10!
I thought about it and realize that using a grocery delivery service could actually save me money. It kept me out of the store and made me stick to my list. Once my challenge was over, I bumped my grocery budget up to $125/week. At the same time, Instacart lowered their yearly membership to $99/year and I decided to jump on it. Truly the best decision I’ve ever made.
Saves so Much Time!
This one is a no-brainer. The time savings on using a grocery delivery service is incredible. I’m an Aldi shopper so I’m truly saving a bunch of time every week. If you’re unfamiliar with Aldi, its a budget grocery store that saves money in unique ways like having you bag your own groceries and put back your own cart.
On a typical trip, I would usually spend 90 minutes grocery shopping. Freeing up that time every week has afforded me the opportunity to work on other things, such as this blog! Now the only thing I have to get done every week is the meal plan. Then I spend about 10 minutes inputting everything into the Instacart app. It’s a cinch. Using a grocery delivery service is one major key to success if you are serious about consistent meal planning and you lead an incredibly busy life.
Grocery Shopping Actually Gets Done
In my meal planning workshops, I ask my students what keeps them from cooking dinner on a regular basis. The answer that comes up a lot is “I hate grocery shopping but I feel like I’m always doing it.” Truth is, if you aren’t meal planning, you probably stop at the grocery store more than once a week. This wastes time and money but it also just causes undo mental stress.
Our mental load as mothers is off the chart. Meal planning is just one more thing that we need to think about and it usually gets put on the back burner. Which then begins the endless cycle of being stressed at dinner time because you didn’t have minute to plan. Outsourcing the grocery shopping gives you a bit of time back in the week to meal plan. In turn, that gives you back time all week because dinner time is no longer chaotic.
In short, if you use a grocery delivery service the grocery shopping actually gets done when it’s supposed to and that sets up your whole week to go smoother. If you need meal planning help, be sure to grab my FREE Meal Planning Guide to help you get started. You’ll receive my 7 Keys to Meal Planning as well as some printables to help keep you organized!
Taran is a self-proclaimed undomestic mom. She thrives as a stay-at-home-mom by consistently carving out time for herself and practicing realistic self-care. As a busy mom of 3, she knows that if mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy! With a focus on how SAHMs can carve out time for themselves everyday, she teaches fellow SAHMs how they can do the same.
I found it interesting that you state that using a grocery delivery service saves you time and money. My wife has been mentioning that going shopping every week has taken a lot of time out of her days so I have been looking into alternatives for her. I will send her this information so she can start looking into a next day grocery delivery service.
Benjamin- thanks for sharing this with her! It truly has saved me money every week. I always shop with a list but sticking to it is hard once you’re in the store. Grocery shopping was also taking a lot of my time up and I’m so happy I made the switch!