Grocery Shopping

[blue_dolphin]

16 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Byzantine.

 

Still I must believe something has changed.  In my about to be seventy years experience with New Jersey markets I have never seen alcohol purveyed next to groceries before, ever.  Except once.  That was at a small Greek market attached to a Greek restaurant.

 

 

Do report back when you find out what has changed. 

There is a bill in the NJ Assembly (A1278) and Senate (S2282) to allow the # of retail liquor licenses held by an individual or corporation to increase from 2 (the current level) to 10, gradually over ten years.  

I believe those bills are both still in committee.

 

I find the wide range of state liquor laws amazing.  New York State also forbids wine and liquor sales in grocery stores and restricts the # of retail liquor licenses to one per individual or corporation, so no sales by chains either.  It also forbids retail liquor stores from selling anything besides liquor and wine (food, cigarettes, etc.) except for a few specified items like ice, corkscrews, wine publications, etc.

 

7 hours ago, rotuts said:

one Tj's , in Brookline , I believe also sells liquor.

 

it a pain to get here and part.   Iv always wondered on their prices.

 

I can't speak to your local situation, @rotuts,  but liquor prices at my TJ's, by and large, are generally within a dollar or two (up or down) of the prices at Total Wine.  They do have some of their own labels and sometimes get in a name brand product that is quite a good deal but those things come and go and can't be relied on.  

 

Edited May 17, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[HungryChris]

I happened to notice the great price on Klondike bars in the Sunday flyer, but failed to notice the Limit 2. Undeterred, I made the required 5 trips  into the store to achieve  my ten count goal.

HC

 

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by HungryChris (log)

[kayb]

And THAT's what he do...for a Klondike bar!

 

[Okanagancook]

So, my freezers are full.

My fridge is pretty buff.

I go to the store for a few things.

So tempted by various good looking stuff which I would normally have purchased but I resisted probably for the first time.

Gotta keep it up.

Sheesh

[Dlilievel]

on this weekend I've bought

chicken eggs

chicken breast

rice

lettuce

feta

tomatoes

baguette

croissant

plain yogurt

strawberries

bananas

granola

 

I hope that will be enough for me, 'cause I try to eat healthy, but I'm a student and you understand I can't afford the wide diversity of my meals

 

 

 

wow! I didn't know that, however, I'm a student. I have to check this. 

 

On 17.05.2018 at 12:03 PM, MetsFan5 said:

I am not an A&P fan but when you’re a college student and you’re parents will give you a credit card to buy groceries... 

This was at least 18 years ago. 

 

 

 

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Edited May 22, 2018 by Dlilievel (log)

[gulfporter]

This is only exciting to an expat who despises shredding whole cabbage.  It goes EVERYWHERE when I do it, plus the heads here are the size of small planets.  

 

A grocer here who tries to cater to expats is now shredding a cole slaw mix.  I picked up some fresh mahi this morning, too.  Easy summer meal in the offing.  

 

[HungryChris]

My latest score on Amazon. These 2 items would have cost me more at the local Asian market, not to mention the cost of gas and the wear on my car. I am a huge fan of 'click and wait'! Plus, I love being able to buy a 1 pound bag of tree ears, not an option near me.

HC

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I tried grocery delivery from Food Lion today via Instacart. Given my situation, I'm very happy with it. It is comforting to know that I can now get same or next day delivery of fresh items whenever I need them despite not having a car or being able to walk to the store anymore. I was wrestling with whether I could pull off a grocery shop in a taxi. I have been to Food Lion to pick up cigarettes that they have at a front counter for me while a cab waits, but I would have to let the cab go to make a full grocery shop. Then I would be waiting with frozen foods melting for a second ride home. It costs about $16 including tip for the four mile ride to FL and back home. I have taken to having them order me 5 cartons at once so I can maximize my cab dollars. I call to make sure they have arrived and tell them I'm coming before calling for a cab. This holds me for almost two months. I have to do this because you cannot get cigarettes or alcohol delivered in NC. It may be federal law, but I don't know. I realize they need to keep these things out of the hands of kids, but it sure sucks for us old crippled farts.  Seems like they could ask for ID at delivery, but no.

 

Anyways, the grocery delivery is a godsend to me.

 

There were green tomatoes and rhubarb single stalks on offer on the online order site. Now I have been shopping at Food Lion since 1986 and have never seen a green tomato there, and I knew it isn't rhubarb season, and when FL occasionally offers rhubarb, you have to buy it buy the bunch, not the single stalk. But I would have liked to have both of these things, so I ordered them, and as predicted, did not get them. I wonder why they are listed on the website? There were also 3 substitutions, one of which cost me double what I asked for and now I have 3 pounds of expensive, flavorless hot house tomatoes instead of the local Cottle Farms good-tasting ones. The actual order came to about $7.00 more than the estimate before it was filled, and most of this was the tomato substitution. This sort of irks me because I just finished a basket of Cottle Farms lovely field grown tomatoes that were full of flavor and much cheaper. I think the problem is that the software calls it a 3 pound package instead of a 2 qt basket and does not mention the Cottle Farms brand. So there will be problems like this with someone else doing your shopping, but in my situation, I am lucky to have fresh food at all, so I'm not throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The other substitutions didn't bother me, but I have never known them to run out of their own brand of whole milk cottage cheese in the 24 oz. tub. I got a 16 oz. tub instead, but it's more expensive per ounce.

 

I started with the bad stuff, but it was mostly good stuff! I got 36 other items that were all perfectly correct, and some of them were hard to get right like sugar free syrup and Del Monte No sugar added canned peaches. You really have to read the packaging to get the correct item, because the labels, at a glance, look the same as the regular. I've picked up wrong items myself by getting in too big a hurry. All of the produce except the tomatoes looked like what I'd have picked out myself, and my order was mostly produce. When my order filler came with the delivery, I could see she was being careful with the loaf of bread I'd ordered so as not to squish it. She pointed out the bags the ice cream bars I'd ordered were in and the eggs. 

 

People think that grocery shopping is easy, like waitressing. Well having done both, I can tell you they are not. My husband, before he had to go to the nursing home, could come home with a list of six items I'd given him. He would only have four of them; two of them would be wrong, and if there was bread, it'd be squished to death. 

 

So overall, I am very, very happy with my experience. I hope they don't just send their best employee on the first order and then give you less capable people, though. We shall see, because I'll be using this service again.

 

So the cost is the same as in store for your grocery items, and if you have entered your MVP discount card number, you get the weekly discount specials. I also received $10 off my first order. You then have sales tax, which you would pay in store, anyway. Then there is a $5.99 delivery fee, a $3.98 tip and a $3.98 service? fee, for a total of $13.95 charges you would not be paying in store. I also gave my delivery person a $5.00 cash tip, although I had to tell her to hang on a sec while I got it for her, so I'm not sure how common that is. This beats cabbing it to the store for me, especially since I have no cell phone to call the cab back after I get done shopping, and would hate to be waiting around with thawing frozen foods.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, you can specify a convenient delivery time within an hour range, and mine was right on time! Also you can track your order online and they allow you to add items or adjust it up until the time it's been filled, although I would not do that too close to time, though, after having dealt with diners who want to alter their order after it had already been sent to the kitchen. All my groceries were delivered inside to my kitchen table and the vast majority were just what I wanted, so *Happy Dance*!

 

 

[chromedome]

Glad to hear it worked out so well for you. I think the occasional misadventure with produce or fresh meats (the things we really, really like to pick for ourselves) would be unavoidable with any such service, but on the whole it can only be a boon for anyone with mobility issues.

 

I would like to think that over time, if you deal consistently with the same store, they'll come to know your preferences and be able to provide a bit of customization.

[Auspicious]

@Thanks for the Crepes

 

Giving up shopping myself is always a challenge. On boat deliveries (see the Boat Cookery thread) if something on the boat keeps me from shopping I just know something will be wrong. *sigh*

 

Have you tried asking someone at the service desk to call your cab home before you get in line? Just a thought. I won't go down the rabbit hole of having a cell phone. *grin*

 

Is there a place for notes with InstaCart, or a box that specifies no substitutions? I've seen that before.

 

I can see how the delivery charge is a good choice compared to cabs. Still, do you like getting out of the house? Yes grocery shopping is work, but do you enjoy it? I certainly do but that doesn't mean it is anything but a chore for you. Different strokes.

It's nice to know that there are options in places like Cary. We're just starting to see decent delivery options (not that I use them, but I'm glad to see them) in Annapolis MD where I live.

[MetsFan5]

@Thanks for the Crepes I use Instacart. When substitutes are made that I don’t agree with, I get a notice on my phone (I use the app) and I hit “decline”. You should be able to do the same. 

[lindag]

I've been using Walmart's free delivery* service for a few months now.  It's great for staples but, of course there's no 'fresh foods' available that way.  I get that from my nearby grocery.  The Walmart prices are often better than the US Amazon prices.

With Amazon lately I've seen no shipping charges even with purchases less than $25...U am a Prime member.  Don't know if this is new policy or because I use my Prime Points but is definitely different from before.

*(free delivery with minimum purchase)

 

Edited to add:  they tout 'two day delivery', however, at least here that means only if the item is in the local Walmart...anything other than that can take up to a week.  Sometimes my order will come in four separate shipments on different days depending on where the items originate.

 

Edited August 23, 2018 by lindag (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

14 hours ago, Auspicious said:

@Thanks for the Crepes

 

Giving up shopping myself is always a challenge. On boat deliveries (see the Boat Cookery thread) if something on the boat keeps me from shopping I just know something will be wrong. *sigh*

 

Have you tried asking someone at the service desk to call your cab home before you get in line? Just a thought. I won't go down the rabbit hole of having a cell phone. *grin*

 

Is there a place for notes with InstaCart, or a box that specifies no substitutions? I've seen that before.

 

I can see how the delivery charge is a good choice compared to cabs. Still, do you like getting out of the house? Yes grocery shopping is work, but do you enjoy it? I certainly do but that doesn't mean it is anything but a chore for you. Different strokes.

It's nice to know that there are options in places like Cary. We're just starting to see decent delivery options (not that I use them, but I'm glad to see them) in Annapolis MD where I live.

 

Yes, having someone at the service desk call my cab was the plan, but then I'd have to stress about it taking a really long time to checkout and the cab having to wait or possibly leaving. The last thing I want to do is get on the cab company's difficult customer or banned list.

 

 

Yes, with Instacart you can mark items "No substitutions" or suggest your own substitutions. It would take a really long time to do this for every item in a large order, and it's impossible to predict which items may need substituting. They are not so good in the note department. I guess they don't want their employees distracted by long essays. 🙂

 

I love grocery shopping, but hassling with a cab is stressful for me, not to mention expensive. I had gotten into a routine where I walked the four-mile round trip to either Food Lion or Harris Teeter every week or so and loaded up my backpack with goodies. I allowed several hours so I could take my time in the store, and I found it very relaxing. Just have to watch out not to get caught in a thunderstorm. Someday I hope to be able to get back to that, but right now I am hobbling around the house some without orthopedic aids, and need crutches to get to the mailbox, a cab or roll the garbage and recycling buckets out to the curb. I am working my way back up, though, slowly but surely. For now, I'm glad grocery delivery is an option for me.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

3 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

@Thanks for the Crepes I use Instacart. When substitutes are made that I don’t agree with, I get a notice on my phone (I use the app) and I hit “decline”. You should be able to do the same. 

 

HaHa! That would probably work if my only phone were not a Princess-style hard wired land line.

 

I'm just going to be more careful ordering tomatoes. There are some Nature Sweet Cherub grape tomatoes that come in a clamshell available through the software that I almost ordered, and those should be easy to get right. I know they are good, but not quite as good as the Cottle Farms ones I wanted.

[MetsFan5]

53 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

HaHa! That would probably work if my only phone were not a Princess-style hard wired land line.

 

I'm just going to be more careful ordering tomatoes. There are some Nature Sweet Cherub grape tomatoes that come in a clamshell available through the software that I almost ordered, and those should be easy to get right. I know they are good, but not quite as good as the Cottle Farms ones I wanted.

 

 

 Gotcha. Since I use the mobile app I can see the suggestions and choose one of them or decline all together. 

  That said, you have to be on top of it. I recently ordered 3, 64oz of diet Snapple and since the plastic bottles in that size wasn’t available my shopper bought 3 12 packs of glasses. The price difference was upwards of $30. I wasn’t pleased. Especially since the mobile app allows you to call your shopper or text them. That’s partially why I was pissed about not being on top of having the original item out of stock.  I primarily use Instacart to get deliveries from Wegman’s which is a nightmare in traffic and always super packed. I do shop in person locally. 

 

  You also have the opportunity to tip more or less/- I tend to tip 15-20% depending on the weather and you can also send a tip after your delivery which I appreciate. 

 

  Do you have Uber in your area? I’d imagine it would be much cheaper and faster than any taxi service. 

 

  Also I’d look again at Drizly.com— it’s an alcohol delivery service. It may only be app based but I know they deliver in NC. 

Edited August 23, 2018 by MetsFan5 (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

39 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

  Also I’d look again at Drizly.com— it’s an alcohol delivery service. It may only be app based but I know they deliver in NC. 

 

Not available here but there is always UPS.

 

[MetsFan5]

35 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Not available here but there is always UPS.

 

 

  I guess it depends where in the state you live. They deliver to me in Northern NJ. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

43 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:

 

  I guess it depends where in the state you live. They deliver to me in Northern NJ. 

 

The site said Trenton.  Maybe they come over the line into Somerset Country?

 

[Auspicious]

8 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I love grocery shopping, but hassling with a cab is stressful for me, not to mention expensive. I had gotten into a routine where I walked the four-mile round trip to either Food Lion or Harris Teeter every week or so and loaded up my backpack with goodies. I allowed several hours so I could take my time in the store, and I found it very relaxing. Just have to watch out not to get caught in a thunderstorm. Someday I hope to be able to get back to that, but right now I am hobbling around the house some without orthopedic aids, and need crutches to get to the mailbox, a cab or roll the garbage and recycling buckets out to the curb. I am working my way back up, though, slowly but surely. For now, I'm glad grocery delivery is an option for me.

 

I'm glad you have delivery as an option also.

 

My grandmother walked to Pathmark (her grocery) and back with a wheeled cart. In her 80s she started taking the bus home (right in front of the store to a block from home), then bus to the store and cab home. I think she got more exercise in her 80s than I do in my late 50s. *sigh* Maybe I should go for a walk this morning before I settle into work.

 

I cut the cord with the phone company in 1994, pretty early in the cell phone boom. When my wife and I got together in 2007(ish) she had three phone numbers in the house: personal, work (home office), and fax. It took me a couple of years but I weened her off all of them. Now we each have a cell phone and a "family" number that rings both phones. Fax comes in over a dedicated Internet service. Total cost is a lot cheaper and for us a lot more flexible than hard lines. I'm not trying to talk you out of your Princess phone. *grin* Just reflecting on our quite different approaches to communications.

 

best, dave

[MetsFan5]

On 8/23/2018 at 1:47 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

The site said Trenton.  Maybe they come over the line into Somerset Country?

 

  Maybe. I don’t live in Somerset Co. Drizly works with Gary’s in Madison to deliver to me as does Cambridge Wines in Morristown. 

  When I lived in Hoboken, which was about 6 years ago, I used the delivery.com app to have everything from food to liquor to laundry available. I didn’t really use it often. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

If, due to fiscal imbecility, you found you had, oh, say, $20.72 to your name to get you though the next ten days, what would be your grocery shopping?

 

My purchases today were:

 

flour, always need flour

cheese, on sale, for my sandwiches for work (see flour above)

limes...just because

 

[lindag]

7 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

If, due to fiscal imbecility, you found you had, oh, say, $20.72 to your name to get you though the next ten days, what would be your grocery shopping?

 

My purchases today were:

 

flour, always need flour

cheese, on sale, for my sandwiches for work (see flour above)

limes...just because

 

Limes.  I ALWAYS have to have limes on hand; my favorite fruit.

I'm sorry.  $20. isn't much to last for ten days.  I hope you have food in your freezer or fridge to tide you over.  

Edited September 8, 2018 by lindag (log)

[Okanagancook]

Back in the day it was lack of earning power that left me in your situation...eggs, bread, macaroni, and baked beans are fond memories.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

10 minutes ago, lindag said:

Limes.  I ALWAYS have to have limes on hand; my favorite fruit.

I'm sorry.  $20. isn't much to last for ten days.  I hope you have food in your freezer or fridge to tide you over.  

 

 

My bedroom is well stocked.  And there are always tomatoes.

 

[lindag]

23 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

My bedroom is well stocked.  And there are always tomatoes.

 

 

If you need help, let me know.  I have resources.