Hey there!

This weekend was one of the laziest (and best) weekends in a while.  I’m pretty sure the hubby and I left the house no more than 5 times – and, the majority of them were to go out to eat. 🙂

Today I took that laziness another level and used the service Instacart.  What is it, you ask?  Well its basically like Peapod or any of those grocery delivery systems.  Except, better.  Here’s why –

(1) You choose your grocery store.  The site lists about 6 different options from where you can get your food.  How nice to have a choice!  I live by a bunch of great ones, and I stuck with Whole Foods for my first order.

(2) You pick your schtuff (technical term 😉 ).  I ordered a bunch of fruit, veggies, lunch meat, etc. Once I ordered everything and hit “buy”, it leads you to a screen which shows all of your selected items.  For each item, you get to choose a substitute in the case that your item isn’t available.  Uhh hello – this should have always been around on grocery delivery sites!  When do you ever get everything on your list?!  Answer: never.

(3) You buy it.  And wish you spent it on shoes instead.

(4) Time passes.  A few hours before your order is set to be delivered, you get a call from Whole Foods (grocery store you choose) confirming your items.  If some weren’t available, they try to choose substitutes.

(5) It gets delivered.  AND YOU NEVER LEFT YOUR HOUSE.  From a pure laziness level, this is awesome.

Review: 

– Quality: the fresh fruit and veggies were great.  Nothing was bruised, nothing looked “ehhh”, etc.  I’ve used other delivery services in college (Kroger) and it was FAR from pleasant.  The stuff usually lasted one to two days past delivery.  Instacarts/Whole Foods actually looks like it will last – success!

– Price: surprisingly, it wasn’t all that different from grocery shopping.  AND if you buy more than $35 of groceries (which inadvertently happens every time I grocery shop… even if I’m only planning on picking up one thing)…you get free delivery!  For those of you who aren’t so sure you went to spend $35 right off the bat – no worries.  Your first delivery is free.  Of course, mine was no matter what since I spent over $35 on my first order…

– Substitutions: this is where Instacart gets a lower score.  And I was so excited about the substitution option!!  There are two reasons this gets a lower score (1) I requested 2 green bell peppers.  When he called to confirm my order, he said he only picked up 1 because it was the only one that looked good.  Now while I appreciate his concern over good quality I’m not sure why he didn’t substitute those peppers with yellow bell peppers (my listed substitute).  I mean… why list substitutes if they don’t reference them…?  (2) I requested 1 pound of turkey lunch meat.  They didn’t have it, so I told the guy I was fine with whatever turkey lunch meat they have, within the same price range.  He assured me this was just fine.  Upon delivery, I saw it was the same price – but only 3/4 of a pound.  Disappointing because I know there is lunch meat that WOULD hit the same price point at the same weight.  Again, not the end of the world, but that was enough sandwich for a lunch, so we’re one day short.

Take-away: I would use Instacart again but, if they call me due to substitution questions, I would make sure I ask for a final “double check” call.  Good news is – price & quality are right, just need the quantity!

Alright – that’s enough “work” for tonight – it’s back to laziness!  😉 House of Cards, here I come!

❤ Sarah

Questions for you:

– Do you use grocery delivery services?

– Do you watch House of Cards?