How We Save Money By Having Our Groceries Delivered
January 6, 2017
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Greetings, fellow frugalists. Let me tell you a tale about how an odd couple (you might know who I’m referring to 😉 from a cool little town in Pennsylvania who have frugalized their grocery purchases by ordering them online and having them delivered straight to their front door. For about 6 months now, we’ve been having our groceries delivered and actually saving money in the process. This takes a bit of strategizing and finesse (see things we don’t buy anymore here) but it can be done. And when it is done, oh, what a feeling!
We Threw In The Frugal Towel!
Ha! Just kidding. As if. One of the things we absolutely abhor is going to the grocery store. It is just another task that gets in the way of the other million tasks that need to be done on a routine basis.
Wonderfully delicious salsa!
And so the story begins…one wonderful summer morning as I was driving my sluggish butt to work, I noticed I was traveling behind a Peapod delivery truck. I hadn’t even heard of them before, but the idea of groceries being delivered to my front door definitely piqued my interest. When I arrived at my totally awesome W2 cubicle, I hurriedly did an Internet search and found the website lickity split! Signed up and BOOM, the rest is money-saving history.
Just The Facts, Ma’am. Just The Facts
-We still use our store card for discounts.
-We get emails with weekly specials.
-We get emails with generous coupons – like $20 off your next 3 orders coupons. Yeah.
-We can set a deliver date anywhere from the next day through the next 2 weeks.
-We can sit back and wait for the truck to pull into our driveway.
-We can pay everything online, including a tip.
-Done.
How Exactly This Saves Us Money
A Mini & Mommy staple #notembarrassed 🙂
Allow me to explain it to you. We have decided that we will order our entire lot of monthly groceries in a single order, not to exceed a certain amount (we don’t do a strict budget but we do put a cap on groceries – see here). This ensures we get the lowest possible delivery fee (~$7.95 for orders over $100) and only requires 1 tip.
Yes, it is a lot of groceries to deliver at one time; however, Mr. MMM and I ALWAYS give a decent tip and carry most of the bags from the truck to our door ourselves. They do offer a low annual delivery fee for unlimited orders over $100. Although it would be super convenient to have a few deliveries each month instead of splitting it up, it’s still less expensive to pay $7.95/month and only have one delivery.
On top of that, they offer a ton of coupons and up to ~$4.00 off the fee depending on the day/window you choose for delivery. If that wasn’t enough, we actually stick to our list! That’s probably the biggest one of all. We are very good about sticking to our list in the store, but we inevitably throw in a few more items than necessary. By avoiding the temptation to toss in an extra item here and there we make up for the delivery fee and tip! We’re also not driving to and fro, thus, saving our vehicles.
They Don’t Mess Up Our Order
Just in case a few of you were wondering, they don’t even mess up our orders. There are times when they are out-of-stock on a certain item and will let us know that at the time of delivery. The bill is adjusted accordingly and everyone walks away happy; albeit not as happy as I would’ve been had the item arrived, but nothing is perfect.
Another slight downside is that things like lunch meat and milk will obviously not make it an entire month. There are the occasional stops on the way home from work to pick up a gallon of milk or another small item. A tiny inconvenience compared to BIG shopping trips.
We Love Peapod!
I know this sounds like one big plug for Peapod, and I guess it kinda is, but only because we really feel like it’s the best thing that has happened to our grocery acquisition system, EVER.
Obviously, Peapod is not the only grocery delivery service around – but it is the only one around us. Hence, the only service we can truly promote based on first-hand knowledge. And I just couldn’t help but share this most awesome treasure with you all.
By all means, if Peapod services your area, I highly recommend giving them a try. You will likely be super impressed by their prompt and courtesy customer service.
Bonus Tip: Typically first-time users get a generous amount off their first order. We saved $20 the first time we signed up! For that kind of savings, it certainly doesn’t hurt to give it a try at least once.
In the end, grocery delivery can actually save you time, stress, and MONEY! Win. Win. Win. #lovegrocerydelivery
Disclaimer: I believe all amounts listed in this post are accurate for my specific area as of this writing, and courtesy of my memory 🙂 Feel free to do your own research for accuracy.
So, what do all you fine people think now? Gimme your thoughts on this topic. Have you tried it? Or, have you just thought about it?
Mad Money Pup – Winter Style
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34 Comments
Very cool. We don’t have grocery delivery in our area, but I’m pretty sure you can order online at a few of the stores and they’ll have your groceries ready for you when you show up at the store. I’ve thought about trying this but never wanted to pay the convenience fee.
Yeah, I’m not sure if I would go for the pick-up option, since it doesn’t save much of your time, energy, or vehicle. But I swear, we save a bunch by ordering online. I know it seems weird that such a convenient option saves us money, but it does! As soon as you get it in your area, you must try it. Then report back and tell me about your experience 🙂
The pick up service of Kroger is wonderful. Five mins picking up, and they load the car, no tipping, and All for 5.00 or less depending on pick up time. Also their service has a place on the order if you want an item subbed, and what brand. You may want to try it, I’m sure you could save more, especially from sales.
I believe we have Safeway grocery delivery where I live and they are offering a promotion where the first order is free, but I haven’t got around on trying it.
One thing I believe does help when doing online grocery shopping is that if you make a list and stick to it, you’ll actually stick to it online than when at the store. Often times when I’m grocery shopping with a list, I tend to check out with a whole bunch of junk food that I had not plan on buying. This could be a big benefit when purchasing online and sticking to what you planned to buy.
I definitely got to try some online grocery delivery now. This might actually help me spend less and eat healthier.
A first free order is a GREAT incentive! I had a coupon for $20 off my first order and that was enough to make it try it. I was obviously hooked. It definitely helps you stick to the list since you’re not walking down random aisles with a bunch of goodies staring you in your hungry face 🙂
I like your plan Smart Provisions. It’s definitely worth trying out. Too many people overthink things like this. Try it out and of it works, great. If it doesn’t, go back to doing what you were doing before. I wish we all (myself included) were quicker to try new things that could have a meaningful benefit.
I don’t think we have Peapod here but I’ll check. Thanks for the tip. What I like most about the idea is removing the temptations of being in a store. Even if you stick to your list you’re bound to see some wonderful new food (or chatchke, article of clothing, or gadget if you shop in Walmart or Target) that you simply must have!
That is one of the best benefits. I inevitably add items to my cart that aren’t on my list every time I go to the store. We’re lucky to not live close enough to Target to make it convenient. That place is evil…in a good way 🙂
Hi, so happy that I stumble upon your blog today. I am loving this and other posts.
Although there aren’t groceries delivery in my place, there’s always this calculator in my head of how much time I could save when I do groceries shopping. It’s not easy to walk from end to end in a hypermart just to find one item.
I am equally as happy that you’re enjoying the site! I couldn’t agree with you more about wasting time in a grocery store. If your area ever does get delivery, I highly suggest trying it 🙂
This is interesting. I’m not a fan of the grocery store either. When my wife and I go, I usually split off to gather up half the list myself so we can get out of there quicker. I have to ask though, if you’re getting groceries delivered once a month, what do you do about produce? Do you make regular trips for it?
I am glad you asked because I did miss mentioning that. We never eat any vegetables or fruits 🙂 No, just kidding! In the summer, we like to stop at the roadside stand near our house. We also enjoy hitting up our local market house in downtown Lancaster throughout the year. But we don’t mind doing this, since it is like a date for us and we love supporting locals. Occasionally, I do need to stop on my way home from work to get some milk, but again, I don’t mind “running in” for something quick. 🙂
I’ve been using Kroger’s Clicklist to buy groceries for a couple months now (ever since I had a baby and going to the store became way more difficult). Order online, pick up at the store. You don’t even have to get out of your car! Just call when you’re there and they’ll bring it out and load you up. They charge $4.95 per pickup but the first few orders were free. They’ll also occasionally run specials of free pickup during off hours. But doing it this way saves me at least $4.95 in impulse buys plus an hour of my time – it’s so worth it. I make my list on my phone throughout the week and pick up every Saturday morning. Easy peasy.
I totally agree. The best feature is the scan feature, that I didn’t even put into the article. I can walk around our house with my phone and scan the items we’re running low on and they automatically pop up and I can slide them over to my virtual shopping cart. I do love it. Glad to hear you’re finding a use for it, as well…especially with a new baby! 🙂
I’ve been thinking a lot more about shopping on a monthly instead of weekly basis. It would certainly cut down on weekly stress of finding menu ideas and I could just set it and forget it once a month after some upfront planning.
Our grocery store doesn’t offer delivery, but they do offer curbside loading of your groceries. They only offer coupons to new users and they do mess stuff up, so I just shop for groceries myself. I like having control of what produce and meats I buy. But if you have small kiddos I do see the allure of this! There’s no begging for new stuff at the store and you get only the groceries you need.
Yeah, there are downsides, like anything. And it doesn’t get us completely out of going to the store. We still need to pick up the occasional produce item or gallon of milk. But, overall, we are saving money, time, and stress by doing it this way. I think it comes down to what the best choice is for each family 🙂
We’ve had our groceries delivered for the past 5 years. It’s become so normal that until I read you post I’d almost forgotten that people still go to the actual grocery store to get their food! 😉
Haha! That’s awesome. I don’t think it’s been in our area for too long, but I do know that we will never go back to going to the grocery store. That was one task I am happy to swipe off my plate 🙂
I used to be a huge couponer. I would run around to all the stores, getting all the deals…Until I realized it was encouraging me to spend more, by buying things I wouldn’t have otherwise purchased. Now I’m convinced the fewer stores I enter, the more money I save. Plus…Couponing took SO much time…And once I was no longer a stay at home mom with no other earning options, the time cost beat the money I saved.
I abhor grocery shopping. I currently just use the online coupons at Kroger and shop online at Kroger. They don’t deliver, but we just pick up our online order. I do a much better job meal planning when I shop online, and I don’t buy any impulse purchases…Plus it saves time. I think the $4.95 fee is well worth it.
I love that you shared this. I used to watch Extreme Couponing and often wondered why everyone was buying 50 things of deodorant. It seemed to me that is was mostly crap food and toiletries. I mean, it was amazing to see them get things for free and to even see some people get money back, but it seemed like such a HUGE time suck. Thanks again for sharing!
This is awesome! Aside from the financial savings this also sounds like a great way to help stick to a diet and cut out junk food, since you’re not being tempted by food sitting in the aisles while you shop online. I typically chalk up anything that is convenient to not being frugal but I like this way of looking at it. It makes me wonder what other things I can save money on and make my life more convenient.
It is true. I also forgot to mention that the app that I use has a “scan” feature so I can walk around my kitchen and scan things we’re running low on and it automatically populates. So convenient. You definitely need to try it.
It’s funny you’ve written this, because for the last few weeks I’ve been wondering whether to switch to grocery shopping online. I’ve been against it, and then indifferent to it, but now I’m starting to warm to it. So many seem to have coupons and cashback for first use, and some of the delivery slots are insanely cheap. Even if I don’t save money, if I can spend the same amount and save time, that’s a win!
I definitely suggest you give it a try. There are nominal costs associated with having them delivered, of course, like the delivery fee and the tip, if you choose to give one. However, the time, energy, and gas it saves makes up for it. Not to mention the biggest win (I guess I am actually mentioning it :)… you stick to the list! Let us know how it goes!
Winter tends to get busy for us – days are shorter and my husband has a lot of time eaten up with winter sports. I’m planning to start doing a lot of online shopping then! Unfortunately the big chains here don’t have great offerings on that front but new small companies are popping up in this area.
Our local chain of stores has a similar delivery service or a store pick-up option for a lower fee ($4.95/order). With both of us working 50-60 hour weeks and trying to fit all of life’s other challenges in, this service is a lifesaver. We generally meal plan for the next 1-2 weeks on a Saturday, add all the ingredients we’ll need to our online shopping cart, and submit the order to pick up Sunday morning.
We pull into the reserved parking space and text to alert the service we’re there, and within a couple minutes they wheel our order out and load it into the car for us! Easily saves an hour of shopping and the fee pays for itself by avoiding impulse buys. Also, their meat and produce selections have been very solid, probably better than my own sometimes!
Isn’t it The Best?! I try to let people know this service exists as much as possible. Just the time savings alone is worth it for us! Sounds like you’re on the same page 🙂
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Just in case a few of you were wondering, they don’t even mess up our orders. There are times when they are out-of-stock on a certain item and will let us know that at the time of delivery. The bill is adjusted accordingly and everyone walks away happy; albeit not as happy as I would’ve been had the item arrived, but nothing is perfect.
34 Comments
Very cool. We don’t have grocery delivery in our area, but I’m pretty sure you can order online at a few of the stores and they’ll have your groceries ready for you when you show up at the store. I’ve thought about trying this but never wanted to pay the convenience fee.
Yeah, I’m not sure if I would go for the pick-up option, since it doesn’t save much of your time, energy, or vehicle. But I swear, we save a bunch by ordering online. I know it seems weird that such a convenient option saves us money, but it does! As soon as you get it in your area, you must try it. Then report back and tell me about your experience 🙂
The pick up service of Kroger is wonderful. Five mins picking up, and they load the car, no tipping, and All for 5.00 or less depending on pick up time. Also their service has a place on the order if you want an item subbed, and what brand. You may want to try it, I’m sure you could save more, especially from sales.
Ooh! That sounds awesome. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Kroger near me 🙁
I believe we have Safeway grocery delivery where I live and they are offering a promotion where the first order is free, but I haven’t got around on trying it.
One thing I believe does help when doing online grocery shopping is that if you make a list and stick to it, you’ll actually stick to it online than when at the store. Often times when I’m grocery shopping with a list, I tend to check out with a whole bunch of junk food that I had not plan on buying. This could be a big benefit when purchasing online and sticking to what you planned to buy.
I definitely got to try some online grocery delivery now. This might actually help me spend less and eat healthier.
A first free order is a GREAT incentive! I had a coupon for $20 off my first order and that was enough to make it try it. I was obviously hooked. It definitely helps you stick to the list since you’re not walking down random aisles with a bunch of goodies staring you in your hungry face 🙂
I like your plan Smart Provisions. It’s definitely worth trying out. Too many people overthink things like this. Try it out and of it works, great. If it doesn’t, go back to doing what you were doing before. I wish we all (myself included) were quicker to try new things that could have a meaningful benefit.
WHAT?! We have Peapod?! Thank you for the update! I think we might push the button on this.
Yes. We. Do! I’m waiting for their delivery as I type this! 🙂
I don’t think we have Peapod here but I’ll check. Thanks for the tip. What I like most about the idea is removing the temptations of being in a store. Even if you stick to your list you’re bound to see some wonderful new food (or chatchke, article of clothing, or gadget if you shop in Walmart or Target) that you simply must have!
That is one of the best benefits. I inevitably add items to my cart that aren’t on my list every time I go to the store. We’re lucky to not live close enough to Target to make it convenient. That place is evil…in a good way 🙂
Hi, so happy that I stumble upon your blog today. I am loving this and other posts.
Although there aren’t groceries delivery in my place, there’s always this calculator in my head of how much time I could save when I do groceries shopping. It’s not easy to walk from end to end in a hypermart just to find one item.
I am equally as happy that you’re enjoying the site! I couldn’t agree with you more about wasting time in a grocery store. If your area ever does get delivery, I highly suggest trying it 🙂
This is interesting. I’m not a fan of the grocery store either. When my wife and I go, I usually split off to gather up half the list myself so we can get out of there quicker. I have to ask though, if you’re getting groceries delivered once a month, what do you do about produce? Do you make regular trips for it?
I am glad you asked because I did miss mentioning that. We never eat any vegetables or fruits 🙂 No, just kidding! In the summer, we like to stop at the roadside stand near our house. We also enjoy hitting up our local market house in downtown Lancaster throughout the year. But we don’t mind doing this, since it is like a date for us and we love supporting locals. Occasionally, I do need to stop on my way home from work to get some milk, but again, I don’t mind “running in” for something quick. 🙂
I’ve been using Kroger’s Clicklist to buy groceries for a couple months now (ever since I had a baby and going to the store became way more difficult). Order online, pick up at the store. You don’t even have to get out of your car! Just call when you’re there and they’ll bring it out and load you up. They charge $4.95 per pickup but the first few orders were free. They’ll also occasionally run specials of free pickup during off hours. But doing it this way saves me at least $4.95 in impulse buys plus an hour of my time – it’s so worth it. I make my list on my phone throughout the week and pick up every Saturday morning. Easy peasy.
I totally agree. The best feature is the scan feature, that I didn’t even put into the article. I can walk around our house with my phone and scan the items we’re running low on and they automatically pop up and I can slide them over to my virtual shopping cart. I do love it. Glad to hear you’re finding a use for it, as well…especially with a new baby! 🙂
I’ve been thinking a lot more about shopping on a monthly instead of weekly basis. It would certainly cut down on weekly stress of finding menu ideas and I could just set it and forget it once a month after some upfront planning.
Our grocery store doesn’t offer delivery, but they do offer curbside loading of your groceries. They only offer coupons to new users and they do mess stuff up, so I just shop for groceries myself. I like having control of what produce and meats I buy. But if you have small kiddos I do see the allure of this! There’s no begging for new stuff at the store and you get only the groceries you need.
Yeah, there are downsides, like anything. And it doesn’t get us completely out of going to the store. We still need to pick up the occasional produce item or gallon of milk. But, overall, we are saving money, time, and stress by doing it this way. I think it comes down to what the best choice is for each family 🙂
We’ve had our groceries delivered for the past 5 years. It’s become so normal that until I read you post I’d almost forgotten that people still go to the actual grocery store to get their food! 😉
Great job and post!
Haha! That’s awesome. I don’t think it’s been in our area for too long, but I do know that we will never go back to going to the grocery store. That was one task I am happy to swipe off my plate 🙂
I used to be a huge couponer. I would run around to all the stores, getting all the deals…Until I realized it was encouraging me to spend more, by buying things I wouldn’t have otherwise purchased. Now I’m convinced the fewer stores I enter, the more money I save. Plus…Couponing took SO much time…And once I was no longer a stay at home mom with no other earning options, the time cost beat the money I saved.
I abhor grocery shopping. I currently just use the online coupons at Kroger and shop online at Kroger. They don’t deliver, but we just pick up our online order. I do a much better job meal planning when I shop online, and I don’t buy any impulse purchases…Plus it saves time. I think the $4.95 fee is well worth it.
I love that you shared this. I used to watch Extreme Couponing and often wondered why everyone was buying 50 things of deodorant. It seemed to me that is was mostly crap food and toiletries. I mean, it was amazing to see them get things for free and to even see some people get money back, but it seemed like such a HUGE time suck. Thanks again for sharing!
This is awesome! Aside from the financial savings this also sounds like a great way to help stick to a diet and cut out junk food, since you’re not being tempted by food sitting in the aisles while you shop online. I typically chalk up anything that is convenient to not being frugal but I like this way of looking at it. It makes me wonder what other things I can save money on and make my life more convenient.
It is true. I also forgot to mention that the app that I use has a “scan” feature so I can walk around my kitchen and scan things we’re running low on and it automatically populates. So convenient. You definitely need to try it.
It’s funny you’ve written this, because for the last few weeks I’ve been wondering whether to switch to grocery shopping online. I’ve been against it, and then indifferent to it, but now I’m starting to warm to it. So many seem to have coupons and cashback for first use, and some of the delivery slots are insanely cheap. Even if I don’t save money, if I can spend the same amount and save time, that’s a win!
I definitely suggest you give it a try. There are nominal costs associated with having them delivered, of course, like the delivery fee and the tip, if you choose to give one. However, the time, energy, and gas it saves makes up for it. Not to mention the biggest win (I guess I am actually mentioning it :)… you stick to the list! Let us know how it goes!
Winter tends to get busy for us – days are shorter and my husband has a lot of time eaten up with winter sports. I’m planning to start doing a lot of online shopping then! Unfortunately the big chains here don’t have great offerings on that front but new small companies are popping up in this area.
That’s awesome news. Smaller companies might have really good incentives, too. You’ll have to stop back and let us know how it goes!
Our local chain of stores has a similar delivery service or a store pick-up option for a lower fee ($4.95/order). With both of us working 50-60 hour weeks and trying to fit all of life’s other challenges in, this service is a lifesaver. We generally meal plan for the next 1-2 weeks on a Saturday, add all the ingredients we’ll need to our online shopping cart, and submit the order to pick up Sunday morning.
We pull into the reserved parking space and text to alert the service we’re there, and within a couple minutes they wheel our order out and load it into the car for us! Easily saves an hour of shopping and the fee pays for itself by avoiding impulse buys. Also, their meat and produce selections have been very solid, probably better than my own sometimes!
Isn’t it The Best?! I try to let people know this service exists as much as possible. Just the time savings alone is worth it for us! Sounds like you’re on the same page 🙂