shopping, prices

shopping, prices

shopping online. delivered

scanned, cropped images

shopping, prices

Instacart delivery

Is it expensive? consider, your labor (if you were to pay yourself minimum wage of —-), your time, cost per mile of vehicle operation.

from receipt

7
Items Found

4
Adjustments
Adjustments (Shaw​’s) 4
Refunds
Open Nature Bone-In Lamb Loin Chops (per unit)
Refunded 1.0 lb
$0.00
Replacements

Some of your items weren’t available, so your shopper picked items based on replacements you approved and what was available.

Brussel Sprouts (16 oz bag)
1 x $3.49
$3.49
Brussels Sprouts (per unit)
1.0 lb x $3.49
$3.49

Weight Adjustments
Broccoli Crown (~ 0.81 lb)
$2.09
Adjustment: 0.805 lb -> 1.0 lb
1.0 lb x $2.09
$1.68
$2.09

S Farms Whole Chicken (per unit)
$1.89
Adjustment: 2.75 lb -> 4.465 lb
4.465 lb x $1.89
$5.20
$8.44

Items found (Shaw​’s) 7
Produce
Iceberg Lettuce (each)
1 x $2.29
$2.29

Pantry
Bragg Organic Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (16 oz)
1 x $4.59
$4.59
Beverages

Florida’s Natural Orange Juice, Most Pulp (52 oz)
1 x $4.09
$4.59
$4.09

Deli
Signature Farms Trimmed Celery Stalks (16 oz bag)
1 x $3.49
$3.49

Produce
Yellow Onion Bag (3 lb bag)
1 x $4.59
$4.59

Meat & Seafood
Choice Beef Top Round Roast (per unit)
2.51 lb x $5.79
$20.31
$14.53

Snacks
Quaker Rice Cakes Buttered Popcorn (4.47 oz)
1 x $3.49
$3.49

Order Totals
Items Subtotal $51.09
Tip xx.xx
Service Fee $3.58
Total $64.89
Free Delivery!
You saved $6.48

The free delivery was a promotion, yes there is usually a mark up in prices from the actual store prices. Some items that are on sale may actually be lower than store prices.

If you are an extremely picky shopper you may not like having grocery delivery. There are options to select alternatives if an item is out of stock /not available. You can modify your list till the shopper starts. Your shopper can communicate by texting to ask for an approval of a change also. You rely on an experienced shopper to make the best choices. The system is not perfect in every way as with shopping on line or even going to the market and finding out there all out of a certain item. Real time quantities would require a system that requires shoppers to scan their purchases as they pick them like in an fully automated store (Amazon) and relay that info in real time to have that item replenished if the supply chain can support it, or have a picker in the store pick and store your order before the shopper arrives. In our area, Instacart has expanded to a decent variety of stores not only groceries. Prepackaging of items also is easier to select than a by weight items.

In my opinion, one tends to organize shopping more carefully as to the frequency of going to the store multiple times for a few items , This would also tie in to meal planning. Instacart does offer subscription services that lower delivery cost but it not required. Instacart is also available through a web connected computer (desktop or other device that can access webpages) so a smartphone device is not required. I’ve used both platforms and sometimes the messaging can have a bit of latency.

Grocery delivery is not new, in past times some specialty neighborhood grocers would offer phone in ordering and a grocery delivering to preferred customers. i don’t know though how the price was negotiated back then.

Shopping

Recent shopping,prices.

R

I find Peapod useful, mostly for meat,chicken and seafood and other perishables. Usually only need to order every 6 months or so.

shopping

It’s been since January since I last posted on this topic and there is evolution in the grocery procurement task as always. One family member shops weekly with transportation  provided by the city for a small fee. Other staple items are ordered online and delivered, for some this is a huge savings not only in labor and transportation but freeing up leisure time. As people have looked forward in the past for the latest and greatest labor and time saving devices, now picking up your smart device or logging in to the online purveyor yields the service sector  economy at your whim to provide more leisure time, a filled predication of the past. (if that’s what you accept)

BTW if you go to the  grocery store, meet the new supervisor.

Another prediction fulfillment ?

 

shopping

revamping the grocery purchasing method. Almost all non perishables are bought on line and delivered to door.

Pros

• no transportation cost
• no driving to store, parking, picking groceries, loading to from vehicle.
• virtually 24 hour shopping
• easy reordering of frequently used items
• free shipping*

Cons

• limited availability of some items
• pricing more expensive on some items
• no in store shopping experience
• no fresh food items**

The biggest advantage is the convenience and reduced time and labor of having staple items delivered. It may become monotonous to constantly buy household items like toilet tissue, Kleenex, dish washing and laundry  detergent and lugging them home. The list expands to kitchen staple items , baking goods and bathroom items, tooth paste, hygiene needs, hair care products.

Retailers offer delivery services like the well know Pea Pod service of the Stop & Shop retailer. Target has also jumped on the bandwagon expanding into the grocery online and delivery sector. Others like Amazon may offer cost effective solutions to grocery delivery under their Prime subscription service.  Not to mention others like Jet and Boxed are also worth a look. You might do better on some direct to consumer sites that some food purveyors offer if their brands are  competitively priced and the brands you use.

*free shipping: currently most of the online big box retailers offer free shipping, to an extent. A minimum purchase amount is needed, usually $25.00 or $35.00 to get the free shipping. Not all of the items qualify, usually if an item is offered by a reseller on the site then shipping cost for that item(s) may be added on. Lately, some of the big box online retailers have curtailed shipping some single items, now, to qualify for shipping  multi packs must be ordered.  The pricing of these multi packs may be more than the unit price of the single item only offered for store pick up.

Limited availability: Some items previously purchased are out of stock or no longer offered by the retailer but available through a much inflated cost by a reseller. A specific brand of microwave popcorn is no longer offered but a reseller on the site charges an exorbitant price for the same item. Why a retailer cannot ship an item that is stocked and put on the shelve in the brick and mortar is a mystery, possibly an algorithm is at work to minimize cost of the free shipping offered by the retailer.

** While fresh food usually is not offered, it depends on location, Walmart for instance has a grocery shopping site within their main site. Here all the kitchen items are offered from items like celery, fruit and vegetables, to all the other items usually found in the pantry. The catch is only certain locations are available for the service and shipping , my address not available. If you want to pre-shop online and drive in a pickup the items, no problem. Some  third party delivery services may be available but you have to factor in the cost.

An example of an item offered with only shipping offered on the 4 pack

“best value”appears the same price as 4 of the singles

Shipping not available for the 10 lb bag .55 cent per lb

---

shipping not available for the single 4 lb bag at 56 cents per lb

Shipping available for either 2 or 4  of the 4 lb bags at 87 or 86 cents per lb versus the 55 cent price per lb of the 10 lb bag  or the 56 cents per lb of the single 4 lb bag  not available for shipping. May not be a big deal to some but staple items frequently used can add up and cost comparisons by percentages can give a better overall analysis when figuring per unit cost if this item is constantly purchased.

Lets face it, if the new consumer is introduced to grocery shopping via online rather than spending time at the brick and mortar and is also enamored with delivery, then the retailer has to be competitive in it’s execution and pricing. There will be some that still value the in store experience but find other ways of social interactions. They may eventually relegate the duty of shopping to their mobile device smart assistant and have those items appear at the home.

shopping

recent prices / purchases

 Buy something you never had before : longan berries, galangal root and stingray.

The sweet yellow rice is more like couscous.

Processing…..

It’s one of those days, back from the market the fresh food laid out, recipes floating around what to do to capture the freshness of the purchase. Usually a simple salad is prepared or just tasting the produce with bread is a way to assess the flavors. It’s also a time to have a fresh fruit bowl as a meal.

Tomatoes, still coming  from the garden need to be processed. Some have been scalded, cooled and peeled for the freezer. A real easy way to process tomatoes is to juice them, a bowl filled with fresh picked cherry tomatoes yielded about 20 ounces of juice. The pulp was the chefs treat , good smeared on bread with salt and pepper. Having an attachment for juicing for the mixer makes this an easy task, a worthwhile purchase years ago. Just before bottling, strained with a filter type bag.

 

Processing tomato juice

Tomato juice

One of the other uses for tomato is salsa. Onion, shallot, chives, hot peppers are just some of the additions along with cilantro and various seeds.

tomato salsa over water spinach on flour tortilla, just one of the uses of the cherry tomato.

Other preparations are, water spinach pesto, and basil pesto although I use the term basil loosely, some of the labeling from the market, and my tasting disagree , but I’m not familiar with different type  of basil, none the less the green leaves were mixed with garlic, chives, oil, and salt and pepper via the food processor yielding a very concentrated paste. The home made pesto guarantees an easy way to incorporate the greens into your diet without cooking and as a bread lover a meal in itself when applied to fresh bread or crackers. Dressing pasta is also a favorite of the pesto.  Another leafy green with a lemony flavour was added to each pesto. Also as it was time to bottle Kombucha some of the lemony leaves were added to each bottle. Green beans were trimmed and frozen.

 

Processing water spinach

As a traditional pesto might include Parmesan cheese, none was available at the time. Also some pecans and toasted sesame seeds were added to some of the pesto.

I find a pleasant surprise when I unwrapped the pork belly, atop there were ribs, which I trimmed for an additional meal. 

Trimmed pork belly, ready for freezing or immediate meal.

Mango can be made into a chutney for a flavorful addition to a meal or a dessert.

 

Shopping

Grocery shopping…

Hot peppers (from the markdown bin) some drying, some for salsa etc.

Mango selection

Other selections

shopping

pricing, groceries, shopping