I don't know about you, but one of the few things I detest about living here is GROCERY shopping! I didn't think twice back home going to the store spending several hundreds of dollars at HEB and sometimes making more than one trip during the day. I loved having the trusty grocery checklist downloaded online and found it to be the easiest thing to follow never forgetting a thing...and possibly getting more than we actually needed.
London is different because:
a) I don't have a car. All groceries are carried in either a grocery bag, a folded bag that I sometimes carry with me, or a rolling cart that Matt detests being seen with but definitely saves our backs!
b) I consider myself to have pretty muscular arms but I can only carry so many cans of coke, canned veggies, cartons of milk or juice, or bags of sugar/flour/potatoes.
c) frozen foods never are quite frozen by the time I get home. The bus takes about 30 minutes and depending where I am the heat can build up enough to melt ice cream...especially during the desperate times of need...summer!
d) public transportation isn't the best place to hog seats, aisles, or doors with your loads of groceries...people love giving 'ojo' in protest. No more than that of course because the British are non-confrontational and won't do anything further.
After hearing about it for ages and having several recommendations from fellow Londoners, we took the bait and decided to 'order' our groceries online! One of the main reasons we didn't do it before was we didn't realize you could schedule your delivery day and time. I'm sure people will gasp at the delivery cost, but I think its going to be worthwhile in the long run. This first order was small and more of a 'test' on accuracy, price, product quality, and punctuality. I believe it will be a bi-monthly event and I look forward to another outlet for shopping online.
Pros:
* Delivery when I schedule...9pm - 11 pm. If you know us, you know this suits us perfectly!
* Product substitution for cheaper alternatives is automatic.
* Product substitution for out of stock items.
* Points accumulated to apply for perks.
* Choice of bin delivery or shopping bags. (More points if you don't use shopping bags!)
* Delivered to your front door
Cons:
* Can't figure out how many bananas you get in .5 kg(s)...and most items.
* Website is handy showing you cost/qty but quantity isn't always the same (i.e. one package of yoghurt would be labeled as $.50/10 oz...while another will be $2.50/1 L)
* Getting your grocery in a bin is akward as the guy stands outside your door waiting to retrieve his bin.
* There is ALWAYS something you forget and more than likely have to go back to the 'real' store for...
Well, we've done the online pizza order, taxi order, and now groceries!
1 Comment:
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October 30, 2008 3:25 am
HA! The joys of living in Europe! I always overestimated what I could fit in my bag and ended up with the aching back in Germany!
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