Grocery Shopping

[harllee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mmm Rrr I've tried various delivery options and have settled on Amazon Fresh. The quality of meat and produce has been good, the prices are really competitive, I almost always get same or next day delivery windows, and on the rare occasions where there has been a mistake, I get a refund within minutes. They strongly recommend a $5 delivery tip, which I always leave on the order. For that I get a little knock on my 4th floor condo door and the well-packed bags of groceries are beside my door.

Too bad--no Amazon Fresh where I live.

[Retch The Grate]

So I was in Safeway 4 different times this week, after a year of almost exclusively online delivery shopping only. I think we'd been in a grocery twice total since March 2020. Being vaccinated is wonderful, it was so nice to be in the store in person. I'm still ordering online a lot, because getting our weekly staples is easy, but being back in the store is nice. I also stopped washing/cleaning/storing the groceries specially, which has made DW happy. :P

[pacergal]

I have been into the physical store for shopping a few times since fully vaccinated (Safeway and Costco). Much less anxiety, but I realized how much of a time waster it was!
I have learned to prefer a few clicks for my cart , check out online and pick up or delivery when convenient for me.
I plan to continue online. I don't mind avoiding in person shopping! And, luckily, we have not had any really bad experiences or too many bad products.

[braumeister]

I was in the habit of shopping at our local Kroger supermarket 2 or 3 times a week. I don't like to get huge orders, just enough for the next few days. That's fairly routine in many countries.

Once the pandemic started in earnest last March, I cut down to only 1 or 2 times a week, but that crept up very soon to normally twice every week.

I rather enjoy the process, and I haven't felt uneasy at all. People have been wonderfully good about masking and distancing around here, and I always go early in the morning. The staff at the store have universally been friendly and helpful.

I would probably have more anxiety about letting someone else do my shopping and then arranging for pickup or delivery, so doing it in person works much better for me. I'm glad it works for so many others, but I'm strictly a DIY guy here.

[mystang52]

Early on in the pandemic we had deliveries from Whole Foods and ShopRite, and frankly was satisfied. After a few months we started going back to the stores, but only in early morning weekdays. We still do this; stores are relatively empty.

[Mmm Rrr]

I've been starting to feel confident going to stores. Everyone wears masks and people stay at a good distance from one another. Here in Seattle our vaccination rates are good.

This morning I ran across the street to my neighborhood supermarket and there was a notice on the door that one of the employees had tested positive. They'd sanitized and were still open, but it does put everything into perspective. This isn't over yet!

[gayl]

Prices are really up. Corn should be 10/$1 and it's 4/$1. Same for other produce. Thinking it's the drought

[Dawg52]

I had home deliveries twice early on but have been doing inside shopping ever since with mask on. Masks have been lifted around here but probably 50% still wear in a grocery store. I have just started going maskless and feel comfortable w/o one. I do keep hand sanitizer nearby and always use after going anywhere. I plan to keep some with me going forward.

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg52 I had home deliveries twice early on but have been doing inside shopping ever since with mask on. Masks have been lifted around here but probably 50% still wear in a grocery store. I have just started going maskless and feel comfortable w/o one. I do keep hand sanitizer nearby and always use after going anywhere. I plan to keep some with me going forward.

My understanding is that the COVID-19 germ has a very short life span on hard surfaces (minutes?) and, therefore, has a very slim chance of going from hand to lung in a lethal form. On the other hand, infection from active air-born particles is almost guaranteed.

Mask vs hand cleaner... my money's on mask.

[Aerides]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonBoyd My understanding is that the COVID-19 germ has a very short life span on hard surfaces (minutes?) and, therefore, has a very slim chance of going from hand to lung in a lethal form. On the other hand, infection from active air-born particles is almost guaranteed. Mask vs hand cleaner... my money's on mask.

True, but other colds/flus/viruses are more commonly transmitted via surfaces.

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides True, but other colds/flus/viruses are more commonly transmitted via surfaces.

Oh! I wasn't knocking hand cleaners. They are certainly important. I was merely suggesting that, in the case of COVID-19, hand cleaner is not the best alternative to wearing a mask.

[Dawg52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonBoyd Oh! I wasn't knocking hand cleaners. They are certainly important. I was merely suggesting that, in the case of COVID-19, hand cleaner is not the best alternative to wearing a mask.

That's fine.....I'm just tired of wearing masks. I'll wear them to hospitals and other required venues. I'm vaccinated and will follow up with booster shots when available.

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawg52 That's fine.....I'm just tired of wearing masks. I'll wear them to hospitals and other required venues. I'm vaccinated and will follow up with booster shots when available.

Wow! Did this ever run off the rails. (Another example of my communication failures). I, certainly, wasn't mask-shaming you... well, didn't intend to, anyway. My ONLY point was the hand sanitizer/mask comparison.

[Ronstar]

I go to grocery stores about 2-3 times a week and big box home improvement stores about 3 times a week - through the pandemic. Wear a mask every time. And try to avoid being close to people as much as possible.

[MRG]

We don't have delivery so I have gone shopping for the entire time. The early days were very rushed, grab and go. I likely got covid last April from the grocery store and didn't enjoy watching DW with it for a month.

Were both 5 weeks post second dose and now I'm much more relaxed and actually shop for things. I'm still fully masked. I might start using garters not the kn95 that attempt to remove my ears.

[Nature Lover]

Just visited my preferred local grocery store yesterday for the first time in a year for a real, normal(ish) weekly shopping experience. Went at 915am, and it was nearly empty....but all the best fresh produce and awesome butcher shop offerings ready to go. I'm fully vaccinated, was masked up, and followed sanitizing and distancing protocols. With so few people, I was the most comfortable I've been out and about since last March. Clearly, I still need to adjust a bit to being more comfortable around others after the last year, but I've always loved grocery shopping, so this is a big step towards normalcy for me.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nature Lover Just visited my preferred local grocery store yesterday for the first time in a year for a real, normal(ish) weekly shopping experience. Went at 915am, and it was nearly empty....but all the best fresh produce and awesome butcher shop offerings ready to go. I'm fully vaccinated, was masked up, and followed sanitizing and distancing protocols. With so few people, I was the most comfortable I've been out and about since last March. Clearly, I still need to adjust a bit to being more comfortable around others after the last year, but I've always loved grocery shopping, so this is a big step towards normalcy for me.

I can relate to that, so much! The pandemic has messed with my daily life (as it has for many of us) and I am just not used to doing real life grocery shopping regularly any more. I do need to resume grocery shopping every week soon.

I am in the process of replenishing my pantry with non-perishables, for hurricane season. Amazon is out of almost all of the items I was searching for, but Target had them all online! And the prices and variety available were phenomenal, same as pre-covid AFAIK.

So, I ordered these non-perishables (Campbell's chunky soups, Jif peanut butter, etc) from Target late Saturday night, and they arrived in pristine condition on my front porch about 11 AM this morning. Can't beat that with a stick. I think I'll order some more today. (edit: in fact, I did. 24 more cans of Campbell's chunky soups, delivery the day after tomorrow.)

Until I get back to a more regular (in person) grocery shopping habit, it sure is easy to have heavy, non-perishable stuff delivered.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I can relate to that, so much! The pandemic has messed with my daily life (as it has for many of us) and I am just not used to doing real life grocery shopping regularly any more. I do need to resume grocery shopping every week soon. I am in the process of replenishing my pantry with non-perishables, for hurricane season. Amazon is out of almost all of the items I was searching for. Target had them all! And the prices and variety available were phenomenal, same as pre-covid AFAIK. So, I ordered these non-perishables (Campbell's chunky soups, Jif peanut butter, etc) late Saturday night, and they arrived in pristine condition on my front porch about 11 AM this morning. Can't beat that with a stick! I think I'll order some more today. Until I get back to a more regular (in person) grocery shopping habit, it sure is easy to have heavy, non-perishable stuff delivered.

Grocery shopping is different, but now in a different way. We did WM pickup (or delivery) for most of the COVID duration and have noticed the last couple of deliveries there were almost no substitutions available...often as though the item wasn't available at all. Stuff you wouldn't expect to not be able to find, like English muffins.

I went to a "regular" grocery store this AM to pick up a few items and there were a lot of bare shelves. I am not sure this is just local to our area, but it is slightly disconcerting.

I guess I can be happy that our upright freezer is stocked quite nicely.

[braumeister]

I used to hit the local Kroger two or three times a week, BC (Before Covid). Once the pandemic hit in earnest, I cut that down to just once a week. But I'm back to twice a week now.

Honestly, it has never bothered me to go and do my own grocery shopping. I actually enjoy it, and the Kroger employees have been absolutely wonderful during all of this.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ExFlyBoy5 Grocery shopping is different, but now in a different way. We did WM pickup (or delivery) for most of the COVID duration and have noticed the last couple of deliveries there were almost no substitutions available...often as though the item wasn't available at all. Stuff you wouldn't expect to not be able to find, like English muffins. I went to a "regular" grocery store this AM to pick up a few items and there were a lot of bare shelves. I am not sure this is just local to our area, but it is slightly disconcerting. I guess I can be happy that our upright freezer is stocked quite nicely.

(bolded emphasis mine) Eek! I hope this isn't the case here. For non-perishables online, I'd recommend Target.

During the pandemic, I lived mostly on a huge amount of non-perishables already in my pantry, plus a freezer full of meat. Also I got some more non-perishables from Amazon, and we got food at restaurants - - pickup, delivery, outside service, and finally inside service. For that first year of pandemic, I went to the grocery store only once and I was like the deer in the headlights there. So many people.

So far the restaurants here haven't run out of things or raised their prices, but in the past month they have gone from virtually empty to being much more crowded. Ick. We eat at off hours to avoid the crowds. Also from what I have been reading, higher prices should be coming to local restaurants soon so I am mentally preparing for that eventuality.