Grocery Shopping

[FDC319]

I had to go to Walmart today at about 11 AM as my preferred grocery store was closed. Likely something I missed about an Easter morning closure.

The store was fully stocked with TP. Multiple name brands, sizes, flavors, etc. It was as if the great 2020 toilet paper crisis had never occured. I passed on it all as I have plenty from before all this stuff.

One thing I've noticed with Walmart is the store pickers for the online curbside orders. They have larger carts and are in the way all over the place. They also seem to be hogging all the plastic bags for meat. I've had to grab from a cart a few times.

 

[ivinsfan]

I had to go to Walmart today at about 11 AM as my preferred grocery store was closed. Likely something I missed about an Easter morning closure.

The store was fully stocked with TP. Multiple name brands, sizes, flavors, etc. It was as if the great 2020 toilet paper crisis had never occured. I passed on it all as I have plenty from before all this stuff.

One thing I've noticed with Walmart is the store pickers for the online curbside orders. They have larger carts and are in the way all over the place. They also seem to be hogging all the plastic bags for meat. I've had to grab from a cart a few times.

They along with Walmart are doing a public service, no up charge on price, no fee (with a 30 dollar order) and good substitutions with no up charge..what do you want them to do? Go around them...

 

[Ready]

Sounds like a meat shortage may be looming. High level of infections at several meat processing plants.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...at-colorado-meat-plant-impacts-as-many-as-300

 

[Car-Guy]

We stopped by the local hamburger joint tonight (more for supporting them than anything else) and I noticed the HEB next door was closed. Went by Brookshire Bros and they were closed too. Then I remembered it was Easter. I told the DW that I'd bet Walmart was open (the only other grocery store within ~40 miles) Sure enough it was open but there were very few shoppers. I went in to get bread, milk, ice cream and paper towels. I looked around and saw that the shelves were generally about 70% stocked. The only things they were completely out of that I noticed were TP and eggs. Every time I go there they are out of something different, except TP which I haven't seen on the shelves for over a month. Good thing I stocked up earlier.

 

[RobbieB]

Social distancing means stay away. Don't help anyone with anything that gets you closer than 6 feet.

 

[FDC319]

They along with Walmart are doing a public service, no up charge on price, no fee (with a 30 dollar order) and good substitutions with no up charge..what do you want them to do? Go around them...

Oh I know. I noticed them before the current shenanigans too. The Walmarts in the area have only recently expanded to the curbside pickup. This one within the last couple of months and the next closest within the last 6 months.

 

[brewer12345]

Sounds like a meat shortage may be looming. High level of infections at several meat processing plants.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...at-colorado-meat-plant-impacts-as-many-as-300

Maybe a lot of new vegetarians in the US population soon. That will be interesting.

 

[Katiek]

There are likely some online ordering systems that I don't know (almost certainly) but the ones I've tried are still sold out, although I could try checking at midnight.



I've limited trips to the grocery store, but my local grocery store seems to be doing a good job of sanitizing carts, handing out gloves and wipes and monitoring check out lines to ensure distancing. I'll go there for some essentials when necessary, but I've tried to do any necessary shopping at small delis or take out places

 

[Spock]

Just had my first Instacart grocery delivery from Fry's/Kroger.
Utter disaster.
My order was $70.86.
My bill ended up being $172.27... somehow a bunch of $15/lb rib eye steaks and 5 energy drinks were added to the bill. Then there were the half-expected substitutions, mostly smaller jars/boxes of items I did order, but taking those into account my as-ordered and substituted bill should have about $43.

The order on the Fry's website looks like whatever the shopper scanned in became my order... I see nothing on the lists that look like my original order.



I called the Fry's contact number... 30 minutes on hold (understandable giving the situation), got connected to somebody that sounded like we were using 2 soup cans and a piece of string to talk to each other. Eventually the person says something about getting a $80 store credit, but that I wouldn't be able to see that credit on my account... I would just tell the checkout/pickup clerk that I have a store credit.
When I asked for a confirmation number or something to prove I had a credit she mysteriously started saying "caller can you hear me" and then hung up.

Relying on Fry's we'll go broke AND starve.

Walmart has done OK, just an irritating website to order from (all of their 3rd party sellers charge sky high prices... like $26 for a box of bisquick).
Safeway has a delivery scheduled next week... we'll see what they can do.

 

[Sunset]

.....
Relying on Fry's we'll go broke AND starve.

Walmart has done OK, just an irritating website to order from (all of their 3rd party sellers charge sky high prices... like $26 for a box of bisquick).
....

Are you ordering from Walmart Grocery https://grocery.walmart.com
Where you pick up at the curb your order ?

I have done this numerous times, and while it's awkward to get a timeslot (do it immediately after midnight) , building the order beforehand is easy, then just wait for the timeslot to open.

I have not noticed any large markup on price, just an absence of some things I'd like to get.
Here they have 2 bisquick out of stock and 2 in stock:
https://grocery.walmart.com/search/?query=bisquick

Walmart has really shined in this area for me.

 

[Amethyst]

Brewer, you are no doubt completely stocked on dry beans, etc. but I've been unable to get dry milk for over a month, and beans/rice continue to fly off the shelves and be "sold out" online (I did get some of each). I thought, at first, it was due to the high Latinx population here; now I think it's due to a widespread fear of no meat.

Maybe a lot of new vegetarians in the US population soon. That will be interesting.

 

[harllee]

Oh I know. I noticed them before the current shenanigans too. The Walmarts in the area have only recently expanded to the curbside pickup. This one within the last couple of months and the next closest within the last 6 months.

Thank heavens for the Walmart curbside pick up. DH is high risk--Walmart curbside pickup is my go to for most groceries. Overall it has worked well for me and there are not a lot of extra charges.

 

[brewer12345]

Brewer, you are no doubt completely stocked on dry beans, etc. but I've been unable to get dry milk for over a month, and beans/rice continue to fly off the shelves and be "sold out" online (I did get some of each). I thought, at first, it was due to the high Latinx population here; now I think it's due to a widespread fear of no meat.

Could be either of those or simply that beans are shelf stable protein that is really cheap. Lots of people can't afford to stock up on high end steaks.

 

[jazz4cash]

I had read, you could adjust the tip in the instacart order retroactively, which would be pretty important if for example no groceries showed up.

Yes, I finally found the procedure to adjust the tip. It's a bit convoluted, IMO. You have to make the adjustment within 3 days, so I missed that window. I'm finding Instacart to be a mixed bag. I used it 3 times already including a delivery to my brother. I just learned about the Express membership that provides unlimited deliveries for $10/mo or $100/year. I didn't realize so many stores are using Instacart. I only signed up for the monthly subscription since I expect to be doing my own shopping after a few months.

 

[ivinsfan]

Thank heavens for the Walmart curbside pick up. DH is high risk--Walmart curbside pickup is my go to for most groceries. Overall it has worked well for me and there are not a lot of extra charges.

My last Walmart order had a boneless regular pork loin..Apparently at fill time the regular loins were gone. They substituted a "premium" vacuum packed pork loin that should have cost an extra 2 bucks a pound..charged me the "regular" loin price. The loin I got was so nice I sliced all it into boneless loin chops for grilling, it was beautiful.

I can't say enough good things about WalMart and their online pickup system...in my area they have started booking 4 days in advance and open the 4th day around 5 or 6 PM instead of midnight. I've never waited more then 2 minutes to get my orders loaded.

 

[11522914]

Raleigh, NC

We had a storm this morning with lots of rain. Thought what a great time to do some grocery shopping.

Went to Lidl and Publix. Only ~15 customers in Lidl. All employees were wearing masks and gloves and only 1 customer was not wearing a mask.

At Publix 20% of employees were wearing masks and none of the cashiers. I do self checkout. Maybe 50 customers with 70% wearing masks.

Both stores were stocked up with milk, meat and eggs. Lidl did not have any TP or paper towels. Publix was completely stocked with all brands of TP. The shelves were full. But completely out of frozen chicken strips, etc and fruit.

I cannot put another item in my freezer or refrigerator. Should be good for at least 2 weeks for family of 4.

 

[Dtail]

Raleigh, NC

We had a storm this morning with lots of rain. Thought what a great time to do some grocery shopping.

Went to Lidl and Publix. Only ~15 customers in Lidl. All employees were wearing masks and gloves and only 1 customer was not wearing a mask.

At Publix 20% of employees were wearing masks and none of the cashiers. I do self checkout. Maybe 50 customers with 70% wearing masks.

Both stores were stocked up with milk, meat and eggs. Lidl did not have any TP or paper towels. Publix was completely stocked with all brands of TP. The shelves were full. But completely out of frozen chicken strips, etc and fruit.

I cannot put another item in my freezer or refrigerator. Should be good for at least 2 weeks for family of 4.

There is no self checkout at our Publix. Interesting.

 

[mpeirce]

They started limiting the number of people in stores last week Monday in Ohio, per the governor's order.

I ventured out to Kroger this morning. The "crowd" was light - maybe an average of one person per isle. A majority of customers had masks on, a minority of employees had masks on.

No one counting people at Kroger. They had a dense array of cameras in the store (up above the isles in a grid) and have a system that tracks the number of people in the store at all times. I assume they are always tracking people's location as they traverse the store in normal times as well.

Oh I glanced at the paper goods isle and while not fully stocked it looked like they had some of everything you might need.

 

[ncbill]

Maybe a lot of new vegetarians in the US population soon. That will be interesting.

Or using meat as a side ingredient.

Most casserole recipes we've used recently are better if you cut the amount of meat the recipe calls for by at least 1/2 & let the starch dominate.

 

[stepford]

I've been pretty happy overall with the results of shopping via delivery. Through a combination of Walmart, Safeway/Albertson's and Kroger (via Instacart) we've been able to get the vast majority of what we want. Nobody has everything and most delivery orders have voids and substitutions, but order repeatedly from multiple sources and almost everything shows up from one source or another.

This has even included semi-hard-to-get items like cleaning products (but not the ever-impossible TP and paper towels). But sooner or later I will need to go shopping in person again.

My question is do we think that it may be reasonably safe to go shopping in person again once the infection rate in the "first wave" dies down in late May as predicted? Looking at current epidemiological models the infection rate in my area (California) at the end of May should be similar to what it was in early March - not entirely safe, but something I'd be willing to risk with a mask and gloves.

Now of course I'm not the only one looking at this and government may rescind stay-at-home orders when the infection rate goes down... leading to increased infection and a second wave. So my clever plan may not be all that safe after all. But I still think there may be a "safe restocking window" about 4-6 weeks from now.

 

[Ready]

Raleigh, NC

We had a storm this morning with lots of rain. Thought what a great time to do some grocery shopping.

Went to Lidl and Publix. Only ~15 customers in Lidl. All employees were wearing masks and gloves and only 1 customer was not wearing a mask.

At Publix 20% of employees were wearing masks and none of the cashiers. I do self checkout. Maybe 50 customers with 70% wearing masks.

Both stores were stocked up with milk, meat and eggs. Lidl did not have any TP or paper towels. Publix was completely stocked with all brands of TP. The shelves were full. But completely out of frozen chicken strips, etc and fruit.

I cannot put another item in my freezer or refrigerator. Should be good for at least 2 weeks for family of 4.

What is Publix thinking? Customers are putting their masks on to protect the workers there but the workers are not providing the same protection back for their customers? Sounds like Public is completely tone deaf.

 

[harley]

There is no self checkout at our Publix. Interesting.

Ours either. I've been annoyed about that for years.

 

[Sunset]

Thank heavens for the Walmart curbside pick up. DH is high risk--Walmart curbside pickup is my go to for most groceries. Overall it has worked well for me and there are not a lot of extra charges.

Yes, but we must talk it down, and trash it as it's become too successful.
In my area a person can now schedule pickup 5 days out, and I FINALLY snagged 1 of the 2 last time slots at 6am this morning for FRIDAY.

There are no more time slots this week at all... so I feel "lucky", but know that it's going to be even more luck based next week to use this service.

 

[ivinsfan]

Yes, but we must talk it down, and trash it as it's become too successful.
In my area a person can now schedule pickup 5 days out, and I FINALLY snagged 1 of the 2 last time slots at 6am this morning for FRIDAY.

There are no more time slots this week at all... so I feel "lucky", but know that it's going to be even more luck based next week to use this service.

Did you notice my comment that they seem to be releasing the new pickup days between 5 and 6 pm not midnight this is a change.

 

[Dtail]

What is Publix thinking? Customers are putting their masks on to protect the workers there but the workers are not providing the same protection back for their customers? Sounds like Public is completely tone deaf.

I am not surprised based on their affiliations.
I wonder if Chik Fil A is wearing masks?