Grocery Shopping

[Maidensong]

We just got our first case of Covid-19 in our little Ozarks town this week. The DH and I went to the store today. I prefer to go in because I need the steps, but I'm thinking this may be our last trip for a while. We have a full fridge & pantry and need to use what we have.

#2 Daughter, who lives with us, works at Big Lots, which classes her as an essential worker because they offer groceries, paper goods, and cleaning supplies. She's wearing a homemade mask to work now and we've developed an entry into the house protocol that involves stripping in the laundry & putting everything into the washer, streaking to a bathroom (while the rest of the household retreats to another part of the house) and an immediate shower, followed by starting up the washer. I use my precious stash of clorox wipes to clean door knobs, drawer pulls, and fridge handles after that.

I'm 65 with a chronic lung condition, so I'm taking this seriously.

 

[timo2]

We had enough basic food supplies for a month when this hit, but have been filling in our supplies ordering on-line and also doing the curbside pickup for some items like at total wine. But when we run out of butter and milk we probably will either start with instacart for sprouts or join prime for whole foods pickup (they don't deliver to my area). In the meantime we are ordering on-line for May and June supply time-frame. A tip: QVC actually has some food and wine if you can't find anything else.

 

[Rambler]

I go to the store alone now. Used to go about every other day. I’m down to about 1-2 times a week. I’ve learned that to keep the salad fresh that long, I have to buy the smaller size and not open it until we are ready to eat it. So that means about 4 small bags of salad a week, instead of 1-2 large ones. Before, I bought one large one and then in a couple days when it was gone or starting to go brown, go get more. Now, I’ll get 3-4 small bags, plus the pre-cut broccoli, green beans, etc in the sealed bag, enough for the whole week. The freezer is always full of meat that I pick up when it’s on sale, or from a whole cryovac prime rib that I dry age first and then cut into steaks. As I said in another comment somewhere, we always have about a year worth of paper products stored, so the hoard buying by some was almost comical.

 

[BigNick]

"The biggest risk of infection is not contaminated food, but going to the store and being around other people."

That makes sense to me.

Perhaps 1-2% of people are infected and either asymptomatic or presymptomatic, so you want to avoid multiple close interactions with individuals. But those 1-2% of people are not going to turn the contents of the entire store into Chernobyl with their occasional coughs and sneezes, or occasionally handling a lemon or a carton of milk that they don't end up buying.

Of course the risk is never zero, but for secondary contagion via random objects in a store it's probably very small indeed.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

I'm doing my usual in-store grocery shopping every 5-7 days or so. I'm trying to give people their distance, but otherwise I'm not doing anything different. I don't wear gloves or masks, and never wipe down the cart or anything. Seems pointless when everything else in the store has been touched. The employees touch everything and see more people each day than I do and so far I have not heard of any increase in cases for grocery store workers.

I'm not taking any additional precautions other than avoiding touching my face and washing my hands well as soon as I get home.

Pretty much the same here. I go into the store for my groceries and into Wal-Mart to pick up my prescription. I do not own a smart phone or even a dumb phone (other than two 1964 rotary phones in our kitchen & office) so ordering through an app is not an option for me. I went out a few times this past week but plan on only making one trip out to the store this next week.

 

[Car-Guy]

I do not own a smart phone or even a dumb phone (other than two 1964 rotary phones in our kitchen & office) so ordering through an app is not an option for me.

You don't need a smart phone. Any PC w/internet access should work just fine.

 

[2177V]

My daughter orders food on-line for my wife and I. She uses Amazon Fresh or Safeway.com which meets 90% of our needs. However, there is 3 to 6 days lag time between ordering and food arrival at our door step. The food is surprising good quality.

For the other 10% of our needs such as ice cream and items not available on-line....I go to Food Max at 6 am in the morning when they first open and there are very few customers are in the store.

I go in and out just to pick up about 10 items to reduce any possible exposure. I wear a mask and gloves since I am elderly and can not afford to get the virus.

The senior only hours are useless since there is much more people shopping during those hours than 6 am in the morning when certain supermarkets first open. If there are too many people inside at a supermarket, I do not go in.

 

[harley]

I made my last grocery store run for a long time yesterday. We're pretty well stocked up now, and except for fresh produce we should be able to go for at least a month. And as far as fresh produce goes, our vegetable planters are coming along. Got tomatoes turning red, and the lettuce will be ready to start picking in about a week. It will be a while longer for the other plants, but we've got cucumbers as long as my fingers, and more hot peppers than any sane person could eat.

I was masked and gloved when I went, and while the store was fairly crowded (the day after EBT money arrived) for the most part it wasn't too bad. Maybe 20% of the people wore masks, and over half wore gloves. But the part I couldn't understand were the families shopping. Mom, Dad, and 4 or 5 kids of various ages. Why? I don't really understand why even couples have to go, but whole families? And they were the no mask no gloves groups, of course. I avoided aisles where they were.

When I got home I brought everything in from the car, decontaminated the car with Lysol wipes and spray, then wiped down everything non-produce with a clorox solution. The produce got washed in the sink. Put what had to go in the freezer or fridge, and left the rest in the garage to age for awhile. Dumped my clothes in the washer, took a shower, and that was the end of it. Except today my hands still smell like Clorox. I may have been a little over-enthusiastic with the mix.

 

[bhoferp]

Rambler, if after you open the bag of salad and take out what you want to eat and then put a paper towel in the bag before you close it up it will stay good longer. I kind of wrap the paper towel down both sides of the salad and I put in a new paper towel every day.

 

[ownyourfuture]

I normally shop at Hy-vee or Cub, but because of the virus, they close at 8 PM now. Because of that, I've adopted a nearby Kwik-Trip as my grocery store. There's 7 of these in my town, & this one is only about 6 blocks from me.

The best part is that it's on the outer edge of town, & it's open 24-7
I go there after 10 PM, when at any given time, there's very few shoppers inside.

Obviously, the selection isn't as good as a regular grocery store, but they have all the essentials. Milk, OJ, bread/buns, chicken, ground beef, ice cream, eggs, cheese, etc

 

[dd564]

I went to the grocery store today. A wal-mart. They had the entrance and exit separated with shopping carts.
Not sure why. Maybe trying to force a flow of traffic so people aren't face to face.


Shelves were pretty well stocked. A few empty shelves. not even sure what was supposed to be there.
Flour area was empty but a pallet was sitting there in main aisle with new bags.

Brought home a few bags of items. I didn't sanitize any of the products I purchased.

Toilet paper shelves were all still empty.

We usually buy large packages of toilet paper when we buy and we are still fine, but at some point we'll need another package I guess.

I'm still really confused as to why people would hoard that.

 

[dd564]

I normally shop at Hy-vee or Cub, but because of the virus, they close at 8 PM now. Because of that, I've adopted a nearby Kwik-Trip as my grocery store. There's 7 of these in my town, & this one is only about 6 blocks from me.

The best part is that it's on the outer edge of town, & it's open 24-7
I go there after 10 PM, when at any given time, there's very few shoppers inside.

Obviously, the selection isn't as good as a regular grocery store, but they have all the essentials. Milk, OJ, bread/buns, chicken, ground beef, ice cream, eggs, cheese, etc

By your list of stores, you must be a fellow Minnesotan.

 

[Sunset]

My daughter orders food on-line for my wife and I. She uses Amazon Fresh or Safeway.com which meets 90% of our needs. However, there is 3 to 6 days lag time between ordering and food arrival at our door step. The food is surprising good quality.

For the other 10% of our needs such as ice cream and items not available on-line....I go to Food Max at 6 am in the morning when they first open and there are very few customers are in the store.
.....

I keep trying to tell DW, we NEED ice cream, but she tells me she needs me more

 

[travelover]

Just placed a Costco order through Instacart. Total is $400 with tip. Anyone know how much they mark up the merchandise?

 

[Sunset]

Just placed a Costco order through Instacart. Total is $400 with tip. Anyone know how much they mark up the merchandise?

The only thing I know is the box of soy milk, 12 containers of 1 Liter/quart is $12.99 in the store. Online it is $13.99.

 

[bluelight]

Just placed a Costco order through Instacart. Total is $400 with tip. Anyone know how much they mark up the merchandise?

I read on the CU site that it's 30%. Still cheaper than what I would spend at the supermarket.

 

[bluelight]

In the beginning of March when Covid-19 hit the NYC area, I spent 3 days shopping. One at Costco, one at the supermarkets and the 3rd day covering misc items. That has held us pretty good so far.

My husband has celiac, so we normally end up going to multiple stores as some of his favorites aren't available at a single store. We both have pre-existing conditions, so I won't go into any more stores.

I just placed a delivery order for personal care items from Target which should come early next week; then an order from Shoprite which I will pickup on Friday; and an order from Peapod which will deliver the 13th. We are still pretty good on meat, so I'll put in a Costco delivery order in a couple of weeks.

If most of what I've ordered actually comes through, that should put us in good shape until the middle of May.

 

[athena53]

#2 Daughter, who lives with us, works at Big Lots, which classes her as an essential worker because they offer groceries, paper goods, and cleaning supplies.

Big Lots keeps e-mailing me coupons and I feel guilty about NOT going there; I always find interesting sauces and seasonings and once found the paper strips of candy "buttons", which were a huge hit with my granddaughters. I'm trying to minimize the number of stores I visit and right now I'm down to one weekly visit at the "main" grocery store and Costco every other week.

I hope I can get to Big Lots soon after things start to return to normal.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

You don't need a smart phone. Any PC w/internet access should work just fine.

Not that it matters all that much as the only place within 100 miles of us that does curb-side pick up is Wal-Mart and we tried to avoid going there as much as possible even before this pandemic. We have one local grocery store in our town and two in a neighboring community.

 

[scaubie]

I go to our local grocery store once a week. Usually weekday mid morning or afternoon. Never weekends or never after 5 pm. Wipe down my shopping cart with the sanitizer towelettes the store provides. Avoid any aisle with people in it. Send check out and then take a bath with my Purel in my car. At some point this madness has got to stop and it will.

 

[CRLLS]

Today was our 2nd pickup at WalMart. This time they didn't even come out to ask my name. The employee just came out with "our" order. I asked him how he knew it was us. It turns out that their app had automatically notified them that I had arrived. That was after I had previously notified them that I was on my way when I left home.

2nd thing different was that unlike our last pickup, where each car was in a parking space, this time they had each pickup space defined with stanchions and tape, like a crime scene would be. Each "pickup space" now took up 1 and 2 half parking spaces with the stanchions/tape in the middle of the 2 adjacent parking spaces, ensuring safe distances between each car.

3rd, I offered a tip this time too. This worker refused it twice before I gave up. YMMV.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Today was our 2nd pickup at WalMart. This time they didn't even come out to ask my name. The employee just came out with "our" order. I asked him how he knew it was us. It turns out that their app had automatically notified them that I had arrived. That was after I had previously notified them that I was on my way when I left home.

2nd thing different was that unlike our last pickup, where each car was in a parking space, this time they had each pickup space defined with stanchions and tape, like a crime scene would be. Each "pickup space" now took up 1 and 2 half parking spaces with the stanchions/tape in the middle of the 2 adjacent parking spaces, ensuring safe distances between each car.

3rd, I offered a tip this time too. This worker refused it twice before I gave up. YMMV.

My friend who is a Walmart store manager says they will be fired if they are caught accepting a tip. I used to offer, but stopped after she told me that.

 

[Sunset]

Not that it matters all that much as the only place within 100 miles of us that does curb-side pick up is Wal-Mart and we tried to avoid going there as much as possible even before this pandemic. We have one local grocery store in our town and two in a neighboring community.

Although I own some shares in Walmart, I realized I had maybe shopped at it once per year over the past many years...

However, with the grocery pickup, I have to admit my impression has changed a lot. They have a great system, and the 2 orders I've done have been PERFECT.
Sure there were a few things not available, or substituted, but it was done intelligently.
I'm picking up my 3rd order from them this morning.

I think the no tip rule, is to prevent infections being transmitted, plus maybe the company does not want to set a precedent, otherwise should we tip our cashier

 

[brett]

I shopped for the first time in 11 or 12 weeks. We were away for the winter and then in isolation for two weeks.

I went to two stores. I was very impressed with the precautions that Costco was taking for their customers and for their staff. Then I went to a large grocery chain store. It was clear to me that they were only going through the motions. Day and night difference.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

Although I own some shares in Walmart, I realized I had maybe shopped at it once per year over the past many years...

However, with the grocery pickup, I have to admit my impression has changed a lot. They have a great system, and the 2 orders I've done have been PERFECT.
Sure there were a few things not available, or substituted, but it was done intelligently.
I'm picking up my 3rd order from them this morning.

I think the no tip rule, is to prevent infections being transmitted, plus maybe the company does not want to set a precedent, otherwise should we tip our cashier

No tips has been the rule since the beginning.