Grocery Shopping

[Gumby]

My preferred grocery shopping time is Thursday at about 10 am, as that is when it is least crowded.

 

[Ole Red 29]

grocery shopping and the gym are about the only time I get out of the house nowadays. I enjoy shopping in person, but only go during weekdays when the crowds are low.

 

[meierlde]

We have now pretty much documented the best time to do our Costco run. Pretty much Monday through Thursday between 10:AM and 1:00PM. (Full disclosure, we've not really tried before 10AM since we don't get up too early.

Friday, though you'd think it would just be another w*rk day, seems to bring out people all day long. Our 'local' (girl) friend warned us about pay-day Friday - happens every 2 weeks. You can actually see it and know whether it's a pay day or just another Friday.

So, just to be certain, we avoid shopping (well, now, grocery run) on Fridays. YMMV

It is possible more folks are working the equivalent of 4 day weeks i.e. 10 hrs each as was done in the major oil company I worked for 15 years ago.

 

[Dtail]

Our Costco opens one hour early on weekdays, 9 am, for seniors. That is my preferred time, it’s super easy to get in, shop, pay and get out before the crowd.

Our BJ's doesn't have this service and Walmart stopped this service.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Our Costco is pretty slow weekday evening near closing. Morning are surprisingly busy. Sam's is actually packed during early senior hours and less busy evenings.

 

[Koolau]

It is possible more folks are working the equivalent of 4 day weeks i.e. 10 hrs each as was done in the major oil company I worked for 15 years ago.

That would be a very unusual schedule locally. Having said that, we do have a lot of folks w*rking from home (theoretically able to time shift their shopping to payday Friday.) Even back when Covid wasn't on the horizon, Friday was always a big day for shopping locally. We refer to Friday as "Aloha Friday" and sometimes "Pau Hana" (literally, after w*rk or done w*rking.) Friday is a big deal in Hawaii. Given the chance, we like to get out on Friday - even if it's only Friday shopping. I've tried to avoid Friday shopping since moving here. Of course, YMMV.

 

[travelover]

Our Costco is pretty slow weekday evening near closing............

Same here. We swoop in about 45 minutes before closing and it is almost empty. Check out is very fast at that time, as well.

 

[ivinsfan]

Well after checking daily for at least two weeks, I found my favorite Sam Club brand towels in stock today. 15 rolls worth.

We don't have a plus membership so I watch the shipping costs. Alone in the cart I can get 15 rolls of paper towels shipped to my house for 1.98. I hit the buy button worried they would go out of stock.

Went back to shop put in a 5 pack of deodorant and the shipping costs on that was 4.72.

How does this make sense. So if you shop at Sams be advised that the shipping costs can get really weird. I went back to see if the online price of the PT was higher then the store price and no they were the same price.

 

[retire-early]

Just got back from Aldi today.
It was about noon.
I had to drop off a UPS package at the Staples nearby.
There was about dozen dozen shoppers just like it was before the pandemic.
Nice.
Picked up organic produce.

 

[Koolau]

Just got back from Aldi today.
It was about noon.
I had to drop off a UPS package at the Staples nearby.
There was about dozen dozen shoppers just like it was before the pandemic.
Nice.
Picked up organic produce.

Aldi. Now there is a chain I wish we had. I'm sure the prices would need to adjust from the one we go to back on the mainland. But every summer (until 2020 - aka Covid year 1) we went to Aldis as soon as we hit (home) town. Our eyes bulge every time we enter the store. There we find pint boxes of (in-season) locally grown blue berries for $1. Here in Paradise, they aren't locally grown and they, too are $1 - but that's for an ounce.

Milk may be low as $1.69/gal at Aldi instead of $5.50 at Costco here.

I could go on, but just the name Aldi has come to mean... "affordable produce" YMMV

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I'm putting in an order for Whole Foods today. Our local stores have curbside pickup. I wouldn't do all my grocery shopping there, but some of their produce and 365 brands have pretty competitive prices.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Same here. We swoop in about 45 minutes before closing and it is almost empty. Check out is very fast at that time, as well.

I found that with Trader Joe's last night as well. I went in 20 minutes before closing and it was pretty empty and no lines at the check out. I find the smaller stores like TJs usually are easier to get in and out in 5 - 10 minutes, compared to some of the huge supermarkets and warehouse stores.

 

[travelover]

I found that with Trader Joe's last night as well. I went in 20 minutes before closing and it was pretty empty and no lines at the check out. I find the smaller stores like TJs usually are easier to get in and out in 5 - 10 minutes, compared to some of the huge supermarkets and warehouse stores.

Ironically, I stopped at TJ the other day about noon and there was a big line of people waiting to get in. I was surprised that any stores still had lines outside.

 

[harllee]

I have been doing Walmart grocery shopping--either delivery or curbside pick up and it has been going pretty well. Today I did a delivery order about $160 worth of food items and I only got $100 worth--many things were out of stock. Did not get hardly any meats. This is like it was back early on in the pandemic. Not sure what is going on whether the problem is the pandemic surge where I live or the election. I guess we are going the vegetarian route this week.

 

[harllee]

I am now using Walmart delivery and I just put in an order and found out you cannot order beer or wine to be delivered to your home through Walmart. I don't know if this is specific to my state or not. I don't drink much but I guess when I want wine or beer I will have to do Walmart curbside (Walmart does sell alcohol curbside).

 

[Sue J]

We've been doing Walmart grocery pickup about every 10 days to 2 weeks. It’s been going really well, very few issues.

Over the weekend we put together a large order for a Monday noon pickup. On Monday morning we got a notification that our order was canceled! No info on why, just a link to reorder all the items. So I got on a chat with Walmart and they looked into it. Seems our store had a problem with volume. They didn't specify if it was too many orders or not enough product or maybe not enough staff. They did offer an apology and a $10 credit and we went ahead and reordered everything for Wednesday at noon.

Gives us a chance to use up more stuff in the pantry.

 

[Car-Guy]

We went grocery shopping at our local Walmart and HEB today. Looks like things are 100% back to normal around here... All the shelves were full and there were no "purchase limitation signs" on anything.. Matter of fact we even found a few "odd ball" things that we buy occasionally, but we haven't seen in several months. They were all there today.


About the only thing that looked different from a year ago, is that ~80% of the people were wearing face masks...

 

[bbbamI]

When I was at the grocery store today, most everything was stocked well, except for Charmin tp. Lots of other choices including the Kroger brand, but Charmin ultra soft is our favorite. There was only one pkg (thankfully a large mega roll pack) and I grabbed it. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered some from WM and it was never delivered.

I swear, the earth would stop moving (for DH) if I bought another brand.

 

[RonBoyd]

and found out you cannot order beer or wine to be delivered to your home through Walmart.

Yeah, that is true in Colorado, also. Consequently, I use Drizly (there are others). https://drizly.com/home The prices are in some cases better and the selection is greater since they search in all local liquor stores. In any event, the delivery person has to be over 21 and they take a photograph of your driver's license (or other ID) before they bring the items to the door.

 

[gayl]

Are grocery / liquor stores closed

Target brought it to my car yesterday (I had been hiking with my dog and I don’t like leaving him in a car without me)

 

[harllee]

Are grocery / liquor stores closed

Target brought it to my car yesterday (I had been hiking with my dog and I don’t like leaving him in a car without me)

No grocery/liquor stores are not closed but I have not been inside a grocery or liquor store since March--I use curbside or home delivery only. I was doing the curbside pick up even before Covid. I hate to go grocery shopping anyway.

 

[Sunset]

I bunch up my booze order for Walmart, buy 8 bottles of wine at the same time, just so the hassle is once in a while, rather than every order for 1 bottle.
It's curbside.

Today we went to Costco, at 3pm it was CROWDED... I really detested it being so crowded, grabbed my stuff and self checkout. Of course because I am using self checkout to stay isolated, 2 staff come over to help...

I much prefer Sam's self checkout that has a little gun, you can just shot the bar code right in the basket. At Costco, you have to take everything out of the basket and put on the big metal shelf, then put back in your cart.

Costco had Charmin, but no Costco toilet paper. .

 

[harllee]

I bunch up my booze order for Walmart, buy 8 bottles of wine at the same time, just so the hassle is once in a while, rather than every order for 1 bottle.
It's curbside.

Today we went to Costco, at 3pm it was CROWDED... I really detested it being so crowded, grabbed my stuff and self checkout. Of course because I am using self checkout to stay isolated, 2 staff come over to help...

I much prefer Sam's self checkout that has a little gun, you can just shot the bar code right in the basket. At Costco, you have to take everything out of the basket and put on the big metal shelf, then put back in your cart.

Costco had Charmin, but no Costco toilet paper. .

Thanks for idea--I can go once every few months and do WM curbside for my wine--I only drink one glass a day and DH does not drink so wine lasts a long time in my house. I also notice that Total Wine in my area delivers to the house and their prices are actually less than WM so I could try them too.

 

[Koolau]

When I was at the grocery store today, most everything was stocked well, except for Charmin tp. Lots of other choices including the Kroger brand, but Charmin ultra soft is our favorite. There was only one pkg (thankfully a large mega roll pack) and I grabbed it. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered some from WM and it was never delivered.

I swear, the earth would stop moving (for DH) if I bought another brand.

Yep, DW jumped all over me for buying the Costco Kirkland brand rather than Charmin. I have to admit. She was right (as usual).

 

[audreyh1]

I like the Kirkland brand. It’s comfortable without being too thick or cushy, and the rolls last a long time. DH’s biggest complaint is that squares often don’t tear off cleanly, and I have to admit that he has a point.

Right now the bulk of our stash is in GA.