Yep, it’s true! My days of grocery shopping are over and boy, I couldn’t be happier! This is my “yee haw, no more playing Frogger in the isles with other shoppers, no more wasted time wandering the store looking for items on my list, no more standing in line waiting to checkout while I’m in a rush!” I’m done.
Now don’t get me wrong; there are times when I enjoy a nice trip to the store when it’s on my terms. Not when I’m rushed for time and my fridge is empty and apparently so is everyone else’s fridge. It may seem strange, but my husband and I enjoy a nice stroll through the store together at times. They are our grocery shopping dates and I LOVE that time hunting and gathering for our family together. I wish all shopping trips were like that. Sadly, they are not.
I especially find the heading to the market around holiday times challenging. The store is extra crowded with everyone madly trying to gather all of the necessary ingredients to help make their family’s holiday magical. Strangely enough, there doesn’t ever seem to be a whole lot of holiday cheer in those isles. Just a whole bunch of shoppers feeling the pressure of the season and wanting to get this shopping trip over with as fast as possible. Not my favorite.
I know many people have started grocery shopping online through various different stores and even though I’m not a huge fan of grocery shopping, I was leery. I’m pretty picky about my produce and what if they give me subpar fruits & veggies? Would we be charged for the service? Will I be getting the best deal when I don’t have the option of shopping the different brands and sale prices? What about price matching, how does that figure into the equation? Will it still be a pain trying to navigate their websites? So many questions and quite honestly, I was just a little too intimidated to try the process. I guess I’ve been conditioned to think that there is always a catch. If it’s seems to good to be true, than it probably is. Negative, I know, but that’s is just how we are conditioned these days. Am I wrong?
Then I received an email asking if I would be interested in checking out the new Walmart Grocery program. Again, I was about to say, “no thanks, not for me. I have developed a strong glass half empty attitude when it comes to grocery shopping and Scrooge like, I plan on keeping it for years to come!”
I then sat back for a moment and thought, “how bad could it really be?”
The world is ever changing and if I refuse to evolve and get stuck in my ways, how will I ever progress. This could be a real opportunity for my family to have more time together. I will have more time and less frustration in my life for sure. It’s O.K. to let go of some of my controlling nature and not get so freaky about my veggies. I mean really, we could all use a few extra items off our plates, right?
I threw the question out to you guys on Facebook and several of you came back with really positive replies so I decided to give it a go.
First off, the website is super user friendly AND they have an app. I decided I wanted to do all of my Christmas meal shopping via Walmart Grocery and completely avoid the crazy Holiday crowds.
Not only did I avoid the crowds at Walmart, I shopped IN BED!!
I made a list of all of my recipes and using the search option on the website I quickly found all of my items and scheduled a time for pick-up the following day between 9-10 am.
The next morning at 9:00 am I received a message on my phone that my order was ready to pick-up. I dropped my little guy off at the bus and while sitting at the bus stop, I checked-in on the app and let them know I was on the way.
They then track you via GPS and know exactly when you arrive. Um, crazy awesome! They have designated parking at the store clearly marked and easy to find.
Before I could even pull out my phone to dial the number on the sign, Kim (my personal shopper) came out of the door with my order in hand.
She was SUPER SWEET and we chit chatted about the amazing weather we were having that morning. She even had a welcome kit with all kinds of goodies in it for me.
That’s pretty classy Walmart, well played. It had a bottle of water, some snacks, a nice lotion… it was amazing! They didn’t know I was a blogger and that I was scoping them out, they give the goods to everyone.
Kim was so good about explaining the program to me and letting me know all of the perks. Like for example, if they are sold out of an item they will… Well, I’ll let them explain it for you. They’ll do it better anyway.
