SIMPLIFY GROCERY SHOPPING

One of the biggest struggles I have, and that others express time and time again, is that, “Eating healthy would be easier if I had more time!”

We are so busy! Our personal lives are busy. Our kid’s lives are busy. Our culture is so busy! Busy busy busy! We are constantly adding things to our schedules but rarely taking things off. We are told that if it is important to you, you’ll make time. But what if everything is important to you?! Oh man, I could write a whole book on this very subject! Not because I’m an expert, but because I am PASSIONATE ABOUT IMPROVING this area of my life.

That’s not what this post is about though. I am going to break it down and I want to encourage you to find a few things you can either take off your list of things to do so that you can BREATHE a bit easier. I want to share one of the things I have been able to minimize in order to free up a few hours of my week, lower my stress level and contribute to my love of making healthy choices!

Okay okay, this is kind of a dramatic introduction but I am all about setting the mood…

My latest discovery is online grocery shopping!

There’s a few different ways to online grocery shop. Two of them are: ONLINE GROCERY PARKING-LOT PICK UP and INSTACART DELIVERY.

With online pick up, you shop on their website and then set a time to pick your bags up in the designated parking spots. I love this concept! I have been wanting to try it for a while now. I have seen friend after friend do it and love it! It’s so simple. You can keep adding to your grocery list all week and then when you’re all ready, just order! This saves you in so many ways! You can avoid the unplanned snack attacks, add an hour or more to your week and be a little more intentional with what you purchase. I don’t know why, I could just never pull the trigger on it! I just kept thinking I needed to try it but I just didn’t have time to think about it. Ironic, huh? Something that would SAVE ME TIME and I don’t have time to bother with it. Duh. The other thing was that I have a daughter with a wheelchair and one of my struggles would still be trying to squeeze all my groceries into the car or finding time to go pick up when I had someone watching her.

FINALLY I DECIDED TO TRY IT! I went on to Smiths online and looked for the pick up option. I planned it on a day I would otherwise be working so I could have room in my car for the grocery bags. I went to click on pick up and I see a glorious option to DELIVER. Okay. This was a game changer. I know, I know, my husband laughed too. Why in the world would I need my groceries DELIVERED??? Is that lazy? Is that entitled and spoiled? Guess what, I did it anyways and it was GLORIOUS! Here’s the greatest part: because I chose to have it delivered, I was able to accept two back to school clients last minute to fill the time I was planning on picking up groceries and still have time to spare!

I’ll tell you the process.

-So you go onto Instacart and you enter your zip code. -They will tell you the options they have for delivery. In my zip code of 84097 it offers: Costco, Smiths, CVS, Sprouts and Petco. Amazing right? All my favorite stores. (I mean obviously I love Target too but that’s more of a hobby, lol.) -Choose the store you want to shop and then shop! -Set a time for delivery! -You get a text message play by play of when they start shopping your list, if they are out of any items and it gives you a chance to replace or refund, then when they are all done and on their way! -They come and deliver to your door! One of my “personal shoppers” actually pulled the bread out to be sure it wasn’t smashed and asked if the produce was good. It was!! I am picky on produce and every single experience has been great with that so far! -That’s it! You get a receipt and they are on their way!

Here’s a link to save $10 and also free delivery on that first order if you want to give it a shot: https://inst.cr/t/ZZybinDSf

Because I loved it so much I signed up for a $15 a month membership where all I pay for is a tip. I get unlimited deliveries for that $15 per month. It’s awesome. I cannot believe how much more time I perceive myself to have now. Realistically, it saves me an hour and a half or two a week in all. But it feels like more, haha.

The other day I was arriving home from a long weekend trip and I realized I didn’t have any food in the fridge! I was seriously stressing I was going to need to go run to the grocery store after a 7 hour drive home late at night. I remembered I had Instacart and I did my shopping, set a time for delivery for first thing in the morning and I was able to work that next day without worrying about the shopping.

This is one example of how this service has saved me since starting a 3 weeks ago! This is such a helpful thing too for the elderly who are unable to shop easily, caregivers and brand new moms who are juggling a lot! Heck it’s a great gift for someone who just had a surgery or a baby or who is going through a rough patch. It’s been great gift for myself as well.

The intention of this post is not to sell you on Instacart…the whole point is to take a few minutes to really think about the hardest part of eating well in your own life and look for ways to simplify it!

In our day and age we have so many options!

I will make another post reviewing my experiences with a grocery planning app, Sunbasket & Hello Fresh meal kit deliveries and also Green Blender smoothie kits. Along with those I will do a post on crockpot and instapot meals and freezer meals.

FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR FAMILY!! Don’t set yourself up to fail by implementing complicated routines and meal preps unless you are prepared and able to make it work for your life. Simplify! Eating healthy doesn’t have to be “hard”, but it is crucial to really keeping up with life! It is worth it!!

-Mindy Gleason

Certified Precision Nutrition Coach

If you’re looking for more ways to simplify your nutrition and get some accountability to make sustainable habit change, sign up for our Back to School Accountability Challenge.

It’s a fun 4 weeklong lifestyle accountability challenge with $500 in cash and other prizes on the line.