DO NOT ENTER THE SUPERMARKET!
I REPEAT: DO NOT ENTER THE SUPERMARKET!
Pre-Covid, online grocery shopping was perhaps only for those who weren’t brave enough to enter the trap of doom, which enticed your toddlers with shiny things and delectable treats at every turn.
With two kids, yes... you can sit them both neatly in a trolley that has been wiped down within an inch of its life and let them devour a piece of complementary fruit. But when you have one or two sets of feet on the floor, it is your own sanity that is at risk more than anything and in this current climate, it is harder than ever to wrangle small people in the aisles while trying to keep them from licking every possibly contaminated surface, while doing an effective grocery shop.
The answer… ONLINE GROCERY SHOPPING.
“But it costs more” I hear you say.
“I can’t guarantee how fresh the produce will be”
“I need my groceries TODAY”
“It takes so long to sit and do the order”
Let me tell you about how I do it, and debunk some of these myths!
What I do ~
Thursday - Meal planning and ordering.
I got one of these whiteboards from K-Mart as my planner https://www.kmart.com.au/product/vertical-weekly-combo-board/2867310 and throughout the day I come and go and plan the meals for the following week, looking at what meat I have in the freezer before planning, so things are being used, not wasted.
As I plan the meals I have my Woolies online shopping page open (you can use the app too) and I look at the relevant recipes/add any needed ingredients to my online cart as I go.
(And if i’m wanting to just re-order the same things as last week, I can fill my cart with the exact previous shop with the click of a button)
Throughout the week, as we run out of things around the house, they are added to a shared list between my husband and I in the reminders app of our i-phones. This is looked at and added to the cart on Thursday too.
By Thursday evening, I finish up the shop and process it via Paypal (very secure) ready to be collected the next day - Friday.
As someone who often grabs things on a whim at the supermarket, seeing the total in the cart as I go helps me eliminate the things that aren’t needed and there is no fee for the click and collect ‘drive up’ option - this keeps the cost down.
I choose a post-3pm slot so I can always get my fresh bakery goods, ready to be eaten across the weekend/frozen for the following week’s use.
Friday - Pick up
Friday afternoon, I pick up our biggest from school then click ‘on our way’ in the link provided in a text.
We all drive to the allocated waiting bay and click the next link ‘in parking bay’. Within 5 minutes or less, the groceries are delivered to our car, in paper bags, ready to take home and unpack for the weekend.
COULD IT BE ANY EASIER?!?!?!?!
Well yes.
I hear you when you say, “But I run out of things by mid-week”.
ME TOO.
This is where Coles comes into play.
Wednesday - The milk and bread run
By Wednesday, we are always low on milk, bread and some fresh fruit (and possibly nappies or something like that)
Woolies has a minimum spend of $50 for click and collect, but for Coles, it is only $30. By the time I’ve bought bread, milk, eggs, fruit and perhaps nappies, it’s easily $30.
Same process, but with Coles, you can ORDER BY 11AM AND PICK UP THE SAME DAY!!
I literally do a quick order before I head out to mothers group on a Wednesday morning, and pick it up after school that afternoon - again, without having to leave the comfort of the car.
GUYS! SAVE YOURSELVES!!!!
Now, it IS true that you can’t pick the produce you receive. The thing is though, you can put notes on all items - so if you wanted green bananas so they ripen by the time you want to eat them later in the week, you can say so.
Personally, I have found Woolworths to be FAR more reliable and better produce/products recently, and that’s why I do my big shops with them… But I love the lower minimum spend at Coles, and they have a few different products that I can’t get at Woolies.
If you’re an Aldi shopper, there is obviously no online alternative for you. We love Aldi meat for taste and price, so we do a meat shop (either me or my hubby on a weekend) once a fortnight and portion out the meats we buy in bulk and freeze them. This system is working well for us, although I’d love a bigger freezer! Ha!
One last concern, I know, is that your children won’t know how to behave in a supermarket if you go with the online option.
Well… we are all going to have to do some retraining post-Covid in a lot of areas, aren’t we!?
However! I watched this episode of SuperNanny (way underrated haha) a couple of years ago, where she gave these terribly-behaved children a list of things to find in the supermarket, that they were in charge of (which made a huge difference to their shopping experience).
Before Covid hit, this is what I did to train my children in public spaces.
We would visit the local IGA (always quiet with short queues) and each child had a green bag and a post it note with one or two items on it to find. They had to walk around the supermarket, two in the pram and two on the floor, holding the sides of the pram, finding their items and keeping them safe until the register. It worked brilliantly (most of the time - we’ve definitely had our hairy/learning moments) and there was always the promise of a jelly bean if things were getting precarious.
In summary - DO NOT ENTER THE SUPERMARKET with multiple children when you really don’t have to…
Do yourself (and everyone in the supermarket) a favour!
Just try it.
This has been a community service announcement, not sponsored or endorsed by anyone, other than the mum sitting happily in her PJs and Ugg boots, drinking a hot tea while ordering her groceries.
You’re welcome.