Internet/pick up grocery shopping

Parent Cafe
101

It could be COVID fatigue but it also could be “now or if it gets worse maybe not for another 6 months”.

I have stuck to small grocery, Costco once a month and a local produce store. Went in Target once to accompany D who needed something pronto (it was so underwhelming in stock have no desire to rush back), Lowe’s once for a couple home fix it products and Lazyboy to purchase an “emergency” rocker recliner. Drug store once?

I can do without restaurants inside or out. Have not done a single outside eating. Take out is great occasionally. What I DO miss is a run through at TJMaxx or HomeGoods. I was actually contemplating “trying” one today. Is it a necessity? No. Would I likely pick up a few items I could use, yes. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. It certainly isn’t a necessity. But will it be pleasant???

I also go to the office twice a week so I do get away from home.

102

Until Sept, we only went to grocery stores every 2 weeks. Now it’s more like weekly, altho sometimes it’s only for a few items. That’s probably where we’ve eased our standards most.
We still only get takeout, maybe twice a month.
I’ve been to Target twice since March, CVS occasionally.
DH is itching to go see the grandkids. It’s not that I’m not, but the grandkids go to daycare, and S and his family have a larger bubble than I’m comfortable with. They live far enough away that we’d have to stay with them for a few days to make the trip reasonable. I’m sure DH and I will continue to have discussions about this.

103

@shellfell could you stay in an Airbnb rather than at your kids’ home?

104

Wife asked her PCP about going to a dental cleaning. He said “Well…it’s gonna get worse before it gets better, and you do need to take care of your teeth, so…if you’re gonna go, then go now.”

So she went later that week. I went earlier in the month, and felt safe given all the protocols that our dental office was following.

105

@thumper- I’ve considered that, but there’s no getting around that the kids go to daycare and we’d still be spending hours each day indoors with all of them.

106

H did curbside grocery pick up at Walmart this morning. For the first time since late March he had quite a wait. He hasn’t seen more than one or two other cars for months, but today there were about a dozen ahead of him and more waiting by the time it was his turn. He did curbside pickup at Kroger not too long ago and they were out of all of the beef and chicken I requested. I guess folks are stocking their freezers.

107

I hope it’s ok to put this here.

I’ve been picking up my groceries, or going into stores sporadically. I’ll go into the meat market but that’s only once every 6 weeks or so. Trying not to make unnecessary trips.

I need to send a few bereavement cards and I just keep putting it off. The thought of going into the store and looking through cards is feeling very daunting. I think I’ll try Walgreens tomorrow, easy to get in and out.

Sometimes you just can’t order it from amazon or have it ordered through an app

108

@deb922 Try hallmark.com. You can buy individual cards or a pack of 10.

109

@deb922 unless you REALLY like to pair up a card with a special person in mind, I would stop at the dollar store and spend $25 and get 25 cards for a mixture of events to last you the next year!!! (I’m not a card person so that may not appeal to someone who enjoys giving cards!)

110

I almost always find good cards at Dollar General - even for specific pairing to people. I like paying just $1 for a card and many are made in the US too. Most other stores have them Made in China for $4-5.

111

I have been buying cards at Trader Joe’s when I am in Nashville for years. I use grocery pick-up in my own town with the exception of small market where I buy produce. I’m usually one of no more than 5-6 customers in that store. I have felt very safe when I go to TJ’s though. They have someone stationed at the entrance to control the number of people in the store and ensure mask wearing. The selection of cards varies, but at $1/card, I always just buy what’s available that I like (and they always have lots of good looking blank cards) and it’s eventually used.

112

Thanks for the tips on cards. I think cards are a little silly so I never send them.

113

I have been going to the grocery store about every 10 days. When all of this first started I would go to senior hours (good thing I turned 60 in March!) at Trader Joe’s which were daily from 8 to 9. Now that they only do senior hours 2 days a week I just make sure that I shop right when the store opens in the morning after it has been cleaned overnight. I also buy greeting cards at Trader Joe’s.

114

I’ve had great success with greetingcarduniverse. Thousands of cards to choose from, and you can change the inside sentiment and add notes or pics of your own, basically customize the card however you want. Since COVID, I’ve sent six highly-customized cards this way and they’ve arrived at the target address in 3-4 days. I don’t plan to buy cards in person ever again as these are so much more personal and modifiable.

115

There are also e-cards but the ones I’ve received are on the tacky end. We don’t buy cards in our house because of ShawWife. I think we have a supply of cards from a couple of years when a museum used her image(s) for the holiday cards they sold as part of holiday promotions – so I think we still have a bunch of those. In addition, she also cuts off parts of paintings she is discarding and uses them as cards, though she may have mostly stopped that because we’d go to people’s houses and they would have the card up framed over the mantle, which was not ShawWife’s intent. She didn’t think the piece was good enough and did not think of the part ripped from it as good enough.

116

“I think cards are a little silly so I never send them.” - I think my kids feel the same way, so I don’t send many to them. But I like to receive snailmail cards myself and do send some… especially to my parents generation that truly seems to treasure them. I have a stash of generic cards that work OK if I don’t get to the dollar store for specific cards.

117

Wanted to update this again after another experience in VA. This time we didn’t even get a gallon of cider we were charged for, the bread was a day in a half shy of being out of date, a can was quite dented, and a bag of dried beans we had ordered was split open with beans spilling out everywhere. I was livid, to say the least.

If you go to “my orders” you can request a refund. Missing, damaged, and outdated items are reasons you can choose. My bread wasn’t technically outdated, so I didn’t ask for that - just noted it in my comments, but they instantly refunded the imaginary cider, can, and bag of beans. It was much appreciated.

Then… perhaps a day later I got an email from someone in Walmart who wanted to check up and, without my asking, added the bread refund to my account, apologized, and said they would be working to fix things on their end.

That was even more appreciated. I still wish we had gotten the cider, but I ended up being really in favor of using this service when we need to keep contact to a minimum or don’t want to take the time to shop for ourselves.

If anyone else has problems - go to your order and let them know. Last time I merely filled out the survey and our chickens got the damaged materials. There was no way I was going to pay for cider we didn’t get though. Getting money back for the rest was a nice gesture.

118

June on switched from pickup to delivery from a local Kroger store chain. No hassle, contactless. They work through instacart and arrange it ($9 charge plus tip). I get groceries every 6 weeks. Good luck with them, so far.

*I have 4 laundry baskets lined up I put out in front of the garage door with a sign to leave all groceries there. The food that is not perishable I put in my trunk and leave for 5 days.

Anything I can get online I do from Walmart, Costco, Target, and Amazon. Some specialty items would have been really hard to find in person. That has been great and we have been experimenting with new food items. I now order direct from Hoosier Hill Farm (love their dried eggs) and King Arthur (cake mixes and flour). H has been all in with a screen protected outdoor garden and with hydroponics indoors. Lettuce and tomatoes and what ever is growing are a nightly part of our meals.

*Bottom line. The less contact inside with shared air the better.

119

We and some of the other older couples we know still avoid grocery shopping.

My husband and I figure we can afford the fee (I think $13/month, Walmart) and tip (it feels good to help people needing gig work). This reduces our own exposure to covid, but I think it also makes the grocery store less congested because shoppers efficiently shop for multiple orders and probably also do it in the wee hours (we have up until 1:45am to alter our order).

120

I asked the question about limiting other activities back on Sept 30. Much has happened since then to dent any shreds of confidence. Back then, some k-12 schools had opened and I think some had the idea things might be a little more controlled.

Apparently, not. I don’t disagree with any decisions any of you make. In some places, cases are surging.

At the same time, we don’t exist entirely in a vacuum. I’m dealing with friends who range from some paranoia (don’t get upset at the word) to carefully planned activities. For many of my single friends, the choice of total isolation versus a cautious outing is vital. I do think some who are not living alone don’t see this. When you have your “two plates at the dinner table,” it’s not always easy to realize. A call or a text doesn’t replace actual human interaction. No one there to comment to, laugh with, or get a hug. Or even look at. And around that, can’t escape to a movie, museum or day trip, etc.

This is a lot more than groceries.

Frankly, I do worry about things like who handled my package, who may have touched the produce or my card. If you want to take it further, even take-out or supposedly contact-less delivery has risks. I don’t go to big stores like Target or Costco sorts.

I’m immune compromised, too. I’m fortunate to live in an area where people wear masks, carry sanitizer (and all the shops have the jugs of it,) and social distance. I greatly admire the folks still willing to serve us, work at the CVS or market, my mailman, keep things rolling as best they can. But, try to understand the “isolation” choices of a couple are different. Try to take care of friends in a different position.

As for TP, I buy it on sale. A local drug store has a fine product that remains cheap.