Today we tried something new and decided to experiment with the Walmart Grocery Pickup. If you're not familiar with what that is--basically you place an order online and then go to the store and they have a place to park outside and they will come bring your groceries to your car. A few Walmarts in our area started doing this a while back, but none that were super close to us so I had kind of brushed it off. But when we went to Walmart a few weeks ago, I saw that the grocery pickup had come to one closer to us so I tucked that away for future reference :)
Now I'll admit that I actually like walking around the grocery store. Cooper does pretty well in either his stroller (if we only need a few things) or in the K'tan (if we need a lot and I need a full cart available). And it gets us out of the house and gives us a little time walking around not in the Texas heat. But I still thought it'd be nice to try out the grocery pick up on occasion.
Since I've been trying to do better at meal planning, my shopping list has been pretty well planned out. And this week we are taking dinner to some friends one night so we have a few more groceries than usual. So I decided last night to try out an order for the Walmart pick up. I placed the order and chose a pick up time between 11 and 12 today.
On our way to Walmart we actually stopped at Target because there were a few things I needed there that I didn't/couldn't get at Walmart.
My sweet boy along for the ride in his stroller while we went for our walk in Target.
The Walmart confirmation email I got said to check in about 10 minutes before we would arrive, so I checked in as we were leaving Target and it showed me my route ;)
We pulled in and found the pickup spot. They were helping someone else so we waited our turn
And about 5 minutes later the groceries were loaded in the back of the car and we were ready to head home!
The Walmart associate reviewed everything with me and told me any substitutions they made (the only one on our order was a different type of grapes). It was very easy and relatively quick.
The downside?
Since the car was parked (not in motion) for about 5-10 minutes and Cooper was awake he was NOT a fan. He got upset and I replaced his pacifier several times while we waited. He was a little fussy when we left, but I figured once we got moving he'd be fine. But it was just too much for him so he cried the whole (short) drive home and this was the sad little boy that I got out of the back of the car. He needed a nap badly and usually will take one in the car, but today he was not having it and the wait at Walmart made it even worse.
Of course I still had groceries to unload, including quite a few cold and frozen things. So I loaded Cooper into the K'tan so I could hold him and unload everything. He calmed down once I put him in and patted him a little. And in less than 3 minutes he was asleep.
So our overall experience with Walmart pickup was fine but not as amazing as I imagined :)
A few positives:
1. It's FREE. The fact that they offer this service and don't charge for it is so awesome! And the minimum order is only $30 so you really don't have to get too much to make it worth it
2. We definitely saved money. As much as I love strolling around the store, that definitely means I end up with things I do not need and spend way more on our groceries. This would be a main reason I might likely do the grocery pickup again!
3. They were quick and efficient. Even with someone else ahead of us in the "line" we still were on our way with a loaded car in 10 minutes or less
A few not so positives:
1. Whenever I've tried to set it up, you can't do same day pickup, you have to reserve a time for the following day. Which overall is probably not a big deal for a weekly shopping trip. But with a baby who has no consistent schedule, it's hard for me to know when is going to be a good time to get out every day. So it can be easier to just go to the store when it's a good time for Cooper rather than having to get out at a specific time
2. Overall they are really good about getting the exact amount of what you need--they measure out produce by the pound and everything. So my list today probably had one of the few exceptions. I needed a chuck roast for one of our dinners this week. And it's the dinner that I'm also taking to friends so I need a little more than usual (about 3-3.5 lbs). When I ordered the chuck roast, it says it will be 1.5-4 pounds and you can't really specify beyond that. So I only got 1 thinking I didn't want 2 huge roasts and the 1 I got is only 2.4 pounds. It might work for what I need, but if I need a certain amount of meat like this roast it's easier for me to be able to go to the store and pick the right one. I think ground meat, chicken breast, and other meat have a much smaller range of size/weight, but it just so happened that this meat that I needed couldn't be specified as easily.
Overall, I'd definitely recommend Walmart pickup to others. It is an awesome service. My order was completely correct. It was easy to set up the order online and quick to pick it up.
But for us, we'll probably continue to do our shopping in store or use it on a day when David can pick it up or I can go while he's home with Cooper. I do know a day is coming (maybe quickly) when it will be much harder to take Cooper grocery shopping. It was always hard when we had our foster kids and had a 3 and 4 year old with me. So I can definitely see us using this service in the future! Cooper just says not right now :)
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