random thoughts – Day 1,824 – (Saturday) – grocery delivery

It’s the edge of the anniversary of the remote times of the pandemic, and today I resurrected one of the conveniences enjoyed during that dark time – home delivery of groceries.

The now defunct Amazon Prime Pantry with free delivery on orders of $35 kept me stocked with canned goods and snacks. Whole Foods kept me in produce, dairy, and ice cream. One day I noticed all the items in my “Save for later” Pantry list were discounted, but I didn’t pounce on them because I didn’t need them yet. Big mistake. A few days later, an email arrived announcing that Amazon Pantry was closed. Dang. That’s around the same time the Whole Foods deliveries changed from free for Prime members to having a delivery charge. By then, I was heading back to shop Market Basket in person and stopped the deliveries.

Last week, I went to Market Basket with Mom and Sis, and enjoyed lots of fresh vegetables all week, most of which have been consumed. I could feel the healthy benefits surging through my body with each bite of cauliflower and broccoli.

What was I thinking?

It’s still two weeks before I am medically cleared to drive again, but I wanted more veggies. And also ice cream. The online order and delivery at Hannaford was checked and I learned I had a $10 delivery coupon in my loyalty program account. The order was built, and I was surprised that many prices were a lot lower than I remembered/expected them to be. Then the cart was abandoned because sometimes my attention span is shorter than it should be and I get distracted (squirrel!).

This afternoon, I checked the Hannaford app and my order of 16 items was still queued up and there was a delivery window between 5:00 and 7:00 tonight. Yes, please. The button was pushed. 

At 6:05, five bags of groceries landed at my door. The list was successfully completed with no substitutions needed and I am freshly stocked with fresh spinach, broccoli, Roma tomatoes, and grapes, plus granola bars (forgotten last week), balsamic vinegar, salsa, queso, ice cream, crackers plus a free bar of Colby Jack cheese from a coupon, a few other items, and a question. The question is "Why did I order a two-pound bag of lemons?" Yes, they were on sale, but what will I do with a whole bag? And hasn't life been delivering a few too many lemons recently? There must have been an apron-wearing kitchen fantasy involving lemon squares when I added those.

Provisions!

I immediately dove into the green, large, chilled grapes which definitely won’t last long. The Hannaford “Overloaded Caramel Cup” ice cream was disappointing. “Overloaded” is a huge overstatement. It’s mostly just plain white ice cream and three or four chocolate-covered caramel cups paused long enough to be packaged. A barely perceptible thread of caramel about the width of dental floss ran through some of it.

I don’t mind doing my own grocery shopping. It sure beats some of the other adult domestic chores, such as cleaning the toilet. Once in a blue moon, scrolling through a product list and creating an order for delivery, then eagerly awaiting the delivery isn’t too bad, but I like checking out the discount bakery racks at the Basket, and that is something that can only be done in person. In a couple weeks, when I can drive again, the first road trip might be tour of the local MB discount bakery racks.