Two and a half years ago I was newly visually impaired, not driving and had a husband in rehab with two ruptured discs. I had yet to succeed in arranging transportation. In true fashion for many of us, I was catastrophizing. How do I get to the store? I am going to starve!
Fast forward two and a half years later. Guess what. I am still here. While I am about five pounds lighter – the result of not eating school lunches and teachers’ lounge goodies not to mention not being able to go for Chinese take-out several days a week – I am not emaciated and definitely not starving. Things worked out just fine.
At the time I was in my “crisis” about starving, there were only a few options open. I could sign up for Meals on Wheels. I could get delivery pizza. There were the old standard door-to-door vendors such as Schwanns and there was Amazon Prime Pantry or Walmart groceries, both essentially by mail order. I decided to get a couple of “care packages” from Amazon Prime to hold me over. The problem, though, was they were only non-perishable items.
That was then. This is now. The food delivered to your home business is booming. If you are not able to prepare meals you can still get Meals on Wheels or delivery pizza. If you are able to cook for yourself there are now probably dozens of options.
The first ones are what I consider to be the “gourmet cook” options. Those are the ones that send you all of the pre-measured ingredients and directions for putting them together. Some examples would be listed in Top 10 Recipe Delivery Services on the web. Be careful of the pricing on these, though. You have to sign up to get price quotes and some of them start “as low as $7.99 per meal”.
Then there are the grocery delivery services. Amazon Prime Pantry continues to deliver non-perishables to your door. It is still by parcel services and not same day delivery. With Amazon Prime Fresh fresh meats and vegetables are available in some areas, not mine. There is also an additional monthly cost that might be hard for people on a tight budget.
In recent months many of the local grocery chains are getting into the home delivery game. Local Walmarts around here are hiring people to shop for us. [Lin/Linda: in many areas, both deliver or pickup is available.] Order online. That person fulfills your order and someone delivers it the same day. Target offers the same sort of service [same-day delivery]. Also Giant [through Peapod delivery service which delivers from other stores in various locations].
Then there are the shopping services. Services such as Instacart can shop for you in a variety of places and deliver it to you. They are not in the local area here and they wanted all my information before they gave me an idea of pricing. Nope.
Moneycrashers.com has a good article on the pros and cons of home grocery delivery services. They reported Giant Market charges $6.95 for delivery of orders more than $100. They charge more for orders less than $50 and even more for smaller orders. In other words, it would not be cost-effective to ask them to run you over a quart of milk.
I have run over my self-imposed 500-word limit here, so I’m going to wrap this all up by saying I have yet to starve and barring any unforeseen circumstances, you will not starve either. Home delivery grocery services are just one more way to help us maintain our own homes and independence.
Written November 3rd, 2018