Sunday morning on our way to church, we stopped by our son’s house to drop off a book he requested. They were just finishing breakfast, and Court was preparing to drive over to Walmart to pick up some groceries.

He wasn’t going to shop, however. His wife ordered the groceries online and he simply had to pick them up. Convenient, no?

They could, in fact, have the groceries delivered for a small fee, but they wouldn’t have been delivered until the next day. So in order to expedite things, he elected to pick them up.

My reaction to that whole idea of ordering groceries online was very positive. They have three little kids living at home, the smallest being only seven months old. Why deal with herding cats if you can let someone else shop for you?

Later that same day, I got an email from a friend who told me about a service she had begun using called Instacart. It is somewhat the same thing, I think, except that you choose from several grocery stores in your neighborhood – Kroger, Safeway, Whole Foods, and Costco among them – and place your order online. Within a couple of hours, your groceries are delivered to your door for a $3.99 delivery fee and a tip.

Since I bumped into this idea twice in one day, I concluded it must be a thing. And as a hip and trendy blogger, I must keep up with current, well, things, if you will.

Grocery delivery isn’t a new concept, mind you. I had groceries delivered to me from King Soopers years ago when I was a single mother who worked full time. At that time – when dinosaurs still roamed the earth – you placed your order via fax rather than online. There was no online. And nowadays kids have no idea what the word fax even means. At first I loved the idea of not having to go to the grocery store on weekends when everyone else did. After a couple of times, however, it began to drive me crazy that I couldn’t pick out my own meat and vegetables. Plus there was that whole delivery fee thing, and, being a single mother, money didn’t grow on trees. (Well, I guess it doesn’t grow on trees whether or not you’re a single mother, but I digress…)

My friend who uses Instacart sent me a link to the site and a $10 coupon from Instacart, so I logged on to see what I thought.

Whaaaaat? Here’s what I thought: Wow, these prices seem a LOT higher than shopping in the store, at least at King Soopers (Kroger). I have started paying rapt attention to prices these days as our income is less than it used to be and grocery prices seem to increase rapidly – sometimes it seems like they’re higher when I leave the store than when I arrive!

But since I’m retired and have nothing more important to do than watch Foyle’s War on Netflix, I decided to take a field trip over to King Soopers. My suspicions were confirmed. (I feel like such an AWESOME detective.)

Let’s assume this is my grocery list….

1 lb. 93% ground beef, 1 lb. 96% ground beef, one loaf Orowheat Whole Wheat bread, one 12-ct package Mission flour tortillas caseras, one package Thomas English Muffins, ½ gallon Horizon Organic 2% milk, 1 doz. Eggland’s Best large eggs, one 8 oz. pkg  Sargento Provolone deli slices, one container Cherub tomatoes, one 25 oz. jar Simple Truth Marinara, one pkg. Dole Caesar salad kit

I would pay $12.80 more by buying them on Instacart instead of going to the grocery store. And that’s not including delivery or tip.

I am not editorializing or expressing an opinion, I assure you. It may well be worth 13 bucks to not have to use precious free time that you could spend with your family to go to the grocery store. I’m just not sure the fact that the groceries are so much higher is well publicized.

Here is a Denver Post article about Instacart. In the article, it states that Whole Foods’ prices are the same whether you buy them in the store or from Instacart. I can’t confirm or deny, not being that dedicated a detective. But if it’s in the newspaper, it MUST be true!

Also, I don’t know if the higher prices hold true when you order directly from the store like my son and daughter-in-law did. I would check that out, but I need to get back to Foyle’s War.

This is my customer service announcement for the day. Now if I could just find someone to do my Christmas shopping for me! I would pay HUNDREDS.

Happy grocery shopping friends, no matter how you do it.