Pick-Up to Save Up!

It's Karen here, and I've been thinking about how grocery pick-up services can help save money on groceries. Personally, I am a huge fan and user of grocery pick-up services (namely Kroger and Wal-Mart). Even though I am a dietitian, I can happily skip the weekly trudge through the grocery aisles (please don't judge!) When these grocery pick-up services first rolled out, I think people simply looked at them as a convenience. But then I heard clients talking about how grocery pick-up helped them save money and stick to their grocery budget. Now that I am a regular picker-upper, I get it! And with the recent rise of grocery prices, we're probably all looking for ways to save.

Here are some of my theories on how grocery pick-up can help you save money:

You are way more likely to make impulse food purchases while in the store (you are less likely to do so online, but trust me, it's not impossible!)

If you usually shop in the store with kids, or even another adult, research shows you spend more money (distraction has a cost). When you grocery shop online, you are alone and can do it on your time frame. This means you can actually focus on the task at hand (and not worry about kiddos sneaking Twinkies and Oreos into the cart!)

If you are using grocery pick-up, then you probably have some kind of plan about what you will eat in the coming days. And we know that planning ahead with your food saves money. Less eating out (restaurant markup is 300%) and fewer convenience foods means more pennies pinched.

There are definitely pros and cons to grocery pick-up, and it's not for everyone (hmmm...maybe some future blog posts?) But we'd love to hear your thoughts about grocery pick-up, especially as it relates to saving money. Has this been your experience? Maybe you've never tried grocery pick-up, and are curious. Are there questions we can answer? C'mon, a penny for your thoughts!