13 Benefits of online grocery shopping for busy moms!
Do you hate going to the grocery store each week with your kids? Do you forget needed items and cave to impulse buying? Here are 13 benefits of online grocery shopping for busy moms and why you need to switch today!
While there are so many benefits to switching to online grocery shopping (plus delivery service), the two big benefits are time savings and cost savings!
Let’s dive in to learn the others!
13 Reasons Why Online Grocery Shopping Is Worth It
1. Saves You Time
Let’s first talk about saving time, because I think we can all agree we would love a few more hours in our day.
While you are in the comfort of your home, being productive, someone else is roaming the grocery aisles for YOU. It can’t get much better then that!
With online grocery shopping, you get to decide when is a convenient time! Maybe that is 10pm at night, in your bed. Now that screens convenient.
“According to the Time Use Institute, the average shopping trip takes 41 minutes. If you multiply that by the 1.5-trip per week average, that’s over 53 hours per year you’re spending in the grocery store.” (Source: CreditDonkey)
I would love to have an extra 53 hours per year back to do what I CHOOSE with. Not give it to the grocery stores.
2. Saves You Money!
Shopping online keeps You from Impulse Buying.
Not only is it probably one of the largest time saver, but studies show you save money because you don’t impulse buy.
“31 percent of shoppers reported that one reason for using e-grocery is to avoid making impulse purchases. A MoneyTalks News article on the study posits that it is easier for customers to stick to a list when grocery shopping online, enabling them to avoid the temptation of seeing attractive, unfamiliar products in-store. Avoiding impulse purchases was the third most popular reason for e-grocery shopping, under personal safety (49 percent) and time savings (59 percent).”RetailWire.com, a study from PowerReviews,
I always end up buying more junk food, instead of nutritious foods, because I get distracted and sucked in to impulse buying.
3. Avoid Long Lines
It is so frustrating to zip through the store, throw all the items on your shopping list in your cart to get stuck in a long line waiting for a slow check out clerk.
So frustrating am I right?!
When you switch to using online grocery stores, you don’t have to worry about picking the wrong line or being stuck with a slow cashier.
4. Avoid Having To Shop With Your Children
Don’t Have This Be You Anymore! Avoid the challenges of grocery shopping with children.
I don’t know many busy moms who love grocery shopping with their kids. It’s stressful, the kids aren’t happy, you aren’t happy and as a mom we usually cave to impulse buying to keep the kids from completely melting down.
5. Allows You To Be More Productive
You can be productive getting other things done that someone can’t do for you, like:
- Helping out in your kids classrooms
- Going to a doctors’ appointment
- Getting organized in your home
- Doing home chores
- Running errands that can’t be completed online
6. Stick To Your Grocery Budget
Since you are able to see your total as you add your grocery items, you can be more aware of what you are spending. Allowing you to be more stringent on items and forgo something that you don’t absolutely need to stick to your budget.
You can double check your grocery list to make sure you didn’t forget anything. Making sure you don’t forget fresh produce, household items, or those specific items that you need for that one recipe you are going to try this week.
Many online grocery stores have good deals specific to their online shoppers, plus stores like Walmart.com offer online shopping incentives like Walmart Cash, where savings get applied to your account that you can use on future purchases.
7. Allows Freedom To Forget for Busy Families
As a busy mom, this used to happen all the time to me, especially when I was out shopping with my kids. I would get home and realize I forgot one of the crucial items I needed for dinner I was planning. Such a frustrating and helpless feeling!
With online grocery shopping you most likely won’t forget items very often any more, but in the event that you do, you don’t have to run back up to the grocery store.
Instead, add those food items directly to your shopping cart for either an immediate delivery or future delivery. It’s that easy!
In a few short hours you can have those items at your door step.
8. Gives You Back Your Sanity
How many times have you been at the grocery store and thought you were going to lose it. Snap, yell at your children, get impatient with people and staff workers, especially when children are in tow.
Almost dinged a car door in the parking lot, someone took the parking spot you wanted, the shopping carts were too far away, they didn’t have the fun “car” shopping cart your kids wanted.
If you switch to online grocery shopping you would only have to go to stores if you want to, not have to.
9. Keep the Germs Out of Your Home
It was during Covid when I made the switch to online grocery shopping and a big part of that decision was trying to stay healthy and avoid germs.
While we are far pass the pandemic, we are still exposed to germs everywhere. Avoiding one more dirty place to pick up germs so our families can stay healthy is worth it in my opinion. My kids find enough germs as it is, don’t need to add any more.
10. Don’t Get Lost Roaming the Aisles
Grocery stores love changing their store layouts and where items are kept! I think it’s their favorite past time. Just as soon as you have the layout mastered, there is a switch causing you extra time trying to find the needed items.
With grocery shopping online you can find items very quickly with the search functionality.
Most online stores remember your previous purchases or liked items and will offer a “favorites” section, that has all of your personal favorite items for a quick checkout.
Completing an online grocery shopping order can be finished in 10 minutes or less.
11. Online Grocery Shopping Allows You To Be Anywhere and Still Be Productive
You can online grocery shop from anywhere! Now I can do all my shopping at a time that is quiet and convenient for me! From anywhere in the world and directly from my phone.
I’ve ordered my groceries on the plane, on my way back home from a family vacation. So convenient! My groceries were at my front door when we got there.
12. Time To Shop Options & Variety
When you are at the store with kids, feeling rushed, you don’t have time, energy or patience to check out the different product options and compare. You usually grab the first thing you can find and throw it in the cart.
At home, on your time, you can easily see the different price options making it easier to decide which product is best for you.
13. Price Comparison
When you are online you can easily see the different listed prices and make an educated decision, instead of feeling rushed to impulsively grab the first one you see that looks like a good deal.
My Online Grocery Shopping Experience
Switching to online grocery shopping has been one of the best decisions I made as a busy mom with a large family of four young children. We have saved money and time by switching to online grocery shopping, not to mention my sanity.
Going in to the grocery store each week with my herd of children seemed like an impossible task.
As a busy mom I no longer have to stress if I forgot to order something, which happens all the time.
My favorite example just happened over the summer. I signed my kids up for basketball camp and then the night before the camp started I realized that one of my boys didn’t have a pair of tennis shoes or basketball shoes that fit him.
I went on to Walmart.com, had him pick out a pair of basketball shoes, chose 2 hr delivery (or less), and within 20 minutes his basketball shoes were at my front door. It doesn’t get much better than that! That one experience was worth my $98 for my entire annual fee.
Convenience is often priceless!
I feel like I have gained time in my week, and now I have extra hours then the average person. So many people still go in to grocery stores, so while they are there shopping, I am being able to use that extra time do so many other, more important things.
Like, start a home business.
Saving time is like gaining hours in your day. We all only get 24, it’s up to you to use them most efficiently.
Related: 11 Genius Time Saving Hacks for a SAHM
Benefits of Online Grocery Shopping For Busy Moms Recap
Have you made the switch to online grocery shopping yet?
As a busy mom with four young kiddos, I rely on the benefits of online grocery shopping every week! I am so thankful that this service exists and feel every mom should have at least one go-to online shopping store for groceries.
Stop wasting hours roaming the store aisles, especially if you are taking kids with you! Once you switch you will question why you didn’t switch sooner and you will never look back. Just trust me on this one!
If you found switching to online shopping helpful, check out more great time saving mom hacks!
FAQ’s
What is Online Grocery Shopping For Busy Moms?
Shopping online for your groceries, is the process of buying food or household products on a stores website or app on your phone, using a shopping cart to checkout and paying by their online payment processing system, usually credit card.
There are two “delivery” options to online grocery shopping.
1. Curbside Pickup
You will drive to the store and pick up the groceries in a designated “pick up” area. A grocery clerk will bring the groceries to you and help you load them in your car.
This is still convenient as you are not having to get out of the car for in-store shopping, saving you hours and money each week.
2. Online Grocery Delivery
This is when you choose to have the groceries delivered to your house, either front door on inside, at a specific time you choose. You do not have to drive to the store at all and the grocery store will bring your groceries to you.
Whether you choose curbside pickup, or home deliver, there are several benefits for busy parents.
Does Shopping Online For My Groceries Cost Anything?
Usually curbside pickup is free if you purchase over a certain dollar amount in your order. Each store will vary in their minimum dollar amount.
If you want your groceries delivered to your home there will be an annual service fee. For Walmart.com, it is $98/year.
But most likely you go to the grocery store weekly, so if you divide $98 by 52 weeks in the year, each week you are spending $1.88 to have someone else shop for you and bring your groceries to your house.
“According to the Time Use Institute, the average shopping trip takes 41 minutes. If you multiply that by the 1.5-trip per week average, that’s over 53 hours per year you’re spending in the grocery store.” (Source: CreditDonkey)
So for $98 a year you are saving yourself 53 hours you would otherwise spend at a grocery store shopping. As a busy mom, I think that is money well spent, don’t you?
Some of my favorite grocery retailers that offer online ordering:
- Walmart Delivery
- Amazon Prime (via Whole Foods)
- Shipt (middle man to your local grocery store)
Shop Walmart Online
If you do not have an online grocery shopping app set up, take the time right now to do so. My favorite is walmart.com.
1.I love Walmart.com for delivery and feel $99 per year for unlimited deliveries is so worth it. Even with the fee I am still saving money and time each year by not going into the store.
2. It’s the most accessible, available in almost any area, has a very low fee for delivery, and has an only $35 min order for free delivery.
3. You don’t have to order a lot of groceries to utilize the free delivery. Which means you can have lots of “oops-I-forgot-XYZ-Product” without running up to the grocery store.
4. Quick turn around times. Within a few hours your groceries can be at your door step, with no extra fees! This single handily saves me weekly.
Try a Meal Delivery Service
While HomeChef is not an online grocery delivery service, it is a meal delivery service. I love the idea having a few pre-prepped and ready to meal kits and dinners delivered right to my door. It really helps elevate some of the mom stress around making dinner each night.
So between having my groceries delivered and using a meal delivery service, I really feel I have mastered the art of making dinners for my large family.
HomeChef
I have been using HomeChef for years and absolutely love it.
This service is amazing and literally has saved my marriage. Getting a healthy dinner on the table regularly has always been a struggle for me.
I hate meal planning (which is why I food prep instead). I would get so stressed and have anxiety over trying to figure out what to make, what recipe to use, find all of the right ingredients, find time to do all of this.
HomeChef was the perfect solution for our family.
Do you love to cook?
I do not. I don’t see myself as a chef or someone who is great in the kitchen, so from the beginning, this has always been a challenge area for me in our marriage.
Then entered Home Chef!
HomeChef checked all of the boxes for our family.
- Meals are easy to make
- Meals are delicious
- Meals come completely prepped ready to make
- Meals are heathy
- Meals are quick to make
If you struggling with making healthy meals regularly from home, check out HomeChef today.
As our family has grown, we’ve increased in the meals we purchase. For our family of six, we buy 3 meals each week at 6 servings per meal.
You go online and pick which meals you want each week.
I usually go on and pick my meals for several months going forward so I don’t have to remember each week to pick my meals.
I can always login and see what is being delivered if I want a heads up on the meals that we will be eating that week. It’s usually enough to feed all of us and for my husband to take left overs to work with him the next day.
Shipt
Shipt is another great delivery services that shops from your local grocery store. If you have a store that you are very particular in using, check out Shipt, because most likely this service could work for you.
For more mom hacks to make life easier, sign up for my Genius Mom Hacks newsletter to be sent to your inbox monthly.
Since mom life is already so busy, I do not spam, as I don’t have time for that. I send 1-2 emails per month loaded with free resources, efficient tips to make mom life easier and of course lots of mom encouragement!
If you don’t currently shop online for groceries, has this information won you over? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.