Kroger Click List

I'm going to share something that isn't new to probably anyone but myself.  In typical fashion, I'm the last to find out about things, so it shouldn't be shocking that I'm the last person to find out about and take advantage of such a gem.  

I'm talking about Kroger Click List.

Like pretty much every other mom in the world, I absolutely detest the grocery store.  I mean, I've been to some great ones here and there where grocery shopping was an experience, but the week-to-week chore of driving to the store, shopping, and then coming home to unload is by far my least favorite domestic duty.  Okay, well laundry ranks right up there too, but you know what I mean ;)  

So I wanted to share this with anyone else who's been thinking of trying out this service or for anyone who's never heard of it and has no idea what it is.

Yes, it's REALLY that easy!!!!!  

I started taking advantage of this service back in the summer when the boys were home.  If you have little ones, or even big kids at home for that matter, you know what a beating it can be to take them to the grocery store.  I always carry a list with me, but when the boys are in tow I end up with about 5-10 "extra" things I never intended on buying in the first place while hearing, "are we almost done???" from the minute we walk in the door until we check out.  Oh bless them.  Makes a not-so-fun experience even less enjoyable.

With Kroger Click List you just order your groceries online & reserve a pick-up date and time.  The lovely Kroger employees do the actual shopping for you.  All you do is pull into the Click List parking spot, notify them you've arrived (with a phone call), and they bring out your groceries and load them for you,too!  AMAZING.  Before loading your groceries, they go over your order to let you know if anything was out of stock or if they had to make any substitutions.  For example, I ordered a carton of blackberries one week and they were out of stock, so they substituted the organic blackberries for me and price matched my original order.  Kind of amazingly fantastic.  They've substituted a few things that I didn't want before (I ordered pepperoni pizza and they subbed 3-meat, but the boys only eat pepperoni so that was a no-go), so they simply remove the items from your cart and change the total bill to reflect the change.  

One thing I absolutely LOVE about the online shopping is that every time I use my Kroger card, my purchase information is saved.  This makes shopping so much faster!!  When I log-in to my account, my previous purchases show up.  There are staples we get every week, so this is such a time-saver....no searching! Milk, bread, pico (ha!), yogurt for the boys, coffee for mom and dad...you know, all the important stuff :)  Here's what my cart looks like....

I start meal planning for the following week a week ahead of time.  As I'm figuring out what we'll be eating, I just log-in to my account and add the needed ingredients to my cart then adjust it as needed when it comes time to checkout.  The sale page feature is one of my favorites.  I'll take a price break wherever I can get one.

Speaking of price breaks, if you use coupons when you shop those can still be applied when paying at pick-up.  Nothing is paid for online.  All payment is taken care of when you arrive just in case there are changes to your order.  

The only downside to using this service is that I haven't been able to find my family's most requested item online when shopping...Kroger store-baked tortillas.  My boys are tortilla spoiled.  These are seriously the BEST tortillas.  OH the first world horror that ensues when I bring home a different kind.   I can find every other tortilla they carry, but this one is not sold online...I have to go in and grab them.  I'm sure the Kroger shoppers would pick them up for me when I got there if I asked them, but it's just as easy for me to go in and grab them real quick.  Kind of defeats the whole purpose of shopping this way, I know.  But y'all...no other tortilla is comparable.  Totally worth the walk-in.

There's a $4.95 fee to use this service, but you get your first three pick-ups free!  And let me be honest.  I'd pay twice that for the convenience.  Honestly.  When I shop online I feel like I'm saving money because I'm not as likely to make impulse purchases. I tend to do that A LOT when I'm shopping, so the $4.95 is worth it to me :)   

I don't think every Kroger offers this service, so you'd want to check for yourself if your local store participates.  Some of my friends in different in different places tell me that Vons also does this (they even deliver to your house!!!),  some HEB stores participate, Safeway, Wal Mart, Whole Foods, and a few others.  It's definitely worth a shot to investigate and see whether or not you have a grocery store around you that offers something like this.  It would've been AMAZING to have had a service like this when my boys were babies.  As a new mom, I would've spent every penny taking advantage of that!!!!