Peapod ROCKS!

I’ve never liked grocery shopping.

When I was single, I lived a few blocks away from a Jewel. I didn’t have a car, so I only bought things as needed. I’d empty my backpack and use that to hold the groceries. I’m pretty much a wuss, and there was no way I could carry 12-packs of diet Cokes during the walk home.

Even with a car, I prefer to go to the store late at night when they’re mostly empty. The downside to that is having to lug bags and bags up two flights of stairs from a parking spot a block away, because by the time I’d get home, all the good spots (what Brian and I refer to as “looky-looky here”s) are taken. Well, OK, he’s the one who does the shopping. He says he doesn’t mind it. He says.

Normally, I’m OK about waiting in line for most things, unless the person everyone’s waiting to see is totally incompetent–I mean, new. At the post office, I fucking hate idiot customers who haven’t prepared their packages properly and hold up the whole line. Fucking get a clue and read instructions. Read them online before you even go. It’s not that hard!

What can I say? Not everyone can be perfect like me. I mean, I have a graduate degree, after all (which hasn’t done me any good except to ingrain the false notion that I’m intellectually superior to everyone but my peers–insufferable! Insufferable! I hate Brian–both his undergrad and grad school PCPAs and his GRE scores are higher than mine–not fair! Not fair! Gah. Scary, isn’t it?).

Recently, Brian and I decided to try Peapod, a grocery delivery service where all you need to do is order your items online. Granted, meat and produce could be iffy. We’ve tried the meat before, which was fine. Besides, on the news the other day they said that Jewel has a batch of E. coli-infected ground beef. As for fruits and vegetables, there’s a produce store right around the corner so we–oops, he–only buys that stuff when necessary.

Prices are comparable to most of the local grocery stores. Peapod offers weekly specials and accepts coupons. Too bad I’ve given up the habit of clipping them since Brian never used them! (n) Anyway, we haven’t bought the Sunday Trib in months because it only collects in an unread pile that the cats use to play Slip ‘N Slide.

We buy non-perishable food and paper products. Peapod also sells health and beauty products, but I like buying that stuff myself at Target or Walgreens. OK, I confess–I LOVE WALGREENS!!!!

The delivery charge is remarkably cheap. The more you spend on groceries, the lower it is. It kind of sounds like a scam at first–you have to order over $100 in order to get the lowest charge–$5.95. But we spend twice that when buying groceries anyway. Depending on when you schedule the delivery time, you can save an extra $1 or $1.50 on the delivery charge. They even have an option where you don’t need to be home when they arrive. I wouldn’t try that in the City, though.

Another nice thing is that your previous orders are saved on Peapod’s computer so the next time you order, you can work off the list. We’re pretty good about making a grocery list, but we almost always forget a few things. It relieves my feelings of “I’ve forgotten something” and the inability to remember what it was–drives me nuts.

You can even save an order before placing it so you can add or delete stuff. It gives us a chance to enter items one us of likes that the other doesn’t, without having to remember what they are. Like, Brian likes a particular brand of pizza, and I’m never quite sure which. We don’t even need to be in the same room to do this.

The best thing of all is that I can do this myself easily and contribute to the division of household labor.

PEAPOD IS THE GREATEST INVENTION IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! EVERYONE SHOULD TRY IT. ONLINE SAVES TIME!!!!!