Thursday, May 04, 2006

a new grocery-buying experience

Holy cow. I went grocery shopping today with the nanny family, and they had the weirdest thing at this store --

Drive-thru grocery pickup.

You pay for your groceries, they load your groceries into tubs, they give you big, plastic numbers, you drive around to the side of the store, give them the numbers, and they load your groceries into your car for you (sans tubs.) I'm not sure how I feel about this whole process. It was quite the experience.

In unrelated news, the little boy was intrigued by my Nalgene water bottle. Almost every time I took a drink he asked me, "are you drinking green water?" At first, he was confused -- I couldn't possibly be drinking water, because water at his house comes bottled out of the fridge. He saw me fill it from the tap a few times, and thought about it some more. After I poured out a little water to show him that it wasn't green, he seemed satisfied.

Perhaps he needs his own Nalgene? I'll have to think about getting him one for his birthday, which isn't for several months.

7 comments:

Melissa said...

They had grocery pickup at the Safeway in the city I used to live in...I think its appropriate for seniors or anyone who can't really lift groceries or whatever. But I don't think I'd ever do it!

Eat Peace Please said...

I think the grocery thing is weird too and i've seen it done. I don't like it though. This shall be interesting now with family gossip on your post (he he)! A water bottle would be nice for his birthday, but I suppose this family has convienet pre-bottled individuals in the fridge, right?

How was the rest of your first day at work?

Harmonia said...

Hi! Thanks for commenting! I responded. CONGRATS On the yoga time!

Anonymous said...

Ah ha - you must have been to a Byerly's/Lund's type place huh? I always get a good laugh when the grocery baggers ask me if I want my 2 bags for pick-up. I'm like "noooo, I can carry them out to my car, I've got hands, arms and legs!" I suppose they only ask because some people insist on going through the drive up thing. Funny story - thanks for sharing!

Flo @ Yielded Heart said...

And I thought everyone in the Twin Cities has been to a Byerlys/Lunds!?

As nice as a service that is, especially if you're there with 3 kids, you're really paying for that in your groceries anyway. But they have good produce and more organic stuff than the other "regular" stores. So when going to WFM or co-op is not an option on a busy day, that's where we go.

I wonder if the store you went to has a "Shanghai Circus" in the dining area. They would actually veganize some food for you, though I've only tried the vegan phad thai.

Also, I know of a church in WI that distribute trailerful of food to those with needs and the produce they give are from Byerlys, MN- those that they just pulled out of the storefront. I noticed they were still good- at least better than what you see at other stores. I wonder if the other stores do that...

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

That is interesting, and I haven't heard of that before. Wonder if they'd load the groceries in your own canvas bags? Some of our stores deliver groceries that are selected on-line.

Catherine Weber said...

Melissa, I agree -- Seniors, whoever. I guess when you have a couple of kids in tow, grocery pick up might be nice. (But then again, can't you just buckle the kids in, and then load the groceries into the back?)

Leslie, yes, they do have a fridge full of single-serving plastic water bottles in a variety of sizes. I'm still confused about why they don't have a filtration system or water cooler. (Obviously, they can afford it.) I mentioned the word "recycling" to the little boy yesterday and he said, "what's that?" It's going to be an uphill battle. I took the kids to the co-op for a cookie on Friday, though, and one of the moms sounds excited about it and wants to start shopping there! I'll give them a "tour" sometime soon. :)

Harmonia, thanks for the yoga encouragement! I only did 30 minutes on Friday, but that was because I was a little sore from Thursday. I think I overdid it. :)

Crystal, it was a Byerly's. Two bags for grocery pickup? That's funny. :) If I have two bags, I don't even take the cart out into the parking lot -- I can carry them just fine, and that's one less cart someone has to bring in later in the day!

Kai, that's cool that Byerly's distributes leftover produce to the needy. It's always good to know that food isn't going to waste, and people who need it are getting fresh fruits and veggies. So much cheap food is so horrible for you, and nutritionally poor.

Vicki, do they have Simon Delivers in your area? That's a fully-online grocery store. You order your groceries on the web and they deliver them to you at a specific time. Another service I'm not quite sure how I feel about -- I really like going to the grocery store, so I guess I'd consider internet grocery shopping if I hated the grocery store! Oh well.