It was a very, very long week. Add up a lot of travel in December and as a result of that having to fall behind on my lupus meds, it all caught up with me. I had to be tested twice for COVID-19(negative) because of all that travel that made me me feel exhausted and then I managed to pick up an annoying sinus issue. I made sure it was nothing I could have exposed anyone else too, or I would have been working from home. It’s just that overwhelming fatigue that’s kept me home a lot after work, and not wanting to do a whole lot of anything. That included cooking.

So with that and waking up in the middle of the night a lot, I did my first food delivery in many months. Face it, I could get just about anything at all, needed or not. My prescriptions, groceries, prepared food from breakfast to lunch, ever the necessary ingredients for a hot toddy. Believe me, it was one of those weeks where I wish I did drink! Over the past 18 month, the food delivery landscape has become very competitive and that should benefit the consumer. But all that convenience does come at a price, and I’m wondering which services you take advantage of and will keep using?

Being up at 2 am does have the occasional advantage. Like the aforementioned shopping online. We may be a 24/7 society but I wasn’t up to make that food run at 2 am. First of all, there are not a lot of the usual open-at-night choices that there used to be. A lack of workers is partially to blame for that, and the safety of being out by myself at that hour - not so much. So since I was already looking to replenish my favorite sparkling water that I was running out of and was still on sale, I opened the app for a store that was all of ten minutes down the road, shopped for only what I really needed and that was that.

Here’s the thing. I didn’t do home delivery for one reason in the past. Guilt. I thought as long as I was driving to and from work and felt safe going into a business it was all good. But with the rise in the omicron variant and now what’s being referred to as “flurona’ - a combo of flu and COVID-19 - I’m not as comfortable as I was. So enter home delivery. Because I was a first-time user for Instacart from my store, the delivery was free. When the at-home delivery business was ramping up at one point, they were hiring hundreds of thousands of extra workers. But here’s where those extra fees started to add up.

The first one was for a heavy order fee for almost $7.00. Twelve eight-packs of sparkling water did that and that alone was worth it for me. I also make sure to tip as well as I can, so there’s another bump. But for the Greek olive mixture I love, chicken already cooked and shredded, Greek yogurt and vegan maple breakfast sausage for a total of around $48.00, my sinus-medicated brain was just fine with that.

I was completely happy with the delivery process itself. My “shopper” texted me to make sure one substitution was okay since I indicated on the delivery order I preferred no substitutions without my approval, and the order was on time ( and I didn’t have to lift all that water). Pleasant, professional and convenient, and plenty of opportunities for feedback and to rate my order experience. My delivery person was a nice guy who told me he was saving for a “fun” car, and I can understand that. All it took was one trip to Leadfoot City for me!

One other way to lessen contact and still save money is curbside delivery at the store location and I’ve used that a lot at the BJ’s club that’s just around the corner from me. Bulk shopping is a good way to save a few bucks when it makes sense and stores may ask for a minimum purchase level to take advantage of that. Then there’s always the drive-through for our prescriptions and even COVID-19 testing. But for comparing food delivery costs, there’s this chart from Food Delivery Guru that might help. They’re up front with their disclaimer ‘Whenever possible, we use affiliate links, which help cover the costs of running this site.” The Buyer’s Guide also has a meal delivery comparison chart for those prepared meals from companies used on a subscription basis.

I know I’m probably in the minority when it comes to using at-home delivery, so I’d like to hear from you and what your experiences have been like. Was it worth it to keep yourself safe at home and what are some of the items you wish you’d never taken a chance on? That rates another blog so send those to me directly at Ann.Kelly@cmg.com, or message me on Facebook. The good, the bad, the ugly. It’s what we talk about in Ann Kelly’s Kitchen.

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM ANN KELLY’S KITCHEN

Food is the most primitive form of comfort -Sheilah Graham Westbrook

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