Life has never been busier, and while I'm hanging out for Pak n Save to join the online supermarket shopping revolution (come on Foodstuffs!) I've cobbled together a routine in the meantime with a couple of other online retailers.
Finding quality, affordable meat has long been an issue for us. Supermarkets have been grim and uninspiring in this department, and even the butcher lately has been disappointing. Cue The Meat Box!
The Meat Box is a local operation (we still get handwritten thank you cards with every delivery) and we've found it offers really good value for us. The prices are reasonable and the quality is great. We usually order one of the Couples Boxes and occasionally make up a custom box of individual packed meat items. The downside is they only deliver Tuesday-Friday and the cutoff time is 7am the day prior to delivery - so basically, 2 nights before in reality (unless you enjoy ordering groceries immediately upon getting out of bed?)
North Island deliveries are $8, but there are special discounts from time to time sent out via email and Facebook. And you can get $10 off your first order by signing up for the newsletter!
Greenkart is another local operation that sells everything from meat and produce to dairy, packaged goods and personal care items. Not as extensive in range of products or brands offered as a supermarket, but possibly more so than your local dairy or corner shop. The weekly specials can be quite good too. Delivery charges range from $6 to free depending on how much you spend.
The best part is the flexibility. You can literally order on the same day at a pinch! They deliver every day, and offer delivery options in 3-hour slots (eg you can request delivery between 9am-12pm). I usually just place my order the day before.
Most relevant Facebook ad ever - so glad I saw it ...I actually clicked and wound up eventually downloading the app! Yep, there is an app! Seriously. However, the interface for adding your credit card details is horrendous. I'm fairly tech savvy but it took me way too long to figure it out, and I nearly gave up. There's a visual of a credit card and you have to tap the relevant parts on the fake card to enter your real digits, if that makes sense - complete with 'flipping' it over to enter your CVV number on the back.
Now they just need to keep building out their product range further (new stuff is frequently added, so they're on to it).
(I also returned to Foodbox for a few weeks - lured in by their new Careful Couple offering.
However, I'm not in love with the interface (there's no itemised pricing; to work out what something costs I had to add or remove it from the cart and see how the total cost changed) and they charge $6 for the chiller box, which they're supposed to pick up the next time, and refund you ... except the driver never did collect ours.)
Typically we still do a small supermarket run for things like milk, pet food, toiletries, cereal, pantry staples etc, but this lets us get in and out SO much quicker and reduces the mental load by a huge factor.
This is obviously not the route to go if you're trying to shop for food as cheaply as possible - you'd need to be driving around to small fruit and veg/meat/ethnic/bulk buy shops - but at this stage in life it's saving a ton of time and hassle.
