Shop: Instacart

Last week I had a particularly tough day at work and I called my dad (who lives in Florida) and whined into the phone, "Can you come make dinner for me?"

Of course I was only dreaming, but I was painfully aware that after that killer day I was heading home to an empty fridge. After a six day work trip to Las Vegas I was exhausted and hadn't had time to grocery shop.

Enter, Instacart.

The Instacart team contacted me a few months ago to say their on-demand grocery delivery service was coming to Boston. At the time, they weren't delivering as far as Watertown, but as of last week, my sleepy little suburb is now on the list!

Over the weekend I decided to try it out. It was raining outside and I had zero desire to head back out after rushing around all day. I opened my laptop and went to the Instacart website. I love all the brightly colored produce on the home page.

Step one: enter your zip code.

Step two: choose the store you'd like your groceries from. In Watertown you have the mega bonus of choosing Russo's, produce mecca.

For this particular order, I chose Whole Foods. You can shop the store by category, for example, fruit.

Or you can visit my favorite category, ice cream.

You can even sort by brand within that category. For example, I love local ice cream makers Batch.

I was also pleased to see in the frozen section that the carry Alexia products. They have the best French fries!

As you browse the categories, you can easily add items to your cart and increase the quantity of any item.

Once you are ready to check out, you choose your delivery window. This is one of the best parts of the service. You can place your order in the morning, but have it set to deliver when you get home that night. Or order while on the commute, and meet your delivery guy on the front step.

The delivery fee for most orders is $7.99. If you place an order over $35 dollars, then they waive the delivery fee.

Once you place your order, you'll see a pop up box offering you $25 off your next order if you refer friends to the service. Pretty sweet offer.

What I love about Instacart is that after you place your order, you can track it online. You can see when your delivery person is shopping, on route and when your order is complete.

In addition to the online tracking, you also receive text messages with status updates. This was particularly helpful for me, as my doorbell is broken!

My delivery person was 10 minutes early, which was excellent, as I was starving and ready to make dinner. He had placed everything very careful into one bag.

Notice the rain drops? So happy I didn't have to go out in the rain!

A few moments later I received an email from Instacart asking me to write a review for my delivery. These guys have thought of everything!

Using Instacart was beyond easy. I was able to find almost everything I was looking for and when the ice cream flavor I wanted was sold out at the store, my delivery guy called me and read me every single other flavor by that brand that was in the case. Talk about commitment!

I love all the thoughtful features of the company too - tracking your order online, texts to tell you when the driver is on the way and those personal phone calls if something in your order needs adjusting.

Interested in trying this out?

The generous people of Instacart are offering a promotional link for Pop.Bop.Shop. readers. Use this link to place your first Instacart order and you will receive $10 off and free delivery!

Happy shopping and be sure to leave a comment to let me know what you think after you place your order.

 

Molly Galler

Welcome to Pop.Bop.Shop. My name is Molly. I’m a foodie, fashionista, pop culture addict and serious travel junkie. I’m a lifelong Bostonian obsessed with frozen confections, outdoor patios, Mindy Kaling, reality television, awards shows, tropical vacations, snail mail and my birthday.

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