Grocery Pick-Up Is a Desperate Caregiver's Best Option

There I was, bringing my dad home from the hospital. Long hours by his bedside. Little free time. No food in the house.

What's a desperate caregiver to do?

Order groceries online. Oh, what a godsend!

I was nervous at first, mostly because I normally do my buying at another grocery chain. I like to clip coupons. I know the products and the aisles.

But I had no way to slip away for the hour or more I needed to shop at my favorite store. Rats. My envelope of coupons would go to waste.

Still, I needed to feed my dad...and me. I needed staples like toilet paper.

Other times, I have used a delivery service (Peapod) to bring the groceries to me. But to tell the truth, it's not always convenient. The driver could show up when I am doing a caregiver task for my dad.

And then I remembered that Peapod also offers curbside pick-up. For just $2.95, someone would actually schlepp the aisles and gather all the groceries on my list, pack them into paper bags, and deliver them to my car at a time I could select for myself. Seriously...$2.95? That's a small price to pay for keeping my sanity.

The downside? It took a really long time to master the online ordering process. Waiting for products to load from the weekly sales or from a department took too long. I finally got the hang of using my shopping list to select products, thus limiting the number of items I was offered. It helps, if you have preferred brands, to add them to the search.

And yes, I did shop for sales items, but only if they were products I planned to buy anyway. I learned this lesson the hard way. My first order took almost three hours to do because I scrolled through too many products. Going in with a plan and sticking to it is a busy caregiver's best option. It's the fastest way through the process.

So, the next time you find yourself strapped for time, low on extra energy, or just not in the mood to drag yourself to the grocery store, consider doing a pick-up run to a local store. For a very reasonable fee, you will save your sanity and free up some time to do something that really needs doing.