Been wanting to get my cooking ingredients delivered straight to my doorsteps for a while.
I do order rice, protein powder, and other dry stuff with an amazon subscription but never really looked into what services there are where I live for groceries delivery. Would do me wonders if I didn't have to cycle for 40 minutes to get groceries, during the summers specially.
>go out and socialize
I don't know if grocery shopping is an opportunity to socialize. It's a straight forward process of going to the store, getting what you need, coming home. No room for socializing; for me at least. Socialization would be in peril from work from home or online classes seeing as that is where people spend enough time around each other to want to/have to socialize.

it's a thing here but i mostly avoid it because there are several supermarkets nearby and i'd rather spend half an hour going and returning from there to get things when i want to than have to wait until some uncertain hour while being unable to leave in case i miss the delivery or its arrival interrupting what i'm doing
it also saves me the hassle of dealing with their half-baked webpages or unwieldy apps
every couple weeks i have to go and buy some raisins and sesame seeds but it's on my way to w*rk so that's not a problem at all
also yeah ur mum is overstating its importance really it's about as much socializing as going to the bus stop is and while i do often have some exchanges in both situations that's because i make whatever dumb remark or question i want whenever it comes to mind and folks are receptive to that but it's not something you're expected to do

My mom actually tells me I should use those services, but I don't like it. There's nothing futuristic about having someone do the shopping for you and I'd rather go and see what I want to grab myself. Also, I hate apps and anything that tries to push them.

I don't interact with people at the store unless there's someone who needs help, but I know older people like to have little conversations with the workers or just anyone who's willing, so I get why they would prefer stores. People underestimate how much little interactions contribute to making you feel like a socially active person or a member of a community. There's also something to be said for just getting out of the house and picking stuff up.

People socialize at the supermarket? That's news to me.

For a lot of my food options I don't really like doing online delivery since it tends to favor more corporate set-ups that can viably handle all that online distribution. Since I've got the funds for it I like to shop more locally at either the farmer's market or smaller shops if I'm looking for food and it's possible to get there. Also trying to avoid ultra-processed foods too so I'm not really going to be going out and getting cheerios or something.

>>127112
>People underestimate how much little interactions contribute to making you feel like a socially active person or a member of a community.
Completely the opposite for me. Every time I'm on one of those on the spot social situations with strangers I fumble and mumble and embarrass myself, then spend the next hour dreading my social skills...

>>127114
That's not the opposite, that's proving the point. Even those little moments are meaningful interaction for you and make you recognize yourself as a person who exists among other people. You being shit at talking and wanting to regress even further doesn't make the contact pointless. In fact, a lot of that awkwardness comes from being out of practice because you can hide away without needing to use even the most basic people skills for so much of your life. In this, OP's mom is absolutely right.

>>127109
self-checkout kiosks are good enough for me

>>127111
>every couple weeks i have to go and buy some raisins and sesame seeds
How many of these do you eat??? Raisins store well and last for months and shouldn't that be true for sesame seeds too?

>>127112
I don't use any apps despite them being pushed so heavily. Just the websites themselves and it seems to work well enough. I'm definitely not going to use any third party delivery people either, just the official stuff tied to the store. The fewer people involved the better. The phone stuff seems quite scummy and inefficient, plus there's the whole data harvesting stuff and the sheer bloat of having a separate program for each store. I guess we're lucky in that we're not locked out from it as currently I just see "bonuses" to bribe me to sign up for it.

People do socialize at these places. It's not heavy socializing, just casual chat, but it's definitely stimulating the social part of the brain and it's enough to freak me out of course, despite everyone being so nice around here. I remember grocery stores/markets being a cliche answer to "where do I meet the opposite sex?" questions on the internet, but I think times have changed a bit too much for that to still be the case.
Thankfully there's no haggling or other such things because I would just pay the maximum price every time to avoid it.

>>127109
>because people need to go out and socialize
She is right, but this is not the reason.

It wrecks the local shopping infrastructure, which wrecks the local pedestrian infrastructure which then kills the social infrastructure.
But without a social infrastructure, your "community" becomes more vulnerable to disasters. Studies have shown that communities where people know each other (from interacting on the streets or shops or wherever) will have their weakest members protected when bad things happen, while in "communities" where people don't know each other, these weak ones are forgotten.
(though, do you need a disaster to lament loneliness?)

Of course, it would be wrong to blame you personally for these grand societal changes, when that's exactly the sort of things that you have elected a government for to organize.
And the introduction of cars and supermarkets both did more to harm the average city than your online shopping will. Especially the former, which was accompanied by an intentional transformation of city layouts. We still have to live with the consequences, after so many decades.

Ultimately, I think this particular problem will probably solve itself when fuel prices rise, which I expect they will. The majority of these delivery operations are barely profitable, or genuinely in the red.

>>127115
Shut UP OP's mom. Buying groceries is a hassle and there are other ways to socialize. That said, I find those apps unreliable so I have to agree with >>127111

>>127109
>>127110
I find it hard to believe that this way of ordering is more convenient than just going to the shop. There's no way the technology is that bullshit-free. It sure sounds like subscribing to your weekly groceries and getting them on your doorstep would be better, but then if you think it through:
¥ you have to be at home at the time or else your groceries are right there for anyone to steal
¥ using the app is a pain in the ass
¥¥ and of course it's only available as some kuso phone app
¥ if you don't consume as fast as you get them delivered then it's a hassle
¥ what's displayed as available is not going to match what's actually available the way it necessarily does in the physical store

>>127120
I don't order groceries online, but this isn't true at all from my experience. I live close to the store so I just do the few minutes walk at non-peak hours, but I have tried it a fair bit.
If your groceries are at risk of being stolen, you live in a bad neighbourhood. That's the real problem. You don't have to use an app, there's a simple shopping website online. You can schedule the delivery time period and choose between delivery at door (ring doorbell, not allowing it to be set at doorstep if you're not home), or delivery at doorstep (ideal for hikis to take inside a few minutes after delivery man leaves).
The store is very good at displaying what's in stock and ready to deliver today/tomorrow or what will cause there to be a delivery delay.
I never had a bad experience with the service I used anyways, but I do live in a small country. It's not particularly expensive either, but I prefer just going to the store than planning ahead. It's a good service to have though, I used it a lot during 2020.

My parents used to do this, but I don't like it, personally. This kind of service is really only possible because of underpaid and overworked labour. If delivery drivers had better working conditions then no one would pay for it. Even if you ignore the worker's rights angle, the delivery drivers, in my experience, have such tightly wound schedules that if you're near the end of their route the delivery can be extremely late.

>>127119
Other ways like "sit in your room all day typing on your computer"? You're never going to meet a nice girl that way. Now go to the store and find someone to have unprotected sex with so I can get some grandkids.

>>127117
dammit NOT sesame but sunflower seeds
i make a mix of 2/5 peanuts 2/5 raisins 1/5 sunflower and eat that with yogurt as a breakfast and at other times as a snack
so i usually go and buy two kilos of raisins and one of sunf and it lasts me for an amount of time i have not measured
>>127121
that's a exceedingly good service they're offering

>>127109
I…..well good on you for having a good relationship with your parents. I hated having to go with my parents as a teen just so I could get something simple like clothes and having their dysfunctional asses take forever or have a manic episode over nothing. I really dislike it when the autism flares up because retail workers chitchatting with a literal insane person caused me quite a bit of trauma in the past. But anyways my brother ordered frozen fruit for the first time last year and that was the only time he did it. Amazon is real expensive so unfortunately it seems like in person shopping is still something I’ll have to do.

>>128976
on topic sager

>>131553
slowpoke ager

I refuse to use these services or use the self checkout. I'm not bagging my own groceries and I'm not letting some random person pick out my meats, veggies and fruits. I don't use the self checkout because I don't want people to lose their jobs. They've already gotten rid of bag boys and forced the cashiers to do double duty. Now they close check out lanes and have one person watching over 4+ self checkout registers. It's annoying and the things always make you wait for someone to come over and confirm you aren't stealing.

I stopped shopping at one big box store because of these problems. If I go to my local grocery store they always have 5+ lanes open and the selection of meats is much better because it has a real butcher shop inside. They also have a real bakery.

Going to the grocery store is like the only reason why I leave the house anymore. So I guess I do "socialize" with the people there. I also like being able to walk around with a firearm inside of them. I usually run into random people also carrying and we talk shop about guns and I've even gone to the range with a few of them in the past. Never had a bad experience so far. At least the police haven't been called. I did have one lady who was obviously a Cali or NYC transplant freak out about it once and stop recording me and she threatened to call the police. But then a bunch of other people with firearms started to gather around and told her to stop being stupid. She got scared and ran off. With any hope she went back to where she came from. Our are has become flooded with such people since covid. They all moved here because of the cheap land/rent and they've been trying to get a lot of the local laws changed.

Anyway, I try to support local business so I won't use these services. We didn't even have uber and whatever the fast food delivery services were until a year or two ago. We tried one of the fast food ones but it ended up costing $10+ more than usual and the food was cold by the time it got here. I saw a lot of people doing it for side money at first but it finally calmed down. People don't like random people touching their food and we don't have lazy people here to support that kind of business plan.

My ultimate goal is no longer having to use the grocery store at all. At least not weekly. I'm working on getting chickens and eventually other livestock. I already have some cows. I want to add pigs and goats into the mix along with the chickens. I want to eventually start growing enough veggies and fruits that I have enough to can to last through winter. The only things I really need from the grocery store are things like that, bread, rice and junk food. My end goal is to be 100% independent by 2030. I don't think the current way of life is going to last much longer and I fear there will be a war or some kind of civil unrest soon. I've already stocked up on enough hunting ammo, bullets, gun powder and a press so if things get really bad I can feed the family via hunting. Realistically, I only need to kill a few deer a year to sustain us on meat. If I have to start going after smaller game like rabbits I only need 5 or so a week.

The last two years I've basically be re-learning what my Grandparents had to go through during the 1930s. When I was a child I thought they were weird because they'd never throw food out and would keep us stocked up on canned food, bread and other staples. But as I've gotten older I've started to understand why they were like that. I guess if you live through times where people are starving you fear that the banks will fail any day and make sure you've got enough to make it. Their parents lost everything in the bank failures and the only reason they didn't starve to death was because they owned a small farm and had enough ammo stocked up to hunt with. They said the first year wasn't that bad. But by year number 2 all the deer had been shot and people were resorting to eating things like Groundhogs.

Plus the less I spend on food the more money I have for important things. Like figures of my favorite anime girls.

I rambled in my last reply as I usually do. I just wanted to add; The absolute worst thing about covid was all the 24/7 businesses closing and those hours never returning. I used to get all my grocery shopping done between the hours of 1-4am. It was really comfy and usually I was the only person in the store. There was always at least one checkout lane open with an actual person manning it.

Since the panic no place stays open past about 9pm here excluding the one 24/7 gas station. So now I'm forced to shop with all the other people and I hate it. The local grocery store isn't that bad. But if I go into any of the big chain grocery stores it's awful. The worst humanity has to offer on full display. People are rude and always on edge. They don't discipline their children and let them run all over the place. I've even had some steal things right out of my shopping cart just because they were too lazy to walk a few ales over and get it themselves.

Now I only go to the local place where none of the new transplants set foot in. They think it's a "racist store" because of the name or something. I don't know why they refuse to enter it since it's named after the guy's family that owns it. But whatever the reason I'm thankful. These people are insane. They assume all the locals are dumb and they keep trying to "educate" us on social issues. We never had a problem with "racism" until they started moving here in droves. City won't do anything about them because they're made so much money off taxing the new residents since covid. We've had a lot of outsider investors coming in to convert old factories and buildings into apartments for these people. They even let them have a bar right on main street after denying the locals that for years. We'll probably be bred out in a generation or two.

I get free bags at self-checkout

The past few months I've tried ordering protein bars in bulk off Amazon, but I don't think this is the way to be doing things. I think this stuff is cheaper to buy at Costco, but Costco has a limited selection in the store naturally. I think you can order stuff online from them, but I've heard it's not as cheap.

Do people ever make their own protein bars? I wonder how that would work, just buying a bunch of oats and peanut butter and stuff. but I don't think it would last for weeks at a time without vacuum sealing or something...

>>132651
>Do people ever make their own protein bars?
you can make a big sheet of it then cut it up into lines but it's definitely not going to last you weeks and i'm not sure how practical it is for someone who's looking to buy in bulk in the first place