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What’s in Your Instacart?

First came Amazon Fresh. Now comes Instacart. People are looking for convenience left and right, and Instacart brings another means of simplifying our food shopping. You may never step into a grocery store again!

According to its website, Instacart’s grocery service can deliver in as little as an hour by connecting you with “personal shoppers” in your area who pick up and deliver your groceries from your local store. Stores include Whole Foods, Costco, and others – the company is not affiliated with any one particular store. Instacart appears similar in model to other delivery services popping up every time I blink, such as BiteSquad for restaurant delivery. Instacart currently operates in approximately 15 cities, including Seattle and Portland.

You’re likely wondering, “What will this cost me?” Many of the partner stores offer same pricing as in-store, i.e. Whole Foods and PCC (in the Seattle market). Costco, Safeway and QFC shopping pages note that prices may be higher than in-store prices. Delivery pricing options include Instacart Express for $99/year, where all two-hour and scheduled deliveries over $35 are delivered free.

More info on pricing options can be found here; delivery typically ranges from $3.99 – $9.99 on your $10 minimum order.

Service is available approximately 9 a.m. through midnight according to Instacart’s website; upon browsing various stores on this Saturday evening, however, many in the Seattle area are only delivering through 6:00 p.m.; delivery is dependent upon store hours.

A friend of mine raved about her first-time Instacart service, but then noted that her order was incomplete. Five items were not included; the store informed her that they were out of those items. Hmm. She was ordering from a grocery store, right? Isn’t that a lot of items to be out of at one time?

Personally, as an RDN, I enjoy food shopping, inspecting the produce in my hand before I buy it, checking out new products that populate the shelves, and scouring food labels. I’m not eager to jump in and sign up yet, but then, I could see myself using it for the pesky ingredient that I managed to forget at the store on my last trip. And wait, I’m out of yogurt. And cinnamon. And hummus. And…

Krista Ulatowski, MPH, RDN:
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