I first wrote about Instacart when I used them back last year, in October. I thought this year, I would reiterate the all the reasons I love Instacart for those out there who haven’t heard or it or tried it yet, rather than going through the same review of what it was like to exactly use the website and get the delivery – you can always get those details there. After a year of being an Instacart user though, I can summarize pretty concisely now all the ways I love Instacart. I’ve had this conversation verbally more than once.

If you do get convinced to join thanks to me, would you consider using my referral link? As long as you spend $10, your first delivery will be free and you get a $10 credit on top of the free delivery. This is not a sponsored post – they didn’t ask me to endorse them, I just really think they are a great service. But I would appreciate the $5 I would get if you do use my referral.

1. As before, you can get deliveries that you create on your computer or tablet or phone – they have an app, but you aren’t required to use an app in order to put together your order (side-eye to Amazon’s Prime Now, which is why I haven’t used them yet…)
   
2. You can shop from multiple stores using one service. The retailers may vary based on your zip code because it is customized to what stores are local in your area. For me, this includes a nice variety of stores with groceries from Whole Foods, Costco, Safeway, Green Zebra, and Petco Now. I know in Chicago by my parent’s home, the list is Whole Foods, Costco, Petco Now, and then the Safeway here is swapped for the local Jewel-Osco grocery store there, and the local health food artisan grocery store of Green Zebra is swapped out for Standard Market (which is my favorite grocery store in the area!) and Lemon Tree Grocer.
   
   Now, there is a minimum order per retailer so you have to make it worth their while understandably by getting at least $10 from each store. I don’t know about you, but it’s not very hard for me to hit the $10 mark per store.
   
   If you want, you can even price shop among different stores all while sitting down – you can search for turkey or steaks at each individual store on their list if you want to see where you want to buy your turkey or steak from. In terms of prices, it’s a mix of it being the same, sometimes slightly higher (sale prices at the store for instance are not reflected in the website prices), or sometimes slightly lower. I think it evens out for me overall in the end – I feel this because I bought some items in person at Whole Foods for instance, and then needed more of the ingredients and when I bought essentially the same items, the 30 cents here or there more and less evened out to about the same.
   I love that it gives me the convenience of instead of having to run an errand where I have to go to the different stores for the best ingredients and prices, they’ll do it for me. I can get my specific brands of cat food and litter from Petco, stock up on toilet paper and towels at Costco, and normal groceries at Safeway and better quality meats and seafoods from Whole Foods without leaving my home (which is how I typically break out what each store excels at locally for me). I still wish they would add Fred Meyer to the list as I like some of their specific deli items like their Jarlsberg cheese dip, or Flame Crafted Ham. I’m also admittedly disappointed that unlike last year, they have since dropped Uwajimaya as a partner which is where I would order specific Asian ingredients.
3. Yes, Costco is one of the stores. This is one of my most favorite things about Instacart because you don’t have to pay for a membership to get access to Costco. As I just have a family of 2 we don’t often need the huge quantities that are the bulk items at Costco with a few exceptions – the giant boxes and bags of spinach and broccoli and cherry tomatoes. If we are throwing a party or making food for a potluck, sometimes I need 2 pounds of cheese or more than a dozen eggs. But I can’t justify an annual membership based on these trips here or there
   
   It also means I don’t have to get trapped in the zoo that is the Costco physical location (parking lot AND the store) or get tempted by the various new things that I end up picking up and that ends up making me spend twice as much. I also love the Kirkland brand of olive oil, pesto, etc. Thankfully Instacart still lets me have those nice things without having a membership card.
4. Don’t worry if you can’t find something listed on the site – if you know an item you want, you can request it. I know Costco has roses – and I can ask the shopper to still get that for me even though it doesn’t list it. Incidentally, for every item you put in your cart, you can also add a personal note – for instance, you might ask for 5 leeks but need a certain amount for your recipe so depending on the size of the leeks, you may need more or less. I was upfront and told them how many cups of chopped leeks I was looking to use!
   
5. When you are checking out, you also get the option on whether you want any substitutions if they can’t find something. For instance, if they don’t have the low sodium broth, will I accept regular? If they can’t get watercress, I know I can also use arugula for my recipe – and I’ll make those notes for the shopper. You can browse and pick your substitutions, or choose that if they can’t find it, not to get anything at all.
   
6. The shoppers they have are awesome and you can interact with them while they are at the store. This is really a huge way Instacart differentiates itself from other grocery delivery services where once you send your order, you are left just waiting. With Instacart, you can still message them to make changes or clarifications while they are putting your order together. When you get assigned a personal shopper, your account and order will automatically get updated with their name. From that order, you can write messages to them – perhaps you forgot to add eggs. You can write a message and add it if you see they are still shopping (you get updates on your order status of whether they are in the store or on their way to you – I get it sent on my phone but you can see it on the website also).
   
   For instance above in point #5, when they didn’t have the three cheese ravioli I wanted, the shopper called me and read me ALL the flavors of ravioli they had so I could pick another one – and the smoked mozzarella one was even better than the three cheese I requested!
   The Instacart shoppers are friendly, knowledgeable, and all about service.
   I do want to note though that the Instacart Shoppers deserve a tip. Imagine especially if they are carrying a lot of heavy things for you, or busting around the store for you in order to get a lot of items within a small amount of timeframe. If they need to talk to you about substitutions or clarification, that also eats into their delivery window time. So, make sure you show your appreciation by including that in your order. Also, note that the driver who actually delivers it may be different than the shopper, which is why you need to add the tip ahead of time. And, make sure you rate your experience accordingly at the end (Instacart always asks for your feedback on your completed order).
7. And finally, the no brainer on why I love Instacart as well – you can choose to get delivery within 2 hours of submitting your order, or other 1 hour time slots either today or within the next week. They deliver within the hours of 10 AM to 9 PM everyday (including Sunday). The pricing of delivery can very based on how much your order is and the 1 hour versus 2 hour slot – it’s $3.99 for all the slots if you spend $35 or more on groceries, or $7.99 if you spend less then $35.
   
   So there is a slight premium of a convenience fee to get your order delivered, but especially for me, I live in a house with a lot of stairs, and will gladly pay someone to haul multiple 12 packs of La Croix for me. And don’t forget you are saving money by not paying a Costco membership fee.
   Other times, I’m in the middle of cooking and realized I forgot an ingredient – instead of stopping what I’m doing to run to the store, I can continue with my other dishes and get what I’m missing delivered to me. F has used them when he wasn’t feeling well and wanted medicine delivered without having to go out himself. If you have kids, I’m sure not having to pack everyone up to go out might also be worth what is ultimately a convenience fee.
   You don’t have to be there to receive the delivery. You can make a note if it’s ok for them to leave it at your front door – so when I’m putting in an order on the Max train on my way home and may not get there until 6:15 for a 6 PM delivery, I don’t need to sweat it.

So those are my top 7 reasons summarizing all the ways I love Instacart. Have you tried them before? What did you think?

And again, if you do get convinced to join thanks to me, would you consider using my referral link? As long as you spend $10, your first delivery will be free and you get a $10 credit on top of the free delivery. It gives me a $5 credit for referring you. Otherwise, I’m just sharing this post because I really do love Instacart!