....and good point about shopping on off-peak hours. I've been doing Home Depot's delivery, which has been excellent. There is a $45 minimum order and an $8.99 delivery fee (per order) for most items. However, if you select an item over 3' in one dimension, the delivery fee goes up to $35. Over 6', $85!
I need some PVC pipe and some ground rods....so I'm going to have my make a trip. I plan on doing it on a weekday, perhaps just an hour before closing.
I haven't read the replies to this thread. I will just say that I like the convenience of HEB curbside but I will not let them pick out beef, especially steaks. However, I will order a Wagyu brisket - pretty consistent quality with those.
I was using Smith's (regional Kroger brand) pickup service at the start of the mayhem. I once got a pack of hoagie buns that were quite smashed and they just didn't try very hard to suggest a substitute when something was sold out. It was common for something to be sold out and I understood that. But if I asked for a 5 lb bag of Kroger sugar that was sold out, they could have at least suggested the 10 lb bag of C&H. Stuff like that just frustrated me. I'm limiting how often I go grocery shopping but have decided I'd just rather do my own.
We tried Instacart and the Vons delivery early on in the lockdown, both were unsatisfactory at best. Granted, it was when nothing was available, but our neighborhood Mexican market and Halal market had pretty much everything except paper products so we just went back to shopping there during off hours. We have gotten delivery meat & poultry from a local ranch, and have been going to local butcher shops for meat rather than buying at the super market. Lately we've been alternating between the big Supermercado and a local chain grocery store for stock up trips, again during off hours.
So we came up with something we're both pretty comfortable with. Can I get meat I want all the time? Pork & chicken, yeah. Beef, not the quality and price I'm used to, but that's fine. I've just been making a lot more Mexican food, asian food, Mediterranean food , etc. Stuff that's not my normal comfort zone. And that's cool, having to adapt to what I can get has made me a better cook.
And I'll probably end up at Vons tomorrow because they actually have Ribeye on sale for a reasonable price, so I'm gonna load up because I need a damn steak.
Vons has a coupon for $4.77 for ribeye. There's no way I'm going to the neighborhood Sprouts, old hippies do not seem to understand social distancing. Seriously, lady, If I can elbow you in the throat you're way too damn close. I might take the long way home from work and stop at Windmill Farms, their meat prices are usually the same as Sprouts.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
We've been paying our housecleaning team (a mother and daughter duo) full salary since early March to NOT clean our home. We felt they needed the money too much for us to put them on financial hiatus until this Covid thing blows over. In exchange, they volunteered to grocery shop for us. It's an expensive grocery service arrangement for us, but it allows them to help us and us to help them. It works out.
Since the seasonal farm-fresh outdoor market opened up again, I started going there in non-peak hours. It's all open air, but everyone is required to wear a mask nonetheless. I wear a re-usable N95 mask and gloves and take my spray bottle of Everclear 151 for when I need to wipe the pen used to sign the charge card and the charge card itself when it's returned to me. When that outdoor market closes in late Fall, we'll be back to buying grocery store produce.
For meat, I'm working my way through our freezers. And ordering from Porter Road and Allen Brothers when tempted by posts on this site.
And I'm still decontaminating all our groceries unless they are shelf stable and can quarantine in the garage for several days. Ugh what a job that is.
Kathryn
Last edited by fzxdoc; September 5, 2020, 06:05 AM.
We’ve done that with our helper, except never thought of asking for the grocery shopping. Not sure #1 would be keen on that. She is just starting to work for us again.
We're still not ready to have our housecleaners come into the house, richinlbrg . They're very social, are out and about a lot, clean many homes and businesses, and are not much into mask-wearing. So I continue to clean our home.
I don't have them do all the grocery shopping, but it's handy to have them do some so I only have to make one grocery trip a month.
fzxdoc , we require masks and gloves. We’ve just been so busy that we had to break down and get help in, although nowhere near the frequency we used to.
I think it's been mentioned above, but a hybrid approach is good, too. Use a service like this for staples, some food that's all the same stuff (chicken etc) and then shop for your important meat and product in person.
I've gone back to going to the store for the most part and like fzxdoc am using farmer's markets for as much produce as I can.
Comment