What produce/ingredients did you buy or obtain today? (2018-2022)

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TastyReuben said:
Odd that you couldn't find manicotti - it's pretty common in the US. Then again, since the pandemic, I find all sorts of things that shouldn't be gone are indeed out-of-stock.

I hate filling them, BTW!
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For large cases of them, they are there online. For just single 8 Oz. boxes, they are out of stock. But I found them at a Food Maxx online and they will be delivered via Instacart.
 
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mjd said:
They are selling watermelons in my local WalMart. They want $9 for a medium sized one. So, I'm not surprised that your grapes were so high. Fresh fruit, especially out of season, is outrageous.
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The same grapes at Kroger would have been about $6 - but they would have been sour. These are sweeeeeeet!
 
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Morning Glory said:
Had to look up Manicotti - I learned it is an American Italian pasta shape so I guess not available here.
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Here's a photo of the Manicotti that I finally found and bought today, online with quick free delivery.

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MypinchofItaly said:
It’s incredible how they don’t exist over here. I think they are a sort of cannelloni?
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Exactly. Manicotti is an Italian-American spin off from cannelloni, but larger, thicker and with ridges. Cannelloni could well be substituted for manicotti in a recipe that calls for manicotti.
 
I would just like to make a comment for US members who might be able to take advantage of Instacart.

I used Instacart yesterday, for the first time, and the experience was free and well managed. They provided continuous updates with phone messages - when their shopper was picking things out, when the shopper checked out of the store, when the shopper started his deliveries and when the shopper was about to reach my address, followed by a message stating that the delivery had been made. And the whole thing was trackable on my lap top as well.

I don't know whether other members outside the US have such a service available to them. But for US members, I highly recommend it, for those times when you stuck at home and don't want to give up your parking spot on the street, but need something from the store.

BTW: Free delivery is based upon a purchase of $35 USD or more.
 
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flyinglentris said:
I don't know whether other members outside the US have such a service available to them.
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Its brilliant here - we have on-line national supermarkets both low end and high end, which deliver pretty well nationally. I first used Tesco on-line back in the mid 90's. All my shopping arrives that way. Most of the systems use warehouses where the food is picked. For one or two supermarkets the produce is picked 'in house'.
 
Morning Glory said:
Its brilliant here - we have on-line national supermarkets both low end and high end, which deliver pretty well nationally. I first used Tesco on-line back in the mid 90's. All my shopping arrives that way. Most of the systems use warehouses where the food is picked. For one or two supermarkets the produce is picked 'in house'.
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Instacart works out deals with big supermarkets to provide online delivery services. There was a while back another such company that did deliveries for restaurants, even fast food chain restaurants.

Yesterday, was the first time I ever used such a delivery service and I was satisfied. I hope it doesn't deteriorate over time.
 
flyinglentris said:
I would just like to make a comment for US members who might be able to take advantage of Instacart.

I used Instacart yesterday, for the first time, and the experience was free and well managed. They provided continuous updates with phone messages - when their shopper was picking things out, when the shopper checked out of the store, when the shopper started his deliveries and when the shopper was about to reach my address, followed by a message stating that the delivery had been made. And the whole thing was trackable on my lap top as well.

I don't know whether other members outside the US have such a service available to them. But for US members, I highly recommend it, for those times when you stuck at home and don't want to give up your parking spot on the street, but need something from the store.

BTW: Free delivery is based upon a purchase of $35 USD or more.
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It all comes down to the personal shopper. I used it twice. The first time was ok. Not great, just ok.

The second time was horrendous. I probably detailed it on here, but that cured me of Instacart, that's for sure.
 
TastyReuben said:
It all comes down to the personal shopper. I used it twice. The first time was ok. Not great, just ok.

The second time was horrendous. I probably detailed it on here, but that cured me of Instacart, that's for sure.
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Yeah, I was thinking that I may have got lucky with the shopper and he knew what he was doing. And I have also thought that I would only order dry goods with Instacart, no perishables, like produce or meats, unless the meats were things like common packaged things.
 
TR's experience, as well as others are why I would never use them unless as an absolute last resort. And it's not really free. You have to tip your shopper. Plus, at least here, items are priced higher thru the delivery apps than they are at the actual store, at least on the items/apps I have looked at. Besides, I'm extremely picky about produce especially, so... and I don't want them to be able to substitute if the store doesn't have something, especially given the substitutions some people have written they have gotten. I prefer to make that decision or go a new route thank you very much.
 
medtran49 said:
TR's experience, as well as others are why I would never use them unless as an absolute last resort. And it's not really free. You have to tip your shopper. Plus, at least here, items are priced higher thru the delivery apps than they are at the actual store, at least on the items/apps I have looked at. Besides, I'm extremely picky about produce especially, so... and I don't want them to be able to substitute if the store doesn't have something, especially given the substitutions some people have written they have gotten. I prefer to make that decision or go a new route thank you very much.
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My nephew was an Instacart shopper for a while (before the pandemic), and he was filling me in on some of their encouraged shopping practices, like not weighing things (takes too much time), not really checking produce (takes too much time), and above all, not giving the buyer the store receipt, so they can't track back what they paid for something versus what the store actually charged.

I know the last time I used them, my $45 in groceries came out more like $65, and that was with the free delivery, and I barely tipped them (maybe 5% - I just can't bring myself to stiff someone completely), and it was still way up there.
 
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