How I Organize a Stress Free Christmas Party (Cheaply!) with Grocery Delivery

Thanks to Peapod by Giant for sponsoring this post!

I’m a party planner. I mean, I love planning parties. I’ve thrown together lasagna dinners for 50 before, but I’m also frugal (borderline cheap) and a time management guru. Hence, I blog at The Busy Budgeter!

Over the years, I’ve perfected the cheap and easy party. I can plan it all in just an hour or two and have everything running smoothly that morning without stress thanks to a little trick called grocery delivery.

I know what you’re thinking, “No way! That has to be so expensive!” It’s not, it actually saves me money! Plus, I’m even giving away a $100 gift card this week for Peapod by Giant (my favorite Grocery Delivery Service!) so you can throw your own easy stress free party!

The worst part of any party is having to grocery shop and lug all of that soda and food home. Usually with a screaming infant and a three year old grabbing everything in sight and shoving it into the cart.  For $7.95, Peapod by Giant delivers your groceries to your house! Let me clarify… for $7.95, Peapod by Giant will go do all of your grocery shopping for you and hand deliver it to your house at a time you specify. That’s cheaper than an hour of babysitting! 

Still not sure this is a great idea? For a little more than a fancy over-caffeinated latte at your favorite coffee shop, Peapod by Giant saves me about 3 hours and a whole lot of stress during the holidays. This allows me to focus on something else that needs my attention. It’s a crazy good deal and I happily take them up on that for every party I throw!

By using Peapod express shop, I just write out my list and they take me through it item by item to choose what I need to buy. I can even sort by unit price so I can see the cheapest item available easily.

They even accept coupons (I leave them in an envelope and hand them over to the driver) and loyalty card specials just like in the regular store.

It gets better though, I find that I routinely save money when I order through Peapod than if I actually drive to the store. Weird, right?

This saves me money versus going into the store because it completely eliminates the possibility of impulse purchases. Unless I have “gigantic bag  of fudge covered pretzels covered in bits of bacon” on my list, I won’t even know that those exist and therefore won’t be tempted to buy them. I stick to my list. Their delivery fees are so reasonable that this makes this a no-brainer, especially during hectic times in your life, like party planning.

The prices are comparable to the local Giant. I made a list when I first started and checked the store prices at my local Giant and then Peapod’s prices and my total was pretty close. 

After you make your list (which is super user friendly) you choose your delivery times. You get a discount of a few dollars if you can choose a larger time window for delivery (like 9am-1pm) or unattended delivery (they leave your cold foods in coolers with ice packs). You can also choose a window of just two hours to make sure your food is arriving at the time that you need it to.

Here’s the kicker… In the 5 years that I’ve been using Peapod for this they have never once been late. EVER. I trust them so much now, that I have them deliver food right before I need to start cooking  (As in, the turkey needs to go in the oven at 10am, so I have them deliver between 8am-10am.)  They send me text alerts when they get close so I know when to expect them.

You also have the option of substituting. So if you ordered a specific name brand of sour cream, but they ended up being out of that, they’ll automatically substitute a similar sour cream for you at no extra cost. (This has only happened to me once, but I got a much more expensive package of cookies for the same price as my generic brand cookies).

Another way that I’ve used Peapod is when I’m co-hosting a party at a friends house (think baby showers, Thanksgiving dinner at your sisters house etc). It’s such an easy way to pay for the groceries and have them delivered to another house.

I have to tell you, that in the five years I’ve used Peapod, I’ve been so impressed with their prices, service, and timeliness. I’m always shocked that they can have the service run so well for the price that we pay for it, but I’ll take it!

Peapod isn’t just for parties though! If you work a tough schedule and struggle to find time to grocery shop, this is perfect for you as a long term grocery solution! We use it for the tough time period right after our babies are born, as we’re all adjusting to having no sleep and a lot of extra work. It’s also fantastic when you’re sick or injured and just need to rest for a bit.

Another way that I use Peapod is for batch cooking sessions. Unless you’re new here, you know how much I love freezer cooking. I love to make a whole months worth of breakfast, lunch or dinner in one day. Shopping for a batch cooking day can take up to 3 or 4 hours and is nothing short of a nightmare (totally worth not having to cook for a month, but still).

Now, I use Once a Month Meals and they create the list for me, I copy and paste it into the Peapod Express shop and I’m good to go! Batch cooking day is cut almost in half and I’m a much happier mom that day.

Thanks to the generosity of Peapod by Giant, we have a special just for you! Until 12/31/15, New customers to Peapod can join using this link to get $20 off of your first order!

Win a $100 Peapod by Giant Gift Card!

Enter for your chance to win a $100 gift card to Peapod by Giant. That should let you take a week off from grocery shopping (talk about a great break for busy moms!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Need  a little help tackling this? I work best when someone gives me step by step directions, so that’s what I do for you every week.

Action items:

1. Make your shopping list
2. Use this link to sign up for Peapod to get $20 off your first order for new customers (until 12/31/15).
3. Link your Giant store card (or sign up for a Giant store card) to maximize savings.
4. Copy your shopping list into the express tab.
5. Choose the items you want to buy and add them to your cart.
6. Click check out.
7. Choose a delivery window.
8. Pay.
9. Go take a warm bubble bath in the time that you would have been schlepping around the store with screaming kids. (That’s my favorite part!)

When would grocery delivery help you out?

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