UPDATE 4-12-2020 - Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! As we continue to pray for healing and for the spread of COVID-19 to end, many more people are interested in ordering groceries online. Please know that Woodman's did not sponsor this post. I am not affiliated with the grocery store, and, unfortunately, I cannot help you with technical problems. Also, a couple of you have expressed frustration over not being able to schedule a timeslot. This is because of abnormal shopping trends in the midst of COVID-19. I feel your frustration. (I can't get a timeslot for myself either!) But, again, I cannot help with this issue. I'm praying for all of you, sweet friends, so that you stay healthy and confident in God's goodness.

When I first heard that an online grocery-ordering service was coming to our local Woodman's, I was thrilled. (Like, angels singing deliriously happy.) I have now gone through the process of ordering our family's groceries twice and, this morning, my son and I made a trip to Woodman's to compare the in-store prices with the online prices. Read on to learn everything you need to know about ordering your groceries online!

{What You Should Know Before Ordering Online}

• You need to have a $50.00 minimum order to use this service.
• There is a $4.95 service fee, BUT...
• The service fee is waived with a $100 order!
• Most online prices are a little higher than the in-store prices. (Scroll down for a breakdown.)
• Use code 1STORDER to save $10 off your first order!
• There are a limited number of slots available each day for online pick-up. Order early to get the slot you want. You can always revise your order until the Woodman's employees begin "staging" it.

{How It Works}

{1} Visit the Shop Woodman's website and set-up an account. Setting up an account is quick and painless, and you only need to do it once.

Tip: If you can, be sure to enter a phone number that receives text messages. This is how you and Woodman's communicate when it's time to pick-up your groceries.

{2} In the search bar, type in the product you would like to search for and click the magnifying glass to search. You can also search by Brand, Category, Aisle, Sale Items, etc., but I find it easiest to type in the item I am searching for. When you've found the item, hover over the picture and click on the green ADD TO CART bar that appears.

Tip: Usually the items I want pop right up without a problem, but I did have a couple of instances where I couldn't find what I was looking for. If the item was entered in the system incorrectly (for example, someone typed "almondmilk" instead of "almond milk," it may not come up in your search). You may need to get creative with keywords (like "Silk" and "vanilla") in order for the item to be found.

{3} When you're done adding items, view your cart. Add any notes that would be helpful to your "shopper" as he or she selects your items!

Tip: Really put the "Notes" option to work! The first time I ordered, I wanted some Italian flat-leaf parsley, but when I searched, only "Parsley" came up. I just added it to my cart and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, I was given curly parsley. The next time I ordered, I typed, "Italian flat-leaf parsley please" in the Notes, and I got just what I wanted! Another example... My boys like the "Mario" kind of Spaghettios & Meatballs. I know they have this in the store, but I couldn't find it online. I added the regular kind of Spaghettios & Meatballs to my cart and typed "If possible, please substitute the 'Mario' kind of Spaghettios for these." Sure enough, the Mario Spaghettios came home with us!

{4} When you are finished adding items to your cart, click on the green bar that appears at the bottom of your cart that says CHECK OUT FOR $XX.XX. You will be taken to a page on which you can review your cart.

Tip: By default, the employee staging your order will substitute a similar item if the one you chose is out of stock. If you do not want them to do this, tick the check-box that appears next to that item. I didn't like the idea of someone making those decisions for me, so I ticked every box in my first order. Big mistake. I ended up not receiving 8 items that I needed for the week! Only tick the box if it's something you're very particular about and you don't really need if it's out of stock. (In my second order, for example, I only ticked this box for a case of Zevia Ginger Root Beer.)

{5} Click CONTINUE TO CHECKOUT at the bottom of the page. On this page, SECURE CHECKOUT, you can enter your coupon code 1STORDER, which will give you $10 off your first order. You also choose the Pick-Up option, since we don't have a delivery option at our store.

{6} Choose a day and time to pick-up your groceries!

{7} Click through to choose your method of payment and review your order. (I'm not going to do a screenshot of these steps, because I don't actually want 17 Lean Cuisines, haha!) But it's very simple, and you can figure it out. 😉

{8} Once you place your order, you will be told that you can revise your order until 11:30 PM the night before your order is scheduled for pick-up. I have found this to be untrue. Once I got the boys in bed, I hopped online around 9 o'clock to polish my order, and I found that my order was locked because someone had already begun to stage it! Just be aware that you might not be able to adjust it as late as the website tells you.

{9} Shortly before your scheduled pick-up time, you will receive a text saying that your order is ready for pick-up! Within that text are two links. Click the first link when you are about 5 minutes away from the store. (Remember! Don't text and drive!)

{10} When you arrive at the store, drive PAST the awning (where you go to have someone load the groceries you purchased in-store) to a set of red doors. They are well marked, and you really can't miss them. Click the second link in the text to let the Woodman's employees know that you have arrived. Someone will come out promptly, confirm that the order is yours, and load the groceries into your trunk. You don't even have to get out of your vehicle!

Tip: Your receipt will be send to you via email as a PDF.

{How is the Selection Online?}

I've found that the selection online is very good! So far, there has only been one thing that I can find in-store that I cannot find online. (The giant bag of SkinnyPop Popcorn, in case you're curious.)

{How is the Quality of the Produce?}

Before placing my first order, I was nervous about someone else picking out my produce for me. However, after receiving my two orders, I was very pleased and have no complaints about the produce I received. If you think about it, a trained human is still choosing your produce, so they are not going to give you something that's obviously moldy or gross. In addition, Woodman's wants you to continue using this service. If they give you high-quality produce, chances are you'll keep coming back.

{Are the Orders Accurate?}

Call me cynical (or, better, thorough), but I had my boys help me double-check my two grocery orders, line-by-line. Both orders were completely accurate. Woo-hoo!

The only complaint I have is that I ordered a bag of frozen meatballs in my second order. I received a notification saying that this particular item was out-of-stock but, for some unknown reason, they did not offer a substitution. Woodman's has a variety of frozen meatballs, so I didn't understand why this was omitted from my order. I was not charged for the meatballs, of course, but I was still annoyed that I didn't have them for the meal I was planning on making.

{How Do the Online Prices Compare to the In-Store Prices?}

It never even occurred to me that the online prices might be different from the in-store prices until a friend mentioned it. Wanting to investigate this myself, my oldest son and I made a trek to Woodman's this morning (Saturday, August 26th) to see if it was true that the online prices were higher. We looked at prices of 24 items both in-store and online. I tried to pick a couple of items I might typically buy from a variety of departments as well as a couple of products my friends specifically asked me to check on. Here's the breakdown:

Product	In-Store Price	Online Price	Difference
Strawberries - 1 lb.	$2.50	$2.50	0.00
Earthbound Farm Spring Mix Organic Lettuce - 5 oz.	*2.69	*$3.09	-0.40
Brownberry Dutch Country Bread 100% Whole Wheat Smooth Texture	$1.99	$2.29	-0.30
Brown 'n Serve Turkey Breakfast Sausages	$1.29	$1.49	-0.20
Hormel Natural Choice - Honey Ham	**$3.00	**$3.00	0.00
Black Canyon 93% Ground Beef1 LB	$4.89	$5.59	-0.70
Smart Chicken Boneless Skinless Breast - 1 lb.	6.99	$5.69	1.30
Marzetti Sweet Vidalia Onion Dressing - 16 oz.	$1.49	$1.79	-0.30
Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter With Honey Creamy - 1 lb.	$2.79	$3.19	-0.40
Jif Natural Peanut Butter Spread Low Sodium - 40 oz.	$4.99	$5.69	-0.70
Wheat Thins - Family Size	$3.89	$4.49	-0.60
Barilla Rigatoni No. 83 - 1 lb.	$1.29	$1.49	-0.20
Spaghettios with Meatballs - Mario	$0.99	$1.19	-0.20
Shurfine Cream of Chicken Soup	$0.69	$0.79	-0.10
Yeager Sugar Shack Maple Syrup - 16 oz.	$7.69	$8.79	-1.10
Ghiradelli Brownie Mix - Double Chocolate	$1.99	$2.29	-0.30
Zevia Ginger Root Beer	$6.99	$6.99	0.00
Annies Macaroni & Cheese Whole Wheat Shells & White Cheddar - 6 OZ	$2.49	$2.89	-0.40
Simply Yoplait Go-Gurt Low Fat Yogurt Strawberry, Mixed Berry - 16 CT	$4.25	$4.89	-0.64
Borden Whole Milk	$2.39	$2.79	-0.40
Silk Almond Milk - Vanilla - 64 oz.	$2.99	$3.49	-0.50
Minute Maid 100% Juice Orange Original Calcium & Vitamin D - 59 oz.	$2.89	$3.29	-0.40
Smucker's Reduced Sugar Uncrustables Spread Sandwiches Peanut Butter & Grape - 4 Ct - 2 OZ	$2.19***	$3.09	-0.90
Lean Cuisine Culinary Collection Parmesan Crusted Fish	$2.69	$3.09	-0.40

*2/$5.00 price the same online and in-store.
**2/$6.00 price the same online and in-store.
***Price includes a $0.50 in-store coupon.

As you can see from the table, only one item was cheaper online than in-store: the boneless skinless chicken breast. (I don't typically buy meat at Woodman's, so I'm not even 100% confident I was comparing apples to apples here.) A few items were the same price: strawberries, Earthbound lettuce (if you did the 2/$5.00 special), Hormel honey ham, and Zevia. A vast majority of the online prices were higher than the in-store prices. For this grocery trip, I would have spent $76.04 in-store and $83.88 online. That's a difference of $7.84. So, yes, the prices online are generally higher than the in-store prices. Boo.

{Some Unexpected Advantages}

In addition to the obvious perks of time-saving and convenience, there are a couple other advantages to grocery shopping online.

• When you shop at Woodman's in the physical store, you cannot use a credit card to purchase your items. However, you CAN use a credit card when you shop online! Considering that groceries are a bulk of many families' budgets, you can rack up a lot of reward points this way! {Hello, Disney Visa Card!}
• You are avoiding A LOT of germs by ordering your groceries online. Shopping carts are notoriously filthy. This morning, when my son and I were doing our research, we were trailing a man who was coughing and sneezing openly, without any attempt to cover his mouth. {Needless to say, we turned our cart around and went a different way.} If I avoid a bout of the flu (or two!) by shopping for my groceries online, it's worth it in my book!
• You'll make fewer impulse buys! When I take my four boys grocery shopping, there are usually a lot of requests for items that are not on my shopping list. Even though I say "no" most of the time, I say "yes" enough to know I'd be saving money by not bringing them along. I'm guilty of being tempted by grocery displays as well! {Garlic Parmesan Pretzel Crisps? Every. Time.} These impulse buys will be eliminated when you're not physically in the store.
• The process gets easier the more you use it! "Past Purchases" are saved to your account, so when you log-in to order your next round of groceries, you can quickly click-on your favorite items!

{The Bottom Line}

Ordering online at Shop Woodman's is a fantastic option for some families. I would definitely recommend trying it at least once, especially with the code 1STORDER to save $10 off your grocery haul. The service is amazing for its ability to save you time, as well as for the convenience. Even though customers may be paying slightly higher prices and having to pay a service fee (if their order is below $100), I still feel like A LOT of people will save money by not having the temptation of impulse buys all around them. This won't be our family's exclusive method of shopping, but it will definitely be in the mix. For families who have the time and have a good system in place, I'm not sure they would want this to be their go-to method of grocery shopping, but it is amazing and well worth a try!

*Note: This post contains referral links.