Our Guide to Online Shopping and Grocery Delivery for Seniors
#4 Tip: Help With Online Shopping.
Shopping can become a challenge due to disabilities caused by illness or aging. Setting up and assisting with online shopping may improve your loved one’s nutrition and help life feel a bit more normal.
Since the pandemic lockdown, online shopping has become a regular part of normal life for many people. But that doesn’t mean your loved one has the skills, time or energy to handle shopping on their own. Their day to day efforts to cope and recover may use up everything they can muster. Helping with online shopping can make life a little easier. It can even be FUN!
Grocery Shopping for the Elderly and Disabled
In our area most grocery stores use Instacart or similar online ordering services to manage online orders and do deliveries but local store employees fill the orders. Some stores even allow the shoppers to call you before making substitutions.
To find out how to get food and other basic home supplies delivered to your loved one’s address, call or do an online search for grocery stores near them.
For those with low income, check to see if they have or qualify for SNAP assistance to pay for groceries or meal kits. In many areas SNAP EBT can be used to pay for food ordered online.
Some towns, cities, and community centers even have special programs that can help out with food delivery for elderly or disabled community members. Take a look at your loved one’s town or city website together for information about local programs.
Here are some useful online searches for groceries:
- Grocery delivery near [street address]
- SNAP EBT food delivery near [street address]
- Scheduled grocery delivery in [zip code]
Online Shopping Benefits – Having Fun Together
Beyond the basics like food, toothpaste, and light bulbs, online shopping can be fun! My mother, who is now 5 inches shorter than she was in her teaching days, found all her favorite clothes weren’t pretty anymore because they no longer fit. Although we couldn’t go out to the stores together to try on clothes, we had a lot of fun finding pretty outfits online. When the clothes arrived, we shared a “fashion show” to sort out the winners and losers. We shared happy mother/daughter time together. And Mom found a bonus! Every time she puts on one of the new outfits she’s reminded of the fun we had.