【2023.12 update】Instacart is now offering extra discounts from a number of merchants, which makes it pretty nice for grocery shopping. They also sometimes have extra gift card discounts and credit card promotions, so remember to stack them.

Some of the deals are below:

  • $10 off $35 at Walmart
  • $20 off $50 at Target.
  • $20 off $50 at Best Buy
  • $10 off $35 at Giant Eagle.
  • $10 off $35 at Meijer.
  • $20 off $40 at Lowe's
  • $20 off $35 at BJ’s.
  • $10 off $45 at Office Max/Office Depot.
  • $20 off $50 at Petco.
  • $20 off $50 at Michaels.
  • $20 off $50 at Bath and Body Works.
  • $20 off $50 at The Container Store.
  • $20 off $50 at Restaurant Depot.
  • $25 off $75 at Finish Line.
  • $10 off $35 at Fresh Thyme.

Actually, a lot of credit cards now offer Instacart-related benefits for free. If you have any of the cards mentioned below, don’t forget to claim them:

Become a member

Apply with our referral link:

What is Instacart

Instacart is an online grocery service that runs errands for you and buys groceries at stores on your behalf. It uses a C2B2B model.

For example, if you are too lazy to go out shopping at home but suddenly want an apple, you can place an order on Instacart. Instacart will then notify a personal shopper and delivery driver to buy the items and deliver them within the scheduled time window. The scheduled time can be as soon as within 1 hour, or sometime a few days later.

A while back, because of cold weather, a lot of homework, lots of projects, and being busy preparing for exams—in short, all kinds of excuses... actually, it was just laziness—LD and I didn’t drive to the store for groceries on the weekend. As we were about to run out of food at home, a friend promptly recommended Instacart, the online grocery service that promises delivery “in as little as one hour.” LD and I tried it twice that weekend, and both times the orders were delivered to the door on time, so we were very satisfied, which led to this recommendation post. As COVID kept getting worse throughout 2020, everyone should avoid going out whenever possible. Ordering home delivery with Instacart is convenient and gives the household peace of mind.

How it works

1. Sign up for an Instacart membership. A standard membership does not require any membership fee, but each order has an additional service fee, though it is usually very small and can even be waived, so it doesn’t really affect anything.
Apply with our referral link: Click here to become a member! Get $10 off your first order!

2. On the Instacart website, choose which store you want items from (Whole Foods, Metro, CVS, Costco, etc.)

3. Here we’ll use Whole Foods as an example. Then simply pick the items you want, which is very clear and straightforward.

4. After selecting your items, just check out. Remember that you need to spend at least $35 to get free delivery.

5. Choose the delivery time you want. Time slots are available in 1-hour increments. The default service fee is 10%, and you can choose to waive it, but that’s not really recommended, since the shoppers work hard too, especially in cities where it’s snowing heavily. If the weather is really bad, or if you’re feeling especially generous, you can also add a tip.

6. Then just enter your contact information and payment method.

Credit card related

Actually, a lot of credit cards now offer Instacart-related benefits for free. If you have any of the cards mentioned below, don’t forget to claim them:

If you especially like shopping there, you can also consider the credit card.

Apply now

Full review

Chase Instacart Credit Card

No annual fee

  • Welcome bonus: $250 Instacart Credit
  • Rewards: 5% on Instacart; 5% on Chase Travel bookings; 2% on dining, gas, and select streaming services; 1% on all other purchases
  • Redemption: Cash back
  • Annual fee: $0
  • Apply now>>

My thoughts

This is a very convenient online grocery service, and for someone lazy like me, it’s basically a blessing.

The extra service fee is completely acceptable compared with today’s ever-rising gas prices. On top of that, using our referral link gets you $10 off your first order, which saves quite a bit, so give it a try!

Based on my own spending habits and feedback from readers of Fenglin Zhi Sheng, here are a few updates:

  1. “AMEX Gold counts as 4X at supermarkets”
  2. “The prices are much higher than in the store”; I compared prices at Safeway on the East Coast and West Coast, and overall the prices really are a bit higher than buying directly in the supermarket.
  3. “In my area, you have to buy at least 5 items at once, and the total has to be more than $35 (both conditions must be met, otherwise you can’t place the order). I don’t know if it’s the same elsewhere”; that should be a relatively uncommon case. In my experience, the minimum is usually $10.
  4. “Some shoppers aren’t reliable, and the vegetables and fruit they buy are of very poor quality, but you can file a complaint”; after all, they’re not shopping for themselves, so some shoppers really aren’t very careful when picking fruit and vegetables. Besides making sure to tip well at checkout, if the items you receive are still poor quality, file a complaint with the platform. Of course, most shoppers I’ve encountered are still very reliable.