Summer is almost officially here and that means the long weekend seasons are upon us complete with road trips to the cottage, backyard bbq’s with family and friends and lots of good food and drink! I am convinced that Canadians love for summer long weekends come from being cooped up inside all winter long and once the weather finally starts to warm, it’s cause for celebration!
While we love road trips to see family out of town, this May long weekend, we’ve decided to stay local and head to one of our favourite places in the city – Toronto Island!
Ever since we moved here four years ago, Toronto Island has always been a place that fascinated us. I’m not sure if it’s the ferry ride over, the breathtaking skyline views of the city, the plethora of gardens or the amusement park that we love most, but one thing is for sure, it tops our family’s list of must-do’s every summer! Truth be told, we’ve barely scratched the surface of where we’ve explored on the island because we always seem to find so much to see and explore right around the ferry docks on the island. And it’s in this magical spot that we seemed to create a tradition of our yearly day trip picnic as a family!
While going for our yearly day trip is something I look forward to every late spring, early summer, packing food for a family of five can become a bit of a headache. Everyone always wants a different lunch and I can never pack enough snacks, let alone drinks. And let’s be honest, with so many special requests, I’m bound to forget something!
That’s why I was super excited to try out the Online Grocery service from Loblaws. It’s really simple to use: place your order online, select the store and time frame you want to pick them up at, pull into the designated spots during your time slot and call the number on your invoice to let them know you are there. Within minutes, a worker will come out with all your groceries bagged and load them into your vehicle! They even brought a water bottle and snacks for the kids too!
I knew the moment I heard of this service that it would be a game changer! Not only is it stressful to pack for trips away, it also requires a lot of time and energy, from the planning to the making to the packing up. The concept of being able to order all the items, including deli and ready-made items from the comfort of your home or better yet, on your phone on the way back home from your vacation, just makes sense, especially for busy families like ours.
Because we wanted our food to be as fresh as possible, we decided to select a store closest to the ferry terminal downtown. That is a huge perk of this online grocery service at Loblaws – being able to set whatever store is most convenient. This also worked for our trip home, but more on that in a minute!
As I was getting myself ready in the morning, I asked each kid what they’d like for lunch and added it to my online cart, including some snacks and drinks. Then I selected my time slot for pick-up, paid and was done! This took a fraction of the time it would have to go to the grocery store, buy the items, come home, unpack them and then assemble all the lunches. On top of that, my kids were able to choose a few special treats, like sushi, which I would have never made for them! So not only does it save you time and energy, it pretty much guarantees you supermom status with your children who delight in fancy foods!
We loaded up the car and headed into the city. Once we arrived at Loblaws, we found the designated parking spots and called the phone number that was emailed to us. Within a few minutes, a worker came out with a cart full of our bagged groceries, including complimentary water bottles for the whole family! Our groceries for our day away were literally done in less than five minutes!
We then loaded up the picnic baskets, lathered on the sunscreen and hopped on the ferry for our family day away! If you have never visited Toronto Island, I highly recommend it! It is truly one of the most beautiful spots I’ve been to in Toronto!
We set out our picnic blanket, unpacked all the groceries and feasted on all of our favorites! We then played some Frisbee, flew a kite, found the perfect walking sticks (any other kids do that?!), played on the swings and just had an all out amazing day together!
The final thing that I did before we left the island is that I was able to order my groceries for the upcoming week ahead at Loblaws too! While the kids ran around with Chris, I was selecting which sandwich meat and yogurt drinks the kids would take in their lunchboxes! This time though, I selected the Loblaws right by our home, knowing this would be super convenient to pick up just before arriving back. Talk about convenience, especially after a long weekend and day away! Have you ever been to a grocery store on or the day after a long weekend? Ya…it’s not a place anyone would choose to go unless absolutely necessary. And that’s what I love about the online grocery with Loblaws – they take that painful experience away and make it pain- free! Coming home WITH a car full of groceries and knowing I don’t have to go out again in the crowds was such a stress reliever! Means more time resting and enjoying the evening home with the family!
Have you ever tried the online grocery at Loblaws before? If not, now is the perfect time! I have a special promo code for you to get $10 off your first $50 purchase at loblaws.ca/zehrs.ca/yourindependentgrocer.ca/realatlanticsuperstore.ca. Use “Christine10” to save time, money and your sanity!
So here’s to more time with family and friends this May long weekend and less time inside grocery stores trying to find the ketchup for your backyard bbq!
Happy Long Weekend, friends!
Love & Blessings,
Note: This post was sponsored by Loblaws. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
