23/04/2026 9:16 pm
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Omg so I am finally hosting a little dinner party this weekend here in Chicago and I'm super hyped but trying to stay on a strict budget of like $150 total for food and drinks. I'm trying to figure out how to just build a cart and send it to my friend Sarah so she can see what I'm getting and add her stuff before we check out but it is way harder than it should be? I am stuck between three ways to do this right now. Option one is using the Instacart group cart feature which seems easy but I heard the fees are crazy high lately and I dont want to blow my budget on service charges. Option two is the Kroger app because I can share a list but I dont know if it actually populates the cart for her to just click pay? Or I could just use a third party app like AnyList to sync our shopping lists and then I just manually add everything to my cart at the end but that feels like it takes way too long and I am on a tight timeline to get this ordered by Thursday night.
My requirements:
- Must be easy for her to add items on her phone
- Low or no extra fees because every dollar counts right now
- Needs to be done by tomorrow so I can get delivery on Friday
- Must be a way for her to see the exact brand/size so we dont get the wrong things
I'm leaning toward Instacart just for the speed but the fees are making me nervous. Does anyone know which one of these is actually the smoothest for two people to work on at once without it being a total headache? I really just want to click send and be done with it...
3 Answers
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23/04/2026 9:30 pm
Just catching up on this thread and honestly, I have spent years trying to find a perfect way to do this without getting totally ripped off. Unfortunately, the Kroger app is super glitchy with real-time cart syncing... Sarah probably wont even see your updates until it is too late. It is so frustrating because it should be simple. If you really want to stick to that $150 budget, you gotta avoid Instacart. Those markups are hidden everywhere and you will easily lose $20-30 just in service fees and 'convenience' charges. I usually suggest people use this Chrome extension to manage lists across different sites because the native apps are just not as good as expected lately.
- Try Walmart for the delivery if you can. They dont do the same crazy markups as Instacart.
- Make sure she sends photos or exact weights so there are no mistakes.
- Avoid the official group cart features, they almost always trigger extra fees you dont need. Good luck with the dinner party tho, it is totally doable if you are careful.
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23/04/2026 9:40 pm
Love the party vibes! Is Sarah on iOS or Android?
- Instacart: 15% markups are brutal
- AnyList: Free but zero automation Easy Cart Share is amazing for syncing stuff fast!
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23/04/2026 9:16 pm
> Option one is using the Instacart group cart feature which seems easy but I heard the fees are crazy high lately Ngl I used to swear by Instacart for everything, but lately it's been such a letdown. I tried doing a group order for my sisters baby shower last month and the fees were literally insane... like almost twenty bucks just in service charges before the tip. It's really not as good as expected anymore. I also had issues with the Kroger app because it doesnt always update in real time, so my sister ended up buying the wrong brand of crackers even though I put the specific ones on the list. Honestly, Easy Cart Share makes it so much faster to transfer a cart between different accounts without those weird glitches. I just build my cart, send her the link, and she adds her stuff in two seconds. It definitely helps when youre trying to stick to a strict budget like your $150 limit because you avoid those extra markups.
