Challenge: You can only bike/walk to get groceries!

Wish I could, but my grocery store is about 25 miles away and I have to take the interstate to get there. Go get it, though!

I do that for the most part but I also order my bathroom supplies, non-perishables, and cat food and litter from Walmart.com and get it delivered. It's much cheaper. I lived in NYC for 9 years and still don't have a car where I live now so I walk to get my milk and eggs. I get scared biking on the road to the grocery store from my condo.

Seajolly wrote: »

Anyone want to join me for this challenge? I can only bike or walk to get groceries! No driving. This forces me to:

- get exercise anytime I want food
- shop more often and therefore exercise more often because I wont be able to carry as much or fit as much on my bike so I'll have to make more trips
- will also keep my choices essentials-only and not silly snacks because I only have so much room to fit things on my bike or carry

Who else is up for the challenge??

I did this for many years when I lived in Winnipeg.

I got rid of the motor vehicle in early 1999 and didn't acquire another one until I moved to another city in 2005.

I cycled to and from work most days of the year (even in winter in Winnipeg) and took the bus or walked on the really bad days. That was a 13.6 km round trip commute.

I walked to get groceries a couple times a week ... 1 km each way. I could only buy as much as I could carry and with 3 cats, they got the priority which didn't leave much for me.

I walked, cycled, or took the bus if it was available, to run all my errands.


Currently, I take the bus into the city to work, and then run errands on my lunch hour on foot. I do shopping, visit the library, go to medical appointments, go to my university for classes, etc. etc. etc. all on foot.

We can, and do, get groceries at our local grocery store (600 metres round trip) on foot after work now and then, but unfortunately the shop doesn't have a whole lot of selection and tends to be a bit pricey so we prefer to use a place a little further away. We did, however, walk to the place a little further away once to see how that would go. That's about 7 km round trip.


My life circumstances change quite frequently, so when I can cycle and walk for errands, I do.

Seajolly wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

What's your plan for laundry detergent?

I'm just going to steal the neighbors. Kidding. For the purposes of this challenge, can I get laundry detergent on my lunch walk at work, and then drive it home with me? I used to commute to work by bike but they moved the office further away and I can't reasonably go 15 hilly miles to work and arrive at 7 am looking and smelling presentable.

Haha yes I'm only sticking to groceries for this challenge. Not gonna do my giant paper towel and toilet paper buyout on my bike or laundry detergent. I'd probably get into an accident trying to bike those home (I buy them in bulk for savings).

For the large items like that, I'd walk to the grocery store (or take the bus if I went to one further away) and then take a taxi home.

I only had to do that every 3 or 4 months.

Part of me is totally into this. It's about an 18 minute walk round trip to my nearest grocery store. There's also a gas station right across the street, so whenever I have a "snack attack" (I don't keep snacks in my apartment on purpose) I make myself walk. So I know it's totally doable, buuuut another part of me isn't totally into this. I despise the grocery store I live by. Granted, it's a Safeway, but its in the middle of a heavily populated college area, is small, smells weird, and it really carries mostly convenience food and liquor. The quality of produce is not all that great, and it doesn't have a full meat department.

I might suck it up and go there when I have to do light shopping. It's an easy way to get my steps/some exercise time in.

Seajolly wrote: »

I guess I should have prefaced that this challenge is mainly for people like me who CAN bike to stores, just have always felt too lazy to.

I've biked to Staples and Home Depot, but not to the grocery.

We do this already but we're less than one mile from a supermarket and two natural/ethnic grocers...so it's almost cheating for the challenge Still, cool idea!

I don't do my grocery shopping by bike, but I do a lot of other stuff. If I take the safe route, downtown is 15 miles from my house, so I like to ride up there to eat sometimes. I rode to FedEx Office one time and ended up taking my bicycle inside because they don't have a place to lock it up outside. I've ridden to work. I ride my bike to church most Sundays. I've ridden it to go vote. I've even ridden it to go buy gas.

NorthCascades wrote: »

It's not cheating to have Amazon or whoever else bring you paper towels, either.

For me, the benefits of doing this are (1) spend more time outdoors which makes me happy, (2) fresher produce more often, (3) an escape from cabin fever, and (4) I burns me some calories.

And you might possibly get in those 60,000 steps...oh wait, that was another post.

OP, if I didn't live out of town I would love to join your challenge. Does parking as far away as possible from the door count?

TimothyFish wrote: »

Christine_72 wrote: »

No way! I did it for 2 days last month while my car was in the mechanic. Doing a round trip of 11kms carrying heavy groceries ( i stupidly stocked up on watermelon and cantaloupes) just about killed me! Then i had to go back the next day to get the stuff I'd forgotten the previous day

They say that cyclists spend less per visit but they visit stores more frequently and end up spending more than the average person. And yet they save about $5,000 a year if they eliminate a car.

Haha yep, i totally believe it. When i do smaller trips through the week to just pick up bits and pieces, my grocery bill is a lot higher at the end of the week than if I'd done just one big shop.