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A Stay at Home Wellness Guide: Shopping from Home

  blog post author icon   blog post published date icon   12/07/20

Blog Post Series  Cooking  Nutrition  Technology  

Working at home begins with wellness at home. If you once had an office job, you probably thought that getting home and being at home were at-home wellness activities in and of themselves.

  • Blog Post
     This is the sixth post of a multi-part blog series for people spending more time at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or for any other reason, called A Stay at Home Wellness Guide. The series provide tips and common sense for how to live a happier and healthier life addressing how we eat, exercise, work, shop, enjoy entertainment, and further our education just to name a few important things. While the inspiration came from the COVID-19 pandemic, the ideas presented are applicable for healthy living regardless of current circumstances.

    You might not have realized at the time that being at home all the time has its downsides. Not having an intentional transition from work to home and vice versa can take a toll on your well-being and overall health.

    One part of a healthy work-at-home life is eating right. That, in turn, means shopping for the right foods. We'll explain how some shop-from-home options might be even better for you than those you find at your local supermarket.

    Focus on Whole, Fresh Fruits, and Vegetables

    There are many versions of the food pyramid. Most feature fruits and, even more, vegetables prominently, at or near the base, along with starches. While starch provides energy, most of us tend to eat far too much of it.

    While fruits and vegetables contain sugars, they also have fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients. These, along with starches, should comprise at least two-thirds of our daily diet. The remainder should be fats and protein.

    Produce used to be hard to come by in the winter unless it had been preserved or frozen. Thanks to supply chain innovations, this is no longer the case. In fact, fruits and vegetables are abundant year-round. This is great for a healthy lifestyle!

    Of course, fruits and vegetables generally are plentiful in supermarkets' produce sections. But if you're shopping from home for health reasons, there are other ways to rebuild your supply of these perishables.

    Produce Supply Alternatives

    Unless you've grown produce in your yard, there are no 100% contact-free ways to shop from home. Still, there are some that beat supermarkets for being germ-free.

    Outdoor Markets

    These markets might be chilly in some places, but they're often safer than supermarkets. They also have fresher and more local produce. But it would help for you to remain aware that COVID-19 precautions are essential at these venues.

    Mail-Order Fruit and Vegetable Boxes

    Even less contact is involved when subscribing to boxes of produce from companies like Misfits Market, Perfectly Imperfect Produce, and Imperfect Foods. While your choices may be more limited than at the supermarket, they are a bargain.

    Plus, you can either disinfect the shipping boxes and wash their contents in warm water or remove the more delicate items and leave the rest in the garage for a few days. When you unpack your box, you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

    Grocery Shop-From-Home Services

    Inevitably, you will need regular supermarket items at some point. But you probably won't need to go inside the store.

    Most supermarket chains offer both home delivery and curbside pickup. Walmart shop-from-home is an example.

    If there are specific produce items you're craving, why not add these to the list for your assigned shopper? That way, you won't have to gamble on finding these items in your produce delivery.

    Shopping for Other Food Items

    Of course, fruits and vegetables aren't the only parts of a healthy diet. Here are some ways to take care of your other dining and snacking needs.

    Local Markets

    Besides supermarkets, consider other local food selling establishments. These include bakeries, meat markets, natural food stores, and international markets. Much of the time, these places are also less crowded and infection-prone than supermarkets.

    You might discover some new flavors and treats that you and your family will love. We might have some recipes for you to try with your new finds.

    Mail-Order

    There are at least two main types of mail-order foods: groceries from online sellers like Amazon and Target and meal-prep kits like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron.

    You can order shelf-stable groceries from Amazon, Target, or Walmart. And if you have a local outlet of either of the latter, they will deliver to your home, just as local supermarkets do. Delivery charges are either free or low-priced for all these options.

    Meal-prep kits are neither groceries per se, nor restaurant or take-out food. Instead, you use the raw ingredients-which come neatly wrapped in larger boxes with ice packs-to prepare your own healthy meals.

    Shopping for Non-Food Items

    Practicing wellness at home isn't only about food. You need other products to feel your best. These include things such as:

    • Housecleaning supplies
    • Essential clothing
    • Cooking utensils and gadgets
    • Toys and games
    • Books and magazines
    • Pet food and supplies
    • Cosmetics and toiletries
    • And a lot more

    Any of these products are readily available. You can buy them either in-store or through online ordering with home delivery. Large discount stores like Target, Walmart, and Home Depot are good choices for everyday items.

    But don't forget that small businesses are ready and waiting to pack and ship their unique products too.

    Also, if you're working or studying at home, you can order office products, even furniture online from office supply stores. Maybe even throw in an ergonomic keyboard for wrist health or desk lamps to ease tired eyes.

    At-Home Wellness

    At-home wellness is an amalgam of conscientious shopping, a healthy diet, and a clean home. It's also various forms of entertainment and other de-stressing activities.

    At least some of us used to think of shopping as a de-stressing pursuit. Now it's something that makes us edgy and fearful, though. It causes us to want to retreat to the safety of our homes, or so we think.

    What makes the COVID-19 situation so hard to deal with is the fear and isolation of the "new normal" that is so hard to articulate, much less adapt to. Home no longer feels like the same place. But it's a lot better than the rest of today's strange world.

    Will Our Homes Encompass Ever More of Our Lives?

    Only time will tell if our sense of at-home wellness continues beyond the vaccine. Presumably, many of us will return to traditional (but updated and adapted) workplaces. We will need to acquaint ourselves with the new routines.

    Maybe some of us will miss our work and shop-from-home days to the extent that we seek different jobs: ones that are more accommodating of both work and a healthy lifestyle at home.

    Enjoy our product catalog. See what we offer that might help you feel more relaxed as we try to make sense of this very different world.

  • Related Content


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Author

Jay Todtenbier is an original founder of SupplementRelief.com in 2010 and has operated the business ever since. He is also a tennis instructor and gospel musician. Formerly he spent 25 years in business development, technology and marketing with startups and major corporations having gone through the tech boom in Silicon Valley in the 90s. He became passionate about, and began studying and practicing Wellness as a Lifestyle after experiencing chronic, personal health challenges including depression, auto-immune disorders, and being overweight that impacted his ability to live a healthy, vibrant life. Since then, he has been an advocate for healthier living encouraging others to live better through making small, gradual changes to lifestyle behaviors relating to whole-foods nutrition, stress management, reasonable exercise, proper sleep, and the use of targeted, high-quality supplements.

Learn more about Jay Todtenbier.

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FirstFitness Nutrition
Reseller Order Policy Change
Effective December 1, 2023

SupplementRelief.com has been an Authorized Reseller (Team Member) of FirstFitness Nutrition (FFN) since April of 2020, selling FFN products directly from our website to our customers, handling the payment processing, order fulfillment, and customer service.

Effective December 1, 2023 FirstFitness Nutrition REQUIRES ALL Authorized Resellers, who have formerly sold FFN products DIRECTLY from their OWN website, to refer the PRODUCT PURCHASE to the Reseller's FFN Team Member website.

You may continue placing orders on SupplementRelief.com through December 31, 2023 for the remaining products we have in stock.

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Please BOOKMARK this new website supplementrelief.firstfitness.com for future shopping. You may begin using the Team Member website immediately.

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This is a monthly autoship program (called a Smart Ship) where you choose the product(s) you want shipped to you each month. You can easily create and then log into your Customer VIP Rewards account anytime and change the products on your monthly auto-ship or pause/cancel it.

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Learn more about the VIP Customer Rewards Program.


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SupplementRelief.com wants the transition to the FFN Team Member website for future orders to be a smooth process.

Faith Hoffman, our Customer Support Specialist, is happy to assist you. We appreciate your business and are prepared to answer questions and provide additional details on any or all of the above information, policies, products, costs, discount opportunities and programs, etc.

Please get in touch with Faith at your convenience:

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Faith Hoffman has spent 23 years in business practices, research, and customer relations for brand products and national companies. Lengthy hospital stays for auto-immune disorders, including the onset of heart and liver disease, led her to research the benefits of quality all-natural supplements and the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.

She became a customer of SupplementRelief.com three years ago. Positive results from healthy lifestyle changes and using quality, targeted supplements compelled her to share and recommend SupplementRelief.com products to family, friends, and clients. Studying through her journey and having a passion for helping others, she joined SupplementRelief.com as a customer support specialist in 2023.

When Faith is not assisting SupplementRelief.com customers, she enjoys singing gospel music, volunteering, and spending time with her family and pets.

Faith can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone or text at (225) 316-5716.

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Since COVID-19, and the ensuing economic challenges in the USA economy, we respectfully ask that you allow some additional time for delivery for the carriers (USPS, UPS, and FedEx). Most orders still arrive on time, or near on time, but some may run late. We make every effort to get your order packed and into the carriers hands the same day, or by the next business morning if your order came in later in the previous day after carrier pickup, but we have no control over any delays that may happen within the shipping carrier's delivery system. Please order earlier for the time being if you are time-sensitive.

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FedEx is the most reliable and faster carrier, at least for now, but they are expensive. Our FedEx international shipping fee is a minimum of $79.95. It usually makes more sense to get several months of supply (3 months or more) in one order to minimize the shipping expense per order over time. While the added weight of additional items may increase the base shipping price by a little (usually 10-25% depending upon total weight and destination), it is usually not by very much relative to shipping an additional small order later.

We also offer a lower-cost international shipping option using GlobalPost International for $39.95. So far, they have been reliable in getting packages correctly delivered but it takes 2 - 4 times as long to get the package delivered. Packages may take longer to process in the receiving country's customs process and status updates may not be reported as quickly. Please be patient if you choose this option to save money.

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Upon receipt of returned product(s), we will refund your credit card within three business days for the product(s) returned.