As busy women with hectic calendars, we are always looking for ways to make more time for play in our days. With this in mind, Peapod, the online grocery shopping and delivery service, invited the Girlfriends-In-Chief and some fellow bloggers on a warehouse tour to show us how they could make our lives easier with the click of a mouse. As busy wives and moms, we were all quick to see how Peapod could help de-stress our domestic lives.

But what really put the icing on the cake was how Peapod’s delivery service can make entertaining easier: Helping a girlfriend take out the frazzle of eleventh- hour shopping and put the dazzle back in a last-minute soiree. Yes! What we learned can help us—and you— delete one more obstacle to having a fabulous girls night. Read on to see what we learned about their food quality and offerings for entertaining. And, see the end of this post for a great offer from Peapod that will save you $20 on your next grocery order.

It’s Cold in There

Our tour guide, Tony Stallone, Peapod’s Produce Guru, helped to put all our apprehensions about grocery stores of the 21st century to rest. Being skeptical yet savvy consumers, we initially thought that one would have to physically go to a store to get the freshest produce. But Tony was convincingly quick to point out that in order for Peapod’s service to succeed, the produce has to be better than the produce you would pick for yourself.  Simply put, if you were to pick bad cherries, you would only have yourself to blame. If Peapod were to send you bad cherries, it would not only be the pits for you but for them as well because as a consumer, you’re going to complain. Peapod’s produce goes through a careful inspection process. The fruits and vegetables are not only hand-selected but they are also tasted to ensure a positive experience for the customer. After touring the many different temperature zones in the warehouse (which, it seemed to us, were cool, chilly, cold, colder and freezing—because Peapod takes pride in never breaking the chain of coldness the entire time the food is in their warehouse) and walking among the peppers and apples (each have their own temperature-and humidity-controlled zone, by the way), we were sold on the quality of Peapod’s produce. The fruit in their warehouse looks much better than the room-temperature fruit selection we see at our local Jewel or Ultra. We won’t think twice when it comes to ordering a fruit tray or appetizers from Peapod for our next girls night.

Just a side note, the Produce Guru has his own blog about *drumroll please* produce which you can find here. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to selecting and storing produce: even grandma would be impressed. Here are a few of the tips he shared with us en toure.

• Strawberries – Inspect the entire box of strawberries, don’t be afraid to turn the box over. The strawberries on the bottom and sides of the box will go bad first. Look especially at the shoulders of the strawberries, that’s where bruising occurs first.  Strawberries will last longer if kept at a colder temperature.
• Apples – Refrigerate them. Keep them cold or they will go mealy.
• Avocado – If the button pops off the end easily Makes, it is ripe.
• Guacomole Dip – To store dip overnight without it turning black, place a plain piece of saran wrap over the dip and gently press down until all of the air is out of dip. Keeping the air from coming in contact with the dip will ensure it stays green.

Entertaining Essentials

So now that we know the food quality is impeccable, the selection is huge (entertaining essentials like wine and spirits, prepared foods—Tony’s guacamole is a must-try—and party platters are available), and the service is fast (place an order by midnight to have your food the next day), we are definitely trying Peapod for our next girls night in (maybe the Summer Book Swap?) With service available in Midwest and East Coast cities, Peapod definitely makes planning a last-minute girls night easier. Want to have the girls over tomorrow night? Don’t let party food be an obstacle in hosting an impromptu, fun soiree for you and your friends. Grab a drink, kick up your feet, and click your mouse’s little heart out to plan the menu. Then relax and wait for the food to arrive at your door! If you’d like to try Peapod, now you can enjoy $20 off your grocery order. Just enter code “MOMBLOGGER” in the promotional box during checkout.

If you’d like to read some of our blogger girlfriends’ take on the tour and see some more pictures, you can check them out here:

West of the Loop – Emily

Peanut Butter In My Hair – Melissa

Disclosure:  We were invited to tour the Peapod warehouse and given a goodie bag which included a tee shirt, thermal mug, gift card, and produce. We were not asked to write this post, nor were we compensated for doing so. As always, the opinions expressed are strictly our own. GirlfriendCelebrations belongs to the Peapod affiliate program, which means if you click a Peapod ad on our site and make a purchase, we may be compensated.