The Adventures of Grocery Shopping When You're Car Free

This issue comes up constantly when I tell people I’m car free. How do I shop for groceries? Do I rent a car for a few hours? Carry grocery bags one by one to my house? Load up bike panniers until I tip over? So many questions! This is probably the single biggest psychological hurdle people have when reducing car ownership. Even if there’s a grocery store within walking distance, people are still concerned about the prospect of schlepping bags a few blocks. Yes, there are delivery services available, but that gets expensive. Plus, you give up part of your dignity by constantly having food delivered to your doorstep.

Most people still have a mental model of a huge autocentric grocery store surrounded by a sea of parking. But the good news is that urban grocery stores are multiplying. Urban grocery development has seen a push since the early 2010s, driven by demand for walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. Urban Land Institute reported that retailers like Wal-Mart and Safeway are experimenting with smaller-format stores (10,000–60,000 sq ft) in dense urban areas, often integrated into mixed-use projects. Examples include a 26,491 sq. ft. Wal-Mart Express in Chicago’s West Loop and a 55,000 sq. ft. Safeway in Washington, D.C.’s Cityvista, both in walkable areas. An urban format Whole Foods in Harbor East, Baltimore transformed the neighborhood and improved accessibility to healthy(ish) food for an array of low and middle income neighborhoods.

So there’s a very good chance that if you live in a somewhat walkable neighborhood, there’s an urban format grocer nearby, or one is a short distance on a nearby transit line. Now, you have to revisit your mental model of going to a grocer once every two weeks, spending an hour and a half buying things and leaving with 10 bags of stuff. Your trips will be shorter now, but more frequent. The things you may not be able to fit on your Monday visit will have to wait until later in the week. You have to fit everything in 3 or 4 bags. You will need to be more selective. You will have to prioritize. You can’t have everything all at once.

And this scares a lot of people. Americans are not used to being told no. They’re not used to mutually exclusive decisions. If you have X, you can’t have Y. In my experience, the upside is you spend less money and buy less junk overall, because every piece of junk you buy will have to be carried home (by you) or packed on your bike (by you). Do you really want those Oreo cookies if you have to carry them home? Wouldn’t a fruit salad be about the same weight but much healthier?

I’ve also found it surprising what I could fit within 4 bags: A perfectly reasonable number to walk or bike home. And reusable cloth bags can carry way more things without breaking compared to paper or plastic bags. They hold up better in the rain, too. 4 bags have never been too heavy for me to carry home, even when I had heavier items like milk or canned goods.

The other benefit is that because you’re shopping more frequently, the perishable food in your home is fresher. The grocery store becomes your own personal refrigerator. Shorter, more frequent trips means more responsive buying. If you feel like meatloaf tonight, you can just make the short trip to the store and buy it the day of. It’s not sitting in your refrigerator all week.

Of course, challenges exist. Smaller urban stores may have limited stock or higher prices compared to suburban supercenters. Carrying really heavy items can be a pain, especially in hilly areas or during bad weather. There are tradeoffs to every decision, and the trade off for not spending about $8000 a year on an automobile is a slightly less convenient grocery store experience. But it’s not impossible. And it’s even preferable for some people.

So, next time someone asks how you manage groceries without a car, tell them the truth: it’s not about schlepping bags or tipping over on a bike. It’s about rediscovering the joy of a walk, the satisfaction of a well-planned meal, and the quiet power of living on your own terms. One grocery trip at a time.

I’d love to hear about your experience grocery shopping without a car. Leave your stories in the comments.