If you are the one pushing the cart, you already know the grocery run is not one trip. It is the list, the store, the lifting, the wait at the register, the drive home, and the putting away, and it lands on a week that was already short. You are allowed to stop treating it as something you must do alone just because you have always done it.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
There are three real routes. You can keep shopping yourself, you can order ahead for store pickup or delivery, or you can hand the errand to a paid helper or a family member who goes on your behalf. Each one moves different hours and different risks. Choose by what is actually going wrong, not by which option feels more dutiful.
Count the trips you actually make
Write down the last four weeks: how many times you went to a store, how long each trip took from the door of your house to the door of the store and back, and how many of those trips were for one item you forgot. The forgotten-item trips are the ones online ordering fixes fastest. If you go twice a week, one planned order may cover most of it. If you go once but it still takes half a day, the cost is in the carrying and the waiting, not in the number of trips.
Check the carrying, not just the cart
Look at what you lift. Cases of water, bags of pet food, and a full cart pushed up a ramp are the parts most people undercount. Ask whether the store will bring an order to the curb, to the door, or only to a parking spot, and whether staff or the driver will carry it inside. Ask whether your parent can be left alone while you run out, and for how long. If the answer is no, a driveway handoff is worth more to you than a slightly earlier delivery window.
Ask the store these questions before you place an order
Check the website or call and find out who approves substitutions and whether you can switch them off for items the household needs exactly, such as a specific brand, size, or texture. Find out the cutoff time for changes and whether you can edit an order after you submit it. Find out whether a delivery fee or minimum applies, and whether it is charged per order or per trip. Ask whether the driver calls at the door or only sends a text. Ask whether the account can be shared, and whose payment method is on it. Write the answers down, because the next person who orders will need them.
Decide who holds the card and the list
The login and the payment method decide who has control. If a helper or relative orders for you, settle in advance what they may buy, what spending limit applies, and who reviews the receipt. Keep one master list in one place, the same one every week, and attach any written dietary instructions your parent's care team has given you. A helper follows that list. They do not decide what the household eats, and you do not need to explain the reasons behind each item to them.
Test one route for three weeks
Run a single option long enough to see where it fails. Track missed items, minutes spent, and whether anyone had to make a second trip. Compare the routes after three weeks, not after the first order, because the first order is always the one with the most attention on it.
Keep a backup route on paper
Name the store you go to when the online slot falls through, the neighbor or relative who can cover one pickup, and the phone number that actually answers. Put it on the same sheet as the master list. When an order fails, you should not have to invent a plan late at night while you are already exhausted.
You are allowed to buy groceries in a way that does not take your last free hour. Keep the route that fits the week you actually have, and let the rest go.