5 Ways I Use Travel Credit Cards to Maximize Online Grocery Shopping

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• After moving my grocery shopping online early in the pandemic, I haven’t gone back to the store.
• Enhanced points-earning opportunities through credit cards, shopping portals, and partnerships have made online grocery shopping more lucrative.
• Amex and Chase Offers can help save money on groceries, produce boxes, and meal kits ordered online.
• Read Insider’s guide to the best credit cards for groceries.

Like many people, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, I moved all my grocery shopping online, using services including Amazon Fresh and Amazon’s Whole Foods delivery, Instacart, meal kits, and produce box subscriptions. But unlike many people, I never went back.

Part of it has been that I find

online groceries

shopping easier, quicker and cheaper, considering there’s less inspiration for impulse purchases when you’re not strolling the physical isolates. But another big reason I’ve stuck with it? The array of bonus points and savings offers available to those with travel rewards credit cards.

Here’s how I’m using my travel cards to maximize my online grocery shopping — and why I’m not planning my return to the store anytime soon.

1. Chase Sapphire Preferred online grocery bonus

I was already strongly considering ditching my Chase Sapphire Reserve® for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card last year thanks to the Preferred’s excellent sign-up bonus, but the August announcement that the card would be adding online grocery purchases as a bonus category really pushed me over-the-edge.

After downgrading my Chase Sapphire Reserve® to the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and opening a new Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, I now earn 3x points on grocery pickup and delivery orders placed online with grocery stores, specialty food stores, meal kit delivery services, and more. There are a few exceptions — purchases from Walmart, Target, wholesale clubs and liquor stores don’t qualify, among others — but assuming you order from a traditional grocery store, the bonus will kick in.

Read more: What purchases count as travel, dining, streaming, and grocery delivery with the new Chase Sapphire bonus categories?

While the 3x earning rate doesn’t make the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card the most lucrative grocery card out there— the American Express® Gold Card

for example, earns 4x points at US supermarkets on up to $25,000 per calendar year (then 1x) — I’ll still turn to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card when I’m saving for a Chase-specific redemption, such as one that will require an Ultimate Rewards transfer to World of Hyatt.

2. Amex and Chase Offers

If you’re not familiar with Amex Offers** and Chase’s less expansive — but still valuable — Chase Offers program, they essentially targeted deals you can add to your credit card accounts that will get you either money back or additional bonus points after spending a certain amount with particular merchants. You can add the offers in one click, and after making a qualifying purchase, the statement credits or bonus points will hit your account automatically.

Read more: I had to order groceries when my family was in COVID quarantine, but a handy credit card promotion took the sting out of pricey Instacart delivery

Meal kit and delivery services frequently appear in my Amex Offers, which are available to apply to my Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

and The Platinum Card® from American Express

. Throughout the pandemic, they’ve helped me save money on healthy frozen meals and smoothies from Daily Harvest and produce and pantry staples at Imperfect Foods.

The available offers change frequently, but currently, I have offers for natural and organic food vendor Thrive Market, as well as meal kit services Sunbasket and Blue Apron. Through Chase Offers, I have a Blue Apron offer available to apply to cards such as my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Freedom Unlimited®.

3.Shopping portals

You can also earn bonus points on grocery and meal-kit sites by using a shopping portal, which involves going to the portal’s homepage and clicking through to your desired merchant before making a purchase. Your order is tracked through the portal and bonus points are generally awarded based on how much you spend, but some sites, including Blue Apron and Sunbasket, offer bonuses specifically for first-time users.

Read more: Online shopping portals are an effortless way to earn bonus cash back and travel rewards — here’s how they work

While several points and thousands programs have their own shopping programs, I’m partial to Rakuten, which offers users the chance to earn Amex Membership Rewards on their purchases. In particular, I use Rakuten to earn extra points on my Instacart purchases, and I supplement the Membership Rewards earned there with those I earn on cards such as the Platinum Card and Amex Gold Card.

4. Delta-Instacart partnership

In February, Delta revealed a new partnership with Instacart that would let customers link their SkyMiles and Instacart accounts to earn 1 mile for every dollar spent (and 1.5 miles for every dollar spent for Instacart Express members). I took advantage immediately, meaning I can now “triple-dip” on Instacart purchases, earning Skymiles, Amex Membership Rewards through Rakuten, and points on whatever credit card I choose to use at checkout.

Read more: The best Delta credit cards of 2022

Partnerships like this one are a great way to rack up airline miles without spending on a co-branded credit card. Instead, I save my spending for my cards with transferable points — such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Amex Gold Card — which offer more flexible redemption options.

5. Amazon Shop with Points

Another perk of buying groceries online is the ability not just to earn bonus points, but to use those points to cover your orders, too. When checking out Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh orders, cardholders who earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, Amex Membership Rewards Points, Citi ThankYou points, Capital One miles, and other popular points currencies have the option to use points to cover the cost of their cart through Amazon’s Shop with Points.

Read more: You can use credit card points from Amex, Citi, Capital One, and more to pay for Amazon purchases — and in some cases, get up to a 50% discount

But before you consider using this feature, it’s important to note that if you do, you’ll get subpar value for your points, which are worth much more when used for travel. When you redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points with Amazon, for example, you’ll receive a value of 0.8 cents per point — far below the 1.25 cents and 1.5 cents per point Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders, respectively, get when redeeming through Chase’s travel portal, and even further below the value you can get when transferring points to travel partners.

Still, the option is convenient to have in a pinch when cash is tight.