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Shoppers are tired of cooking. How can you offer differentiation so they prefer your stores, and not your competitors’?

Acosta’s recent COVID-19: Reinventing How America Eats study made it clear that people are tired of cooking at home. (If you haven’t seen the study, go to Acosta.com and click on “news and publications.”)

Some 40% of Americans told Acosta that “planning different meals every day” is one of their biggest challenges – second only to grocery shopping itself (45%) out of fear of getting the coronavirus.

This led Retailwire.com, on Sept. 14, to ask its panel of experts how grocers might help ease cooking fatigue. More efficient meal solutions/kits came up frequently. But several folks suggested studying the websites of Wegmans, Marks & Spencer, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and H-E-B. So I did. I’ll be surprised if you don’t find at least one good idea here.

–When I Googled Wegmans, the very first thing that came up was “Wegmans Food Markets: Grocery & Meal Delivery or Curbside.” The landing page included tabs for Meals2Go, Recipes, Digital Coupons, Curbside Pickup, Delivery, Organic Lunchbox Ideas and plenty more meal suggestions. Clicking down is intuitive and offers wide variety. You can also, of course, shop for items in-store, sorting by departments and filtering by organic, gluten-free, vegan, family pack, lactose-free, heart-healthy, high fiber, low sodium and whole grain.

–Since Americans aren’t yet allowed in Europe, you’ve got no choice but to go to the Marks & Spencer (marksandspencer.com) website to see what it’s up to. When you get to the site be sure to click on Food, lest you wind up in Lingerie, Furniture or Gifts and Hampers, or whatever it is they’re talking about. Just play around within the food category for awhile, but you really must eventually click on Dine In (for two). “Take a break from cooking and enjoy a delicious and fuss-free Dine In meal. Choose a main, side, dessert and bottle of wine or soft drinks for £12.” That’s $15.36 to us. Check it out. Great selections, and hugely popular in England.

–The day I checked the Whole Foods Market website, the landing page was promoting its “Grab & Gourmet” line of “delicious meals made easy.” You get to choose from a selection of ready-to-heat, ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook options both in-store and online. In select locations, you can get Amazon Prime delivery in two hours, or arrange to pick up in-store in an hour. The category breakouts on the site include family meals, sides, appetizers, salads and more. Individual selections within the categories are rated by “likes” of shoppers; Quiche Florentine, Sonoma Chicken Salad and Smoked Fresh Pack Mozzarella Pasta Salad were especially popular. You can filter by dietary preference, including vegan, gluten-free, keto-friendly, vegetarian, organic, dairy-free, sugar-conscious, paleo-friendly, Whole Foods diet, low-sodium, Kosher, low-fat and Engine 2 (Whole Foods’ “plant-strong” line).

–The landing page for Trader Joe’s is heavy up on new products. New frozen and refrigerated items included Mini Spicy Pumpkin Samosas, Non-Dairy Maple Oat Beverage and Brazilian Style Cheese Bread. It surely keeps the “treasure hunt” alive among shoppers at the stores. There are also tabs for recipes and Trader Joe’s famed “Fearless Flyer” that’s always worth a look. There are dietary lists for gluten-free, Kosher and vegan.

–H-E-B’s site takes you to departments, and then categories. The Curbside Delivery tab offers its Meal Simple line, fresh produce as well as ideas for main courses, sides and more. You can browse recipes by meal type and category. Once you’ve found one you like, you can click on it for a list of ingredients, choose the ones you want/need, and automatically add them to your shopping list. You can save recipes in your own box for future reference. All the recipes I saw included complete nutritional info. For neophytes and foodies alike, there are cooking tips and videos on the website.