Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. I’ve been a big fan of Instacart ever since Chase added $10 and $20 Instacart credits to many of their cobranded credit cards in May 2025. Before then, I had never used Instacart because I assumed the grocery prices were significantly higher than shopping in-store and I actually enjoyed going to my local grocery stores.  Between my wife and I, we currently have 8 qualifying Chase cobranded credit cards, which provide $80 – $100 in Instacart credits each month. When you combine those credits with discounted Instacart gift cards, it becomes possible to have groceries delivered to your front door for a fraction of the normal cost.

Step 1: Enroll all Eligible Chase Credit Cards to Receive Multiple Instacart Credits

If you have multiple Chase cobranded credit cards, you can enroll each card separately in Instacart and receive a $10 monthly credit per card.  If you have a Chase Ink business credit card, you can receive a $20 monthly credit per card. Each credit card also comes with 3 months of free Instacart+ (no delivery fees on grocery orders over $10) and you can stack these to extend your Instacart+ subscription far into the future.

Here is the current list of eligible cobranded credit cards along with the amount of credit each card gets each month.

Ink Business Credit Cards

• Chase Ink Business Cash – $20
• Chase Ink Business Unlimited – $20

Airline Credit Cards

• Aer Lingus Credit Card – $10
• Aeroplan Credit Card – $10
• British Airways Credit Card – $10
• Iberia Credit Card – $10
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card – $10
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card – $10
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card – $10
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card – $10
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card – $10
• United Explorer Credit Card – $10
• United Explorer Business Credit Card – $10
• United Club Credit Card – $10

Hotel Credit Cards

• IHG One Rewards Traveler Credit Card – $10
• IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card – $10
• IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card – $10
• JPMorgan Chase Ritz-Carlton Credit Card – $10
• Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card – $10
• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card – $10
• Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card – $10
• World of Hyatt Credit Card – $10
• World of Hyatt Business Credit Card – $10

According to Frequent Miler, eligible business Mastercards (like the Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card) can receive an additional $20 Instacart credit each month on their second order (from February 2026 through January 2027). Best of all, this $20 credit can stack with the $10 monthly Instacart credits offered on many Chase cobranded credit cards, allowing a $30 discount on a single order.

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Step 2: Purchase Discounted Instacart Gift Cards

Instacart eGCs are often available from retailers like GiftCards.com, Best Buy, and Amazon at 10% – 15% discounts, which helps offset any higher prices on Instacart.  If you read Frequent Miler and Doctor of Credit, they report when those gift cards go on sale.  For example, if my Instacart order totals $15 and I have a $10 credit, I can pay the remaining $5 with a discounted gift card and effectively reduce the total even further.

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Step 3: Splitting Orders to use Multiple Credits

If you have several credits that you want to use at the same time, you have to get a little creative.  Follow this process:

1. Place your first order using a $10 or $20 credit and pay the remaining balance with your Instacart gift card balance.
2. Start a new cart / shopping trip (do not add more items to your existing order).
3. Place your next order using another $10 or $20 credit and pay the remaining balance with your Instacart gift card balance.
4. Repeat this process as many times as necessary.

If the orders are placed within a few minutes of each other, most Instacart shoppers will do both orders and deliver everything at the same time.

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Step 4: Save $2 per Order with a Slower Scheduled Delivery Window (YMMV)

In certain areas of the country, you can receive a $2 discount for selecting a slower scheduled delivery window. Unfortunately, Instacart removed this $2 discount from certain locations (like the San Francisco Bay Area) within the last 1 to 2 months. The $2 discount is a great feature that I used for every order to partially offset the $2.49 service fee.

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My Instacart Refund and Adjustment Rant

My one pet peeve with Instacart is regarding refunds and adjustments. If you pay with your Instacart gift card balance and you get a refund, the refund goes back to your Instacart gift card balance. But, if you get an adjustment, that amount is charged to your credit card.  For example, for the top 2 orders, I received a 1 cent and 2 cent refund back to my Instacart gift card balance. For the bottom two orders, I was charged 4 cents and 8 cents to my credit card.

This happens very frequently if you buy produce where the cost of the item is based on the weight. For example say produce is $1.00 per pound. Your Instacart shopper might get an item that weighs 0.98 pounds or 1.05 pounds which means you will either get a 2 cent refund to your Instacart gift card balance or have a 5 cent charge on your credit card. If there are any Instacart engineers reading this post, please update the logic to pull any adjustments from my existing Instacart gift card balance. This should reduce your costs since I’m sure it costs more money than 5 cents to do a 5 cent charge to a credit card. #rantover

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Even though Instacart typically charges higher prices than shopping in-store, applying these credits and using discounted gift cards makes it cost effective. Plus, you do not need to leave the house in order to get a few groceries and the items can be delivered within 30-60 minutes most of the time.  If you have any other Instacart ordering tricks and tips, please leave a comment below.  Have a great weekend everyone!