You're taking the kid to the store either way, which seems like the hardest part. And I've noticed that my urban friends really trim down their kid-gear compare

You're taking the kid to the store either way, which seems like the hardest part. And I've noticed that my urban friends really trim down their kid-gear compared to my suburban friends -- city dwellers use a small stroller (or no stroller and a child carrier wrap) and a small bag with essentials, suburban dwellers use a stroller the size of a Mini Cooper (which they hauled around with a full sized SUV) with several bags of "essentials". When I lived in the city, both of the grocery stores near me offered home delivery -- you drop off your bags at the front desk and schedule a delivery later this afternoon, so no need to carry them home or take them on transit. But it was a dense enough city that you didn't take transit there, you'd just walk. They had some kind of dial-in grocery shopping service as well that you could use to call in an order for delivery... but nowadays, online shopping seems to have solved the problem of shopping with children.