# How do people in urban areas get groceries home? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572 "2011-12-09T01:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/63 "2011-12-09T16:24:26Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > You need to understand, this is a uniquely suburban-American lifestyle. I think most people in other countries consider it unusual to only buy groceries once a week. (And this may explain why the typical American diet is so unhealthy - not much fresh vegetables, and a lot of food that keep well.) I don’t think so! Doing a major shop at the supermarket weekly or even less frequently is enormously common in the UK. People may top things up buying fresh food at other times but still do the weekly shop for staples. How common is internet shopping and home delivery from US supermarkets? All the big retailers in the UK offer this and it is the method my son and his girlfriend used with no car and living on the 16th floor of a Manchester apartment block. With some retailers it is always free over a certain amount, others it depends on when you want the delivery. Free at unpopular times, increasing charge for early evenings and Saturday mornings. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/64 "2011-12-09T16:30:05Z")
I pick up bread, milk, eggs, etc. at the corner store on the way home whenever I’m in need. Every once in awhile I’ll restock my “bulk” foods with an order from [Peapod.](http://www.peapod.com/) ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/65 "2011-12-09T16:33:57Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > You don’t even need a second residence. For her monthly shopping trips, a friend of mine rented a Zip Car and drove out to the suburbs. She’d park it in the underground garage and unload everything into the elevator. After she put everything away, she’d return the car to the Zip Car place, which was right around the corner from her. > > No mess, no fuss. But then again I have no idea how much she paid monthly for the Zip Car. > > If she needed something in the meantime – say, anything perishable – she bought it at a corner deli near where she worked. Or she’d hop the crosstown bus and go to the only area supermarket. Zipcar charges by the hour and is pretty affordable, ~$8 per hour. If you’re an efficient shopper you can get away with a one-hour reservation, which makes the cost comparable to a cab ride or delivery. I was always worried about getting back on time, so I tended to reserve extra time which made it a lot more expensive. But it was still a good option for me for larger shopping trips to somewhere in big-box-store-land (like Ikea). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/66 "2011-12-09T16:45:39Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > The supermarket is on the way home from the station, so I usually pop in on my way back from work. Never really buy more than a couple of days’ worth of food at a time. It is a two minute walk away too, so if I forget anything it is easy to go back. Same deal for me. This is one of the many, many things I love about living in a city, and DC in particular. (Another thing: Plenty of people go for walks around their neighborhood. So do I. But for me, those walks go around the Tidal Basin.) ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/67 "2011-12-09T16:52:20Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Is the parking lot inside the building as well, I’m assuming? Or do people have to carry their groceries to the car out in the parking lot? Several of the supermarkets here have the same technology but it takes effect at the edge of the parking lot. There is a wide yellow line painted with lots of signs explaining that the cart will not work beyond that point. When I lived downtown, even though my parking spot was an elevator ride away from my condo I used Grocery Gateway for everything heavy. I would pick up fresh fruit and vegetables on the way home from work and meat from the St.Lawrence Market but everything else was delivered right to my kitchen counter. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/68 "2011-12-09T17:31:31Z")
I live in Pittsburgh, in an old house with a detached garage separated from the kitchen by a flight of stairs (level lots are fairly rare, here). I tend not to buy more at the grocery store than I can carry from the garage at one time. Sometimes I do make multiple trips to the car to unload, but not often, since that’s a pain in the butt and I hate doing it. I shop more than once a week. I dislike going to the grocery store less than I dislike making more than one trip from the car with the stuff, I guess. Also, I’m nowhere near organized enough to plan a week’s meals at once. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/69 "2011-12-09T17:35:26Z")
we used to have a two wheeled cart that would stand upright. We’d take it on the bus, and roll it into the grocery store. Almost all of the times the bus driver wouldn’t mind us bringing our full cart onto the bus afterwards, provided we were polite and respectful to the others. If the bus got full, we’d hold the bags in our hands and fold the cart while we were on it. From the bus stop, we’d load everything back into the cart and wheel it home. ---
**Author:** ![Terra1041](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Terra1041](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terra1041)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/70 "2011-12-09T17:35:54Z")
I walk to the supermarket once every 2-3 days usually and just buy what I can carry back. ---
**Author:** ![JerseyMarine2092](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyMarine2092](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyMarine2092)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/71 "2011-12-09T17:36:01Z")
I live in DC… I typically do a moderately sized shopping on Sunday mornings using my Jeep to go to the commissary on Fort Meyer. For dinners that I’ll prepare I’ll typically swing by Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, or Trader Joe’s on my ride home on the Metro. Those items will normally easily fit inside my bag. Most of my friends do similar things. For the friends without a car they’ll book a Zipcar reservations for a couple hours to do their shopping. Others will rely on services like Giant’s PeaPod grocery delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/72 "2011-12-09T20:16:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Small world. Esther is a good friend (I also built a website for her new project). I’ll be seeing her tomorrow and I’ll tell her you say hi, if you like. Please do. Also tell her that I buy most books used, but I buy her books new. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/73 "2011-12-09T20:19:56Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > Please do. Also tell her that I buy most books used, but I buy her books new. Will do - I’m not a writer but even I know how much this means 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/74 "2011-12-10T08:13:32Z")
I do it on my bike. I ride it to the store, then walk it back – like a pack mule. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/75 "2011-12-10T14:00:11Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > Zipcar charges by the hour and is pretty affordable, ~$8 per hour. If you’re an efficient shopper you can get away with a one-hour reservation, which makes the cost comparable to a cab ride or delivery. I was always worried about getting back on time, so I tended to reserve extra time which made it a lot more expensive. But it was still a good option for me for larger shopping trips to somewhere in big-box-store-land (like Ikea). I want to say she paid a monthly fee where she could rent anywhere, anytime, and she could pick the vehicle she wanted – SUV for those monthly shopping trips, for example. She’d zip around town in a Mini Cooper one time, and maybe an Accord the next, depending if she had people visiting her. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/76 "2011-12-10T16:36:41Z")
I left NYC a few years back, and I miss [Freshdirect.com](http://Freshdirect.com) greatly. Good food, decent prices, and I’d have boxes of food delivered to my door and if I wanted would be left there for me. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/77 "2011-12-12T13:08:39Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > I don’t think so! Doing a major shop at the supermarket weekly or even less frequently is enormously common in the UK. People may top things up buying fresh food at other times but still do the weekly shop for staples. Isn’t the UK pretty much the most car-dependent country in Europe, though? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/78 "2011-12-12T13:20:04Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Isn’t the UK pretty much the most car-dependent country in Europe, though? I’m not sure what you mean by “car dependent”. According to [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita)the UK certainly does not have the most cars per head of population. Globally 25th and behind Italy, Spain, France, Germany etc., etc. and only marginally ahead of Sweden. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/79 "2011-12-12T14:51:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > When I lived in NYC, there were several supermarkets within a block or two of my apartment. One had the best produce, another had the best meats, another had the best bakery, etc. So I’d stop in one on my way home from work, depending on what I was running out of. This. Plus, by shopping so frequently, the food is at its freshest. Week old salad? For pantry stuff and for long-term stuff, ordinarily there’s a supermarket nearby, and the answer is schlep until your arms hurt or the bags break. I live in below-Harlem Manhattan, though; in the poorer areas and outer boroughs that’s not the case. The Spanish Bodegas and their functional equivalents, the Korean delis, are usually open all night, but their stuff is always at a mark-up. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/80 "2011-12-12T15:05:38Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > I do it on my bike. I ride it to the store, then walk it back – like a pack mule. that works well. you can easily walk a bike with a front basket loaded to the point that it would be unstable to ride. rear carrier or basket(s) can be loaded to a point riding would be hard to ride. i find much better control when walking a load with one hand on the closest handlebar and one on the seat, two hands on handlebars is strain and no control. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/81 "2011-12-12T15:10:53Z")
> [@zombiemommy](#): > > Do people who live in skyscrapers and don’t have a car have a delivery service? Do they go shopping for only those items they can carry back? We live in a 36-story building in a mega-urban center and do not have a car. There’s a mediocre supermarket a five minutes’ walk. For the excellent grocery stores, we bring the loot back via Skytrain and taxi or just taxi alone, depending on which store we’ve just patronized. We hit the store once or twice a week and have no problem carrying the amount we buy in a single trip. The mid-week trip is always done by me alone, weekends the two of us. I suppose it helps that we do almost no cooking, as calling out for food or picking up whole meals in a market is cheap. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572/82 "2011-12-13T20:11:36Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean by “car dependent”. According to [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita)the UK certainly does not have the most cars per head of population. Globally 25th and behind Italy, Spain, France, Germany etc., etc. and only marginally ahead of Sweden. Dependent on for day to day life due to a lack of public transport. I’m British, I can happily admit that outside of London the public transport in Britain is pathetic and, frankly, not that brilliant in London either. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-in-urban-areas-get-groceries-home/605572.md?page=5)