Nope. I need to pick out my fruits and meats, and what I cook may change depending on how the fruits and meats look that day at the grocery and if there’s anything I particularly want. (And also, what’s on sale. I know what are good and not-good prices for pretty much all fresh ingredients. And they can vary wildly from week to week and store to store.)
Of course, I also like to go grocery shopping, and am at the grocery store on average four days a week.
I did subscribe to Imperfect Produce for the better part of a year, but I just nixed it because, while convenient, it didn’t really have a lot of stuff I wanted, and it was all more expensive than the groceries near me, sometimes by a good clip, so I didn’t see the savings they promised. (But they were cheaper than your more upmarket groceries.) It’s not a bad service–it just wasn’t for me.
I could order food and pick it up myself at Walmart or Hannaford after a ten mile drive, but grocery delivery is not a thing here. There isn’t a single restaurant that will deliver here either - our road is out of their delivery areas. Such is the joy of living in a bedroom community that doesn’t have any grocery or chain stores/eateries within town limits at all.
No, and I don’t see us doing that unless we become unable to shop for ourselves. There are two grocery stores in our 'hood. One is two blocks away, and the other is about a 15 minute walk.
It’s been avaiable around here for a while and I’ve never tried it and probably never will. It doesn’t fit my style of grocery shopping. I never have a list of needs so I wouldn’t know where to begin.
I usually wander into a grocery store and see what looks good, see what produce is in season and on sale, what stuff I may want to take to work for lunch, what I may want to make for dinner that week, etc. I really have no idea of what I want until I see it.
My roommate uses both delivery and the pick-up option because he’s disabled and has trouble walking. The only reason I don’t is because you can’t pay using an EBT card. There have been a few Walmarts with this option but none in my state. I think it would be wonderful for those elderly and disabled who struggle to get out. And people with children too or people with no transportation who have to pay for a ride to the store. And me, sure I’d love to not get out and it would be worth the cost of delivery because I work from home so I lose work hours on grocery day. Plus a lot of my purchases are whims. The only thing I’d miss is hitting the discount bakery section, but that would probably do me good.
I use Peapod in NYC. I’m guessing each location is different, but here they get their groceries from Stop N Shop.
They charge $9.95 delivery for orders under $100, and $6.95 for orders over $100. If you have PodPass then they deduct $6.95 from each order. Tips are additional - I usually give $8.
Podpass is $120/year, worth it if you order frequently. They also offer deals/intro pricing, so check first before buying.
Their meat selection is quite good, though limited. Never had a problem with produce, either. Sell by dates have been reasonable, a concern if you buy perishables like milk, yogurt, etc. Frozen items are packed with dry ice, which they take back on the truck.
Frozen dinners are limited. I’m really surprised that the choices are so narrow. I’d definitely check out their website first to see if they actually carry the brands and varieties that you prefer.
Many items offer the option of substitutions if they’re out of a particular item (and they specify exactly what the substitution will be).
I also shop the Specials first - they sometimes have good deals.
It will be more expensive than going to the store, but if you can’t for whatever reason, then using a delivery service can be a great help.
Peapod totally saved my butt when I was on crutches for the better part of a year after leg surgery. It was no substitute for being able to shop myself, though; the fresh produce was dismal, and I like being able to explore and buy things on impulse or design my menus around whatever looks good. And I really missed my various little ethnic grocery stores.
Also, no matter how many times I told them not to, the Peapod drivers would prop my door open while they were unloading, and the cat would run down the stairs. Made me bonkers, because it’s not like I could chase the cat on crutches.
I use Peapod about once a month for bulk items like cat litter and soda. The delivery charge is $7.50 but they always mail me a coupon worth at least $5 and I can choose a time that saves me an additional $3. The best thing for me is that they hold your orders for 10 days and specials change Wednesday at midnight so I check on the sales both before and after and get the benefit of two weeks of discounts. This week for example, cat litter was on sale if you bought two 25 pound boxes and 2 liter Diet Coke was 5 for $5. They give you a 2 hour window and I figure it would take me a lot more time than that to shop, transport everything to my car, drive home, and then make multiple trips to schlep it all up the stairs to my townhouse. I do tip very well for the schlep factor. I also find that since items come directly from the warehouse, the expiration dates are later than those in the stores. Yesterday they brought me yogurt and all the dates were the end of April. The only problem is that they do screw up every 3-4 trips. I don’t do substitutions so I have them credit me for any missing items. This week they apparently gave me one wrong bag so they credited the items, gave me a rain check for the discounts and a $5 credit for my trouble. They also told me to keep the wrong bag, so I now have to figure out what I can do with a bag of mini bananas, a jar of pepperoncini, a bag of Kind granola, a can of enchilada sauce, a box of herb flavored couscous, and a bottle of dishwashing detergent. If these are your groceries, I hope you are enjoying my Diet Coke and napkins that you got instead. While this makes it sound bad, I really do love Peapod for the heavy bulk things then can go to the store to supplement perishables when needed.
Years ago, we tried Peapod when they were first introducing the service in DC, but the delivery windows were so broad, it was a pain in the ass. Now that Whole Foods is offering delivery, I’m tempted; mostly because I absolutely loathe Whole Foods customers, but I like some of their products.
I don’t shop at Whole Foods more than about four or five times a year, but, seriously, how much do you interact with customers at any grocery that this becomes a problem?
A lot. In DC, most of the Whole Foods are pretty small, so you have a small space occupied by people with a complete sense of complete entitlement.
The lines are also almost always very long, one Whole Foods I used go to had a cashier system for calling you up to a register similar to what you might have at a DMV: customers lined up by colored rows and a sign would indicate which row was to go to which register (Orange, Register 17). Invariably, someone in a row not being called would try to line jump and if you called them out on it, they would get pissy.
Imagine if everyone involved in the college admissions cheating scandal was in the same store trying to buy the last avocado and you have some sense of what a DC Whole Foods is like.
It would save at least an hour each week, which is worth paying for, but we haven’t tried it. Partially due to inertia, and partially because I worry about someone else not doing it right.
The rise of this industry gives me pause. We bought our house with an eye to retiring. It’s very central and well located for walking uptown, to many venues, banks, groceries etc. But if young people jump into this, in droves those groceries could disappear, much like Home Depot killed all the local hardware stores, etc. It could see a lot of people, who didn’t think it could happen to them, in a food desert situation, where they are left with little choice.
Also, in my experience when it’s early days quality is high, returns are easy, delivery times convenient, and any issues happily and quickly addressed. But services tend to arc towards being less so, as times goes by. Once you’re in a food desert situation, the incentive to deliver that quality/affordability/level of service rapidly disappears, in my mind.
Or maybe I’m overly suspicious of becoming reliant on any service.
Instacart draws from the major stores in my area. Albertson’s, Safeway, Fry’s, Basha’s, CVS, etc. I doubt the service is going to put those stores out of business.