Jess Dang Jess Dang is the Founder of Cook Smarts where she also wears the hat of Chief Kitchen Coach. She left the corporate world in 2011 to start Cook Smarts because she was passionate about bringing food education back to our schools and family dinners back into our lives. Follow me here
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Though I'm just on the other side of the bay from you, Instacart is not yet available to me.
I do use Safeway delivery when I have trouble getting to the store, but more often than not, they are out of a crucial ingredient for whatever I was going to make that evening. So I have to run to the store (defeating the whole purpose), or rethink my plan. Otherwise, it works nicely and offers me really good specials.
Linda, if you entered your zip code, Instacart should capture it as a potential market. So far it is has been great for me to buy staples at Whole Foods and my regular bulk items at Costco but I definitely still visit my local produce market almost every week still for everything else.
This sort of thing is probably just fine for pantry staples that are shelf-stable, etc.
But I would NEVER use a delivery service for produce and meats and cheeses If I used a delivery service, I wouldn't have been able to walk up to the fish counter and see something I've never seen before (Cobia, what is that?). Then buying it after reading the Wikipedia article on my phone. I wouldn't be able to point at the exact piece of salmon that I want or to check fruit for ripeness. I couldn't wander over to the cheese counter and think "Hmm, what do I feel like a small piece of today?".
And taking those random moments of fun out of shopping can lessen the fun of cooking.
Timothy, I love that perspective! I definitely would miss wandering around the aisles of my go-to produce market to discover new things, and I'll never give that up. However, avoiding Costco on a weekend or getting my usual pantry staples at Whole Foods has been awesome!
See, I generally avoid Costco like the plague, especially on weekends or evenings. So not having to go there isn't a huge plus.
We don't have instacart here, but I use Peapod and I love them! There's nothing more satisfying than having everything you want delivered to your door, even if your door is up 3 flights of stairs.
I use Fresh Direct in NYC, and I love it. Timothy, I thought I might feel the same way about fresh produce, cheeses, steaks, etc., but the quality and customer service of Fresh Direct has convinced me otherwise! They actually use many of the same meat purveyors as my favorite butcher, but just make everything a lot easier. For the value and economic factor, I would go to 2-3 different grocery stores to meet all my needs (I live in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn), but I happily turned into a believer of online grocery shopping so I could get almost everything from one place. Any time I've had a problem with an order mishap, I've been immediately credited/refunded, but it's never been an issue with freshness or quality (perhaps the wrong item here or there or some cracked eggs). Also, I do still very often experiment with new food items, such as a new type of fish or cut of steak, because they're featured and on offer on Fresh Direct. I know it's hard to believe especially if you enjoy the grocery shopping experience, but I realized quickly living in NYC without a car, this was the way to go! I still love to meander through farmer's markets and other grocery stores, but online shopping is my go-to now.
I am a Peapod devotee as well. I still shop at the local farm store for most fresh produce and special items, and am a CSA member as well, but Peapod is awesome for the weekly staples and for quickly getting a list of ingredients. It is not bad for basic produce either when I am in a pinch.
Relay Foods in Virginia- great quality, you can get delivery or pick up at various locations. Also order sometimes online for a Harris Teeter pick up at the store.
I lived in London for 10 years and the online grocery delivery service was wonderful. I was also hesitant in leaving the quality up to the Grocery Gods but was never disappointed. If you don't have a car, this was invaluable. I now live in the midwest back in the States and cannot find anything comparable. Of course, I also have a car now.
I get a weekly delivery from AmazonFresh (in Seattle). The quality of the food (even the produce) has been awesome, oftentimes much better than I can get at my local Safeway! I absolutely hate going to the grocery store, so this has been a bit of a sanity-saver for me! I do think I pay a little bit more for the groceries, but for me it's been more than worth it! I do supplement my order with a few items from local stores (like cheese or certain other products which are much more expensive), but most of my groceries comes from AmazonFresh. Love it!
I've been searching for a one click menu-to-groceries-ordered solution for a long time. Any plans for cooksmarts to integrate with instacart? i would love that!
I just started using Cook Smarts for meal planning and am pairing it with a grocery delivery (Grocery Gateway in Canada). It's a brilliant system for me since I travel out of the country for work 4 days a week, every week, and don't want to spend my precious weekends grocery shopping or meal planning. It costs a bit more, but it's totally worth it for me and my family.