Whether you’re trying to maintain social distance to avoid getting sick during the COVID-19 pandemic or just want a more convenient way to buy your groceries, online grocery delivery services are skyrocketing in popularity. But which ones are worth ordering? To help you out, we’ve rounded up 11 of the best online grocery delivery service apps and sites that will deliver food and other essentials right to your doorstep, from Instacart to Imperfect Foods. Not only do grocery delivery services help limit contact with other people (all of these services have a contactless delivery option), but they can also be useful for those of us who are too busy to go to the grocery store or just hate running errands. Plus, it’s always nice to get a delivery, especially when it comes to something to eat.
Instacart is probably the best-known grocery delivery service, sending personal shoppers to a grocery store in their area of choice. Depending on where you are, options include Wegman’s, Whole Foods, Stop %26 Shop, Costco, Aldi, and even non-grocery stores, such as CVS and Petco. You don’t need a membership to use the service, but you will be charged a shipping fee unless you purchase the Instacart Express membership. We’ve tried Instacart before and found that the site is easy to read carefully, although it can be difficult to request specific sizes on the products.
Shopping for the most part is easy. Once you’ve chosen your grocery store, you can search through a variety of products, non-perishable products and specialty items. After you select an item, you have the option to choose replacements, if it sells out. After you have purchased virtually, you can select a delivery time within one hour.
If you were a fan of Peapod, the delivery application has been purchased by Stop %26 Shop, which delivers exclusively from the supermarket chain. Therefore, this service is only available in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island, where Stop %26 stores are located. The site has virtual aisles, but it’s much easier to search for specific products. Buy food at Stop %26 Shop (formerly Peapod) Buy food at Target through Shipt If you live in New York City, New Jersey, Philadelphia, or the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Area, consider using FreshDirect, which ships high-quality meat products and selections to these areas. While FreshDirect isn’t associated with a particular grocery store, you can search for a large selection of foods. Shopping on site is easy and you can find everything from ready meals to party dishes, wine and liquor. It is usually necessary to place the order one day in advance, especially for catering items, as their preparation takes time.
Buy food at FreshDirect If you’re okay with fruits and vegetables that aren’t perfect specimens, you can save money by shopping at Imperfect Foods. Every week, you’ll get a box of fresh produce delivered straight to your door. The boxes vary in size depending on the number of people in your household, but they are fully customizable. You can choose from more than 500 products every week, including products with cosmetic peculiarities and other foods such as oils, dairy products, meat and basic pantry products.
Although Safeway has in-house delivery staff in some locations, other places partner with Instacart for grocery delivery. You can contact Safeway customer service by email, phone, or their app, as well as directly through the store where you placed your order. However, if your order was delivered through Instacart, you’ll need to contact Instacart to resolve any issues. Publix is a supermarket chain in the southeastern United States that offers a wide variety of products.
They partner with Instacart for their grocery delivery service, so it works exactly the same as Instacart, with similar prices and fees. Even so, delivery prices are higher than those offered in the store. Shipt and Instacart are quite similar. However, they have some differences in their service areas.
Instacart is more available in the United States. In addition, Shipt is the exclusive delivery partner of Target stores. Very few grocery delivery services offer completely free delivery. You might be able to unlock free delivery with a paid membership, for example, with Walmart+, Instacart Express, Shipt, or Amazon Fresh.
Instacart is ideal for those who want their food and personal items delivered as instantly as possible. They offer same-day delivery and allow you to choose a delivery window for a seamless exchange. The Hungryroot grocery service is on our list of the best meal kit delivery services, as it offers meal plans and recipes that go hand in hand with the ingredients you ship. But the truth is that the service encompasses much more, including a large number of à la carte options.
Their bread with butter, so to speak, is “healthy food that does not contain preservatives, artificial sweeteners or hydrogenated oils, among other things. This means that the best-known health staples, such as Banza, Impossible Burgers and Oatly, feel right at home here, but you won’t just find crunchy granola blends and plant-based ingredients. There are also seafood options, in addition to meats such as empanadas and beef tenderloins (sustainably sourced, of course), beverages, baked goods, snacks, sauces, and more. All can be filtered according to your dietary preferences (from vegan to egg-free) and added to any of the service’s meal plans.
Hungryroot’s standard plan is your personalized grocery checkout that’s based on your preferences. As with many other subscription services, you and the Hungryroot team first familiarize yourself by filling out a profile with your dietary preferences and goals. From there, the service will customize a shopping box that suits your specific tastes (along with some recipes that will help you use your box), which means wasting less time browsing endlessly. Would you rather swap that tofu for a little tempeh or add an excess of sandwiches? You can always edit your shipment before it ships.
Many services offer same-day delivery features if you need food urgently, and some allow you to shop in advance and select a predetermined delivery date within the following week. The initial subtotal will calculate the cost of your purchases (this number will change to the exact total when the buyer finishes), the shipping fee, the service fee, the sales tax and the driver’s tip, making it more expensive than a typical purchase. Grocery delivery services such as Instacart, Walmart Plus, Thrive Market and Amazon Fresh are popular with customers in a large number of regions because of their nationwide service. All online grocery delivery services have the same concept: delivering food to your doorstep, but they vary in terms of pricing, product offerings, and principles.
It may seem similar to grocery services like InstaCart, but instead of a local food broker heading to the nearest supermarket like a TaskRabbit in search of treasure, FreshDirect works directly with farmers, fishermen and producers to leave fresh food on your doorstep. Like Instacart, Shipt ships food from local grocery stores, as well as items from retailers such as Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Petco. You can arrange for the delivery person to take the food to your garage, store it in the kitchen, or place it on your doorstep. Yes, food itself can often be more expensive through third-party apps such as Instacart or Shipt, and you may also have to pay service and shipping fees.
Hungryroot then suggests the corresponding foods and the recipes prepared by the chef, allowing for less wasteful and more careful grocery purchases.