Note – this review is about a grocery delivery service that is currently only available in NYC, Jersey and the Philadelphia area. If you aren’t in those areas, imagine I am making a sad face for you right now! Hopefully they will expand to your area sometime soon.
A couple of weeks ago, I happened to be going through my junk mail and came across a flier from FreshDirect.com. Just spotting it was a feat for me seeing as I tend to toss 99% of what comes in my actual mail box without checking it out. (I have been known to throw bills out and have to actually call companies – I’m that bad!) But something about this one caught my eye. It announced that Fresh Direct, the grocery delivery service, had come to our area. I had previously heard of Fresh Direct from friends in NYC but didn’t know much about them.
I did a quick search online. They had expanded to Philadelphia earlier in the year, and now our western ‘burbs. My mailer had an awesome $50 off $125 order, plus Fresh Direct was offering a two-month new user delivery fee of a penny so I had to check it out.
Yup. That’s my minivan parked in the driveway by the Fresh Direct truck. My minivan, sitting there and not having gone to the grocery store. It’s a beautiful thing, right?
This was about $160 worth of groceries (which cost me $110 b/c I had the coupon) It ended up being a ton more than it looks like here – they really pack those boxes efficiently! Everything came cold.
As the name implies, they are into providing you with fresh, local produce and goods. Besides the fact that the obvious awesomeness exists with something like this (doorstep delivery, local produce), there are other things that are appealing to me with Fresh Direct. Namely – already prepared goods. And sides – I got a tub of Coconut Rice (2 for $4.50 and each tub was huge!).
So far, all the prepared foods that are Fresh Direct’s labels have been good so far. We had Turkey Meatloaf last night which was a hit. I did nothing but pop it in the oven for 30 minutes – gotta love no prep time with a busy schedule! It was 2 of these for $13. We only ate one – so yup, that’s $6.50 that it cost for my family’s main meal last night.
Another fav was this Mac ‘n Cheese n’ Trees ($4.99). I headed up one of them for snack yesterday and my kids were begging for more.
You’d think this stuff would be pricey too, right? Delivery service from NYC? Honestly, I shopped mostly only the deals and my bill was less than usual. (Clearly the $50 off helped, but still.)
For example, we always get Fage Yogurt which I often pay like $1.39 each for at my local store if there isn’t a deal. Right now Fresh Direct is offering 5 for $5.
Some of the items were pricier to be sure – that Mac n Cheese n Trees above was truly only one serving size for $5 but I made it work for two since it was snacktime. And really, you are paying for convenience there and I’ll take fresh, healthy ingredients with no preservatives over a box of Mac and Cheese anyway for a few extra bucks.
Anyhow, I will totally be a repeat shopper and truly hope to cut back on my grocery store time. The local & organic offerings on top of prepared meals makes this an awesome service for us.
If you’re in the NY Metro Area, NJ or anywhere in the Philly region, check out FreshDirect.com. Do yourself a favor and do a quick search too on first time user coupons. I found plenty of $50 off ones when I looked.
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