I love Fresh Direct! It is a bit more expensive but worth it. They have a great variety also. I'm always recommending it.

both really - i use Fresh Picks for the mostly seasonal produce box, soy milk and some random fruit. and vary between trader joes, domincik's and fresh farms for everything else.

While grocery stores in Switzerland are designed to be very efficient and convenient, they have terrible hours -- they close by 6:30 most evenings (stay open a little later on Thursdays) and are closed Sundays. Plus, the smaller, local stores don't stock everything. So once in a while I'll do a web order.

Mind you, we usually shop in France -- we have 3 French grocery stores only 5 minutes away -- and they are open until 9 pm most days. Saturday is market day in France (cheese heaven!)...

buy local, support your community!

Couldn't imagine doing this because I love my "me time" at the grocery store. But I suppose I would do it if I were sick or maybe didn't own transportation.

I like Peapod for the convenience and they do a better job picking out produce than I do. Also, I usually stick to my list when I shop online, ultimately saving me money. Whereas, in the store, I'm more likely to impulse buy. The delivery fee doesn't bother me - $6.95 if your order is over $100, a little more if you are under. Plus, I can just hand over the coupons to the driver and they take care of it. They also recycle their plastic bags, which is nice. I've also given them plastic bags from other retailers and never heard anything about it.

I've never had a problem with frozen food thawing, and the one time I had a damaged product, their customer service was excellent.

I have been ordering with a local service for a year now. In season produce at great prices and I don't have to worry about quality. Delivered for free to work. (Goodapples.org if you are in the Pittsburgh PA area)
I started because of a remodeling project where I couldn't really find time to go to the store, but I've kept it up because it is so convenient.
Also, believe it or not, it has made my "me time" at the grocery store all the better because I don't have to spend so much time rooting through the apple bin or trying to find the least wilted head of lettuce. I still go to the grocery store as often as before but I can skip all the produce shipped in from who knows where.

When I started really committing to buying local food, it became a lot more convenient to buy most of my groceries through Planet Organics - if for no other reason than to avoid the blank stares, strange looks and completely un-helpful answer of "From the USA" when I asked the butcher where the meat came from. It has made it much easier for me, and now I can't even imagine how I lived without it.

Sure, I still like to meander through a well stoked grocery store from time to time - but once I got used to it, I've found that I don't miss the lines at the store, baggers putting my stuff in plastic before asking me if I have reusable bags, parking, or the myriad of other annoyances of going out to the grocery store. ;-)

Del
Delementals

I use Fresh Direct when I really need to stock up and don't feel like carrying groceries home -- or more importantly, don't feel likely hauling them up the stairs. Otherwise, I'll make frequent stops on my way home or go to the farmer's market on Saturday.

I should point out that since Sara Kate tried Fresh Direct, they have dramatically improved their packaging (cut it in half for most of my orders), and they now have a lot more variety than they used to -- including a good local section.

I'm using http://www.santacruzlocalfoods.com/ which is sort of a cross between online shopping, a farmers market, and a CSA. There's no minimum weekly order, but you go and pick up your food as for many kinds of CSAs. All of the offerings are produced within a hundred miles. I don't use it for the bulk of my shopping, but as there are some items they offer that aren't at my farmers market, it's a pleasing supplement. Also since I don't walk to it like I do the farmers market, I can get heavier items like bulk olive oil. The produce is tip-top and I just got a pound of chanterelles for *significantly* less than they are in the stores right now. On most standard items the cost is a little more than I would pay at the farmers market, but the convenience makes it worth it, and some items are the same or cheaper because they're bought in greater bulk.

Why not just use a CSA? We can't eat all the food most CSAs provide, this offers greater variety (including prepared and preserved food as well as staples like olive oil), and I like tuning my order to be exactly what I want (or nothing) every week. Also, I enjoy shopping at the farmers market and a CSA would remove most of the reasons to go. I can use this service and the farmers market and balance them how I like them according to my mood. I'm looking around for a meat CSA this year, though.

The intriguing thing about this is it's based on a central software repository that can then be set up for each new location, so new satellites don't have to reinvent the wheel: http://www.localfoodmarketplace.com/

I used to use FreshDirect here in Brooklyn purely for convenience, even though I actually really enjoying grocery shopping. Their stuff and prices were fine. But then I started working from home so had more flexibility. And then Trader Joe's opened a few blocks away, and more recently a good regular grocery store really nearby. It's great! I've dropped FreshDirect entirely.

I have ordered from Peapod in the past. It's very convenient, but I couldn't always find everything I wanted, or couldn't find the size or amount I wanted. I have two Whole Foods stores within a mile of me, and Peapod couldn't match their selection of organic meat and produce.

Oh my goodness! I was even searching over the weekend to see if there was delivery service in Pittsburgh! I do that about every 6 months or so! How have I NEVER heard of goodapples.org before????

While I do like going to the grocery store it isn't always convenient depending on my schedule. And I DO know that I would save money because there wouldn't be impulse buys. I would know the total I was racking up while I was still shopping and could make some better choices for my budget here and there.

I'd love to, but</I>... And the but, in my case, is that it isn't always more convenient - sure, if I knew what time I was going to be home, on which days, it would probably work! (Over here you need to have someone to sign for the delivery).

in the dc area, i use washington's green grocer and get one small organic box delivered to my doorstep every other week. it's sorta like a CSA in that you don't get much of a choice in what veggies you get (although you can tell them not to bring you one veggie and substitute something you like better). they also source as much local produce as they can. it makes life a little easier and challenges me to learn to cook new things.

I love Amazon Fresh (Seattle) for everything but meat and produce. I usually get those items locally since we have great Farmer's Markets also. But if I see the perfect dinner recipe online at work, and I'm out of an ingredient, I can place the Amazon Fresh order in the morning and have it waiting for me at home. Can't beat that!

One of my favorite, mindless, activities is wandering through grocery stores and quaint markets. I love to browse the shelves and see what the lastest products are on the shelves. The more green the market, the more I enjoy the trip. Rarely do I purchase anything, it's the spiritual journey of being surrounded by wholesome foods. As for on-line grocery shopping: Never. I'm far too finicky and very particular about my produce and meat to let someone else pick out my food.

Fresh Direct. Its great, convenient, they use some local farms, have a pretty good selection of organics. If you are not happy with an item they send you, their customer service is fantastic. They have refunded an item for me several times.

Amazon Fresh is a favorite of mine as well. Not only grocery stuff but they have a lot of items from Amazon you can get delivered (books, movies, kitchen gadgets...). I lived without a car only riding a scooter for about a year and having groceries delivered was super convenient. I still use them occasionally and did some last minute Christmas shopping there and had it delivered too.

I like to support my local supermarket and farmer's market at in Brooklyn (Grand Army Plaza, yay!). Now my local supermarket is not friendly, their selection is so-so, I would never buy meat or frozen food from them because I'm not trusting them to respect the cold chain... But they are the local guy, they hire these little older ladies as cashiers and local kids to fill the shelves, and every neighborhoods needs a supermarket and I want mine to stay... For the stuff I won't buy from them, I go to TJ...

I'm in the Seattle area and love Amazon Fresh. Right now, they're delivering everything, but once the farmer's market starts up again in May, I'll probably go there for produce and such.

I could never order groceries online. I have to press on an avocado to see if it's ready. And see if the skin of an orange is thin, so I'll know it's going to be sweet or not. And I absolutely have to taste a grape before I buy the entire bunch. Oh, and how can you buy a melon without smelling it first? And reading all the headlines of all the tabloids while standing in the check out line!

I love grocery shopping so would never think to 'farm' this out to someone else.

I am like rosebud-I just love going to the grocery store and shopping for my own ingredients. And you can't trust anyone else to put those unneeded Oreos in the cart.:)

We've used Fresh Direct a handful of times and liked it. I prefer the food coop, since it's cheaper and I generally like to select my groceries.

But now that we're expecting a baby, FD sounds a lot more appealing. I can put in orders in the middle of the night, I won't have to lug the baby AND groceries home on foot (over a mile) AND friends from out of town can send us food/groceries to help us get through the first few weeks.

My boyfriend just got to go up to the Amazon Fresh facility (he's an Amazon associate) and he was telling me all about it. I so wish I had something like that locally, but we don't.

The closest I have is Azure Standard, which is great for winter. I can get more than just produce from them and for much cheaper than at Whole Foods, plus there's no delivery charge (there are order minimums and one drop point where you pick up from the delivery truck).

I am so glad theothergretchen mentioned Santa Cruz Local Foods up above! SCLF an awesome online farmer's market - rather than online grocery store. Best of all possible worlds!

@kategal25 - I love Fresh Picks! Especially since I no longer live within three blocks of a farmers' market.

We have a wonderful service here in Charlottesville called Retail Relay that goes to a variety of locally owned and run stores and farms. I cant say enough about it. Although I do love to grocery shop, I rarely get to more than one store and usually am stuck going to one of the big chains. I love that I can save gas and time and shop locally and still get everything I need for a week through this one service. I hope that other communities end up with this model. I've lived in others cities and towns where we just had chain store groceries delivery available and while it was nice, I much prefer what we have now.

i broke my foot this summer. i live in a 5th floor walk up. fresh direct was a miracle. i still use it sometimes now, even though i'm fine hauling groceries up the stairs. i prefer to get food at fairway, but honestly, it's always a madhouse and i can't deal with the stress of it every week.

i've been consistently impressed with fresh direct's produce. everything i've gotten has been pristine. i love their produce rating system. frozen foods have also arrived frozen. but twice i had yogurt that arrived spoiled.

the hassle of figuring out when you will be home is a little annoying (no doorman here to sign for it). but overall it's something that makes my life easier.

You know, I often come across polls on AT's various sites that aren't quite fair questions.

Today's example:

The question is, "Do you use an online grocery service?"

The first two options answer this question ("Yes - I'd starve otherwise" and "Yes - It's very convenient"). But the rest don't. They answer the question "Would you use an online grocery service?"

See?:
- I would - If there was one in my area
- Maybe - If it doesn't cost more than conventional grocery shopping
- No - And give up one of my all-time favorite pastimes? No way!

My answer to "Do you use an online grocery service?" is "No, I don't." But grocery shopping is not my favorite pastime. It's simply cheaper to buy it myself. But if it were cheaper, I would.

Long story short, I didn't answer your poll because it'd skew your results (because my answer wouldn't be true to your intent).

Sorry to be fussy, but this kind of poll happens a lot around here and it's annoying after a while.

I live in the UK and I use two organic vegbox companies (Abel & Cole, Riverford) for my fruit, veg, and basics. There was a point when I was buying my meat from there as well so I never left the house to go to the supermarket. I've found a good local butcher recently so I've started buying the meat from there.

I used to use supermarket online services when I was in university. But I found the service to be poor for those, they would substitute items if the product isn't in stock (eg strawberry soy milk instead of chocolate...etc), which I found annoying. Sometimes they would forget an item altogether, so I don't find them dependable for basics.

The vegbox companies are small and very helpful. The two I chose have their own drivers so if your box is late, their customer services team and locate your driver to find out the problem. I've been using the vegbox companies for over 2 years now and they've never missed a delivery or delivered the wrong items to me. Perfect!

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