By now I'm sure you've probably heard of Amazon Fresh. If not hold on to your butts cus I'm finna blow your mind. Amazon Fresh is grocery shopping via Amazon. You can purchase anything you would normally purchase in the grocery store - meat, veggies, cereal, dog food - and have it delivered to your home in a time frame you choose. I've just received my third order yesterday and while I'm still not completely sold I am getting there.
How it Works -
With Prime membership, Amazon Fresh is an additional $14.99/month with a free trial month. You simply go to the Amazon website and select Amazon Fresh from the drop down menu on the left. Fresh is also available via the app. You first select the window in which you want your order to arrive. For me it typically shows as 7-10am or 10am-1pm starting the next day. Once you've selected your window you have a set amount of time to finish shopping the site.
Pros -
Bruh. I don't have to take my kids to the grocery store. What else is there? Do you know how many times we've had "Whatever Mama can find to eat" for dinner because I couldn't imagine taking them anywhere?? It comes TO MY HOUSE. I don't even have to put on pants. It's fantastic.
I live in what the USDA has determined is a Food Desert. We have two dollar stores, two liquor stores, a bunch of churches, and no place I can purchase a banana. Up the road in either direction I have a few grocery stores but to get all the things I want it typically requires a few trips to a few different stores. I need to go to MOMs for my organic stuff, Food Lion for staples, Target for household goods etc. My kids love a particular granola bar that might not be available. Amazon Prime has all the things I need in one place.
Local merchants are highlighted. There is a Local Market option from which small businesses can sell their wares. I've purchased from CakeLove and Sweet Farm in the DC area and have been very very happy with both purchases. I wouldn't have known either existed otherwise. Sweet Farm sells locally made fermented foods which are, as you know, my jammy jam.
Packaging. Everything is well packaged. Ice cream is frozen, bread is fluffy, eggs are uncrushed (so I hear).
Cons -
Ease of use. It's your typical Amazon page and you can search as you would anything else on Amazon. However, similar things don't always pop up together and your least expensive option is never going to show up first. Just like in the grocery store, your eye level things are what they want you to buy. For example, I want to purchase 1 lb of turkey lunch meat. I search "1 lb Turkey Lunch Meat" and come up with a tube of ground turkey from Amazon, not Amazon Fresh. Not what I want. To get what I want, I have to search "Turkey Lunch Meat" and scroll through the 56 results to find the 1lb size. These 56 results also include frozen TV dinners and sausage links.
PACKAGING - Your food comes in huge Amazon Fresh totes that have insulation and ice packs or dry ice. This insures that your food gets to you whole but takes up a lot of space. The totes all fold down and fit into each other, the ice packs gets pitched and the insulation gets shoved in a bag. Insulation and totes are to be picked up on your next delivery but they were not on my last delivery. I contacted customer service and was told to leave them outside, they were picked up the next day.
Produce. They have an amazing produce selection including both organic and conventional foods. By shopping only you're obviously unable to squeeze and sniff. Are you comfortable with that?
Price - Whole chickens for $21. $14.99/month. No coupons. It's definitely pricier than the grocery store but how much does convenience cost? How much are you spending on impulse buys that you won't be getting here? For me it's worth the added cost for now. When warmer months come and I'm growing my own food and my meat source reopens I'll re-evaluate.
Thoughts? Have you tried Amazon Fresh? Is there another home delivery service that works better for you? Let me know in the comments!!
