Do you like grocery shopping? Or hate it? Or, the problem might not be that you mind it at all. It may just be that you’re so incredibly busy. Have you ever thought about grocery delivery services?
More and more grocery delivery services are popping up on the radar these days. There are a variety of reasons why you may want to use a grocery delivery service.
Maybe you had a recent medical event or illness and can’t quite get around yet.
Or, like us, maybe you live in a rural area and going to the grocery store requires a long trip.
Some people have limited time for stopping at the grocery store, shopping, packing up, etc.
Or maybe you just like the idea of having this potentially tedious task crossed off your list.
In This Article
Which Grocery Delivery Services Are Best?
There’s no wrong answer, really. It’s perfectly normal to want to take advantage of a service that will potentially save you both time and money.
But which grocery delivery services are best? What does each have to offer? And more importantly, what do they cost?
We’ll share what we’ve found in our quest to find the best grocery deliver services.
Read on and decide whether grocery delivery can benefit you, and if so, which service you might like to try.
1. Thrive Market
Thrive Market helps you save up to 30% on organic and non-GMO groceries delivered to your door.
They opened their doors in 2014 and today they carry over 6,000 products. Some of the products they sell include:
- Quality meat and seafood
- Pantry groceries
- Baby products
- Health and beauty products
- Cleaning products
Thrive also carries some pet supplies as well. Note that Thrive Market does not carry fresh produce.
Do I Have To Become A Member?
Yes. Membership costs $60 per year. Thrive Market ships to the 48 contiguous U.S. states.
How Much Does Shipping Cost?
Shipping is free on any order over $49. Orders under $49 will pay shipping rates that vary by location.
How Soon Will I Get My Order?
Varies by location. In my experience, 4-5 days.
As you can see, Thrive Market offers a competitive option for wholesome grocery delivery. Infact, they use the phrase, “wholesome food at wholesale prices.”
For those of us health conscious consumers, looking for a smart way to get those non-gmo and organic options, Thrive Market may be onto something.
2. Instacart
Instacart delivers groceries to people in over 1200 U.S. cities, and they’re currently working on expansion plans. Ordering with Instacart is easy.
Do I Have to Become a Member?
You do have to open an account to use Instacart. However, it’s free to open an account with Instacart and you can cancel anytime.
They have a membership club that can save you money on delivery costs, too. It’s called Instacart Express.
You can join Instacart Express for $9.99 per month or $99 per year. When you join, you’ll get free delivery for every order over $35.
Orders under $35 will still be charged a delivery fee – even for members. And you might still pay other charges such as service fees.
What Does Delivery Cost?
Delivery costs for non-members run between $3.99 and $11.99 per order. Orders of under $35 will cost more to deliver.
How Soon Will I Get My Order?
Instacart promises same-day delivery on all orders. If you pay extra, you can get your groceries delivered in as little as an hour.
Or, if you want you can schedule a delivery up to six days in advance. Delivery hours are generally from 9 a.m. to up to midnight, depending on the area you live in.
What Stores Does Instacart Deliver From?
When you sign up and share your location, you get to choose from the stores in your area Instacart is partnered with.
Do They Honor Coupons?
They won’t honor store or manufacturer coupons, however, Instacart offers promotional coupons of their own.
When you log into your account, you can see the current promos.
Discounts are applied automatically when you add the promotional item/quantity to your cart.
3. FreshDirect
FreshDirect is a grocery delivery service with a goal to deliver food that’s as fresh as possible.
They get their fresh fruits and veggies direct from the source and work to have them delivered to you within a few days.
This is quite different than big box chain fruits and veggies, which often sit on trucks for weeks.
The other benefit of FreshDirect’s mission is that they’re supporting local farmers, fishermen, and other food artisans.
FreshDirect has a wide selection just like other grocery stores, selling meat, dairy, produce, frozen foods and more.
Where Do They Deliver?
FreshDirect delivers in New York State, New Jersey, Delaware, Washington DC, and the Philadelphia area.
How Much Does it Cost?
Delivery fees cost $5.99 depending on where delivery occurs. You can FreshDirect’s Delivery Pass program for $79 for a six-month membership.
When you join, you’ll no longer pay delivery fees. And you can reserve a time slot for delivery as well.
4. HelloFresh
HelloFresh is a different kind of grocery delivery service, and we thought they were worth a mention.
Instead of delivering groceries, you add to a cart, Hello Fresh delivers full meals to your home.
Note that you have to do the cooking with Hello Fresh. They’ll have everything you need in the box, but you’ve got to prepare it.
When you sign up for Hello Fresh, you can choose a delivery plan based on your family size and dietary preferences.
You can have meals delivered up to seven days a week and pause change or cancel your plan at any time.
Their team of chefs and dietitians creates new meals each week, too. That means you’ll never get bored with the same old meals.
Where Do They Deliver?
Hello Fresh delivers in several markets in U.S. metropolitan areas.
How Much Does it Cost?
Delivery for Hello Fresh is based on the size of your order. The meals start at $3.74 per serving.
It can be a good option for busy people who don’t have time to meal plan. A little on the expensive side, but cheaper than going out to eat.
5. Blue Apron
Blue Apron works similar to HelloFresh. They’ll deliver fresh, ready-to-prepare meals to single people or families of up to four.
You can also choose to skip a delivery or change your schedule up at any time.
Where Do They Deliver?
The Blue Apron website says they deliver to all locations in the continental U.S.
How Much Does it Cost?
Meals with Blue Apron start at $7.49 per serving. Quite a bit more expensive than HelloFresh. For a two-person plan you’ll pay at least $9.99 per serving.
Services such as Blue Apron and Hello Fresh may not be an “every day” kind of an option.
However, they could be good to use on your super busy days when you know you won’t have time to plan a meal.
6. Stop & Shop
Stop & Shop grocery delivery is located on the East Coast and operates in several U.S. cities. They currently have more than 400 locations.
Some of the states they operate in include:
- New York
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- Connecticut
They also operate in Rhode Island.
Do I Have to Become a Member?
You don’t have to become a member to get deliveries with Stop & Shop. However, there are minimum orders for delivery.
What Will Delivery Cost?
The minimum order for delivery at Stop & Shop is $60.00. Orders under $100 will be charged a $9.95 delivery fee.
Orders over $100 will pay $6.95 for delivery.
How Soon Will I Get My Order?
Stop & Shop’s delivery time is based largely on their delivery schedule at the time you place your order.
Which Locations Does Stop & Shop Deliver From?
Stop & Shop has hundreds of locations. Most of the locations offer some type of delivery.
However, you’ll have to contact your local Shop & Stop store for more specific delivery information.
Do They Honor Coupons?
Yes, Stop & Shop does accept coupons!
7. Amazon Fresh
If Amazon doesn’t yet have their hands in every aspect of buying, they will soon. For example, consider Amazon Fresh.
Amazon Fresh is a newer grocery delivery service offered exclusively to Amazon Prime members.
Do I Have to Become a Member?
As stated above, you do have to be an Amazon Prime member to qualify for this service.
What Does Delivery Cost?
The Amazon Fresh membership comes free with your Amazon Prime membership. This is a recent change as Amazon used to charge an additional fee to use Amazon Fresh.
Amazon Fresh charges a delivery fee on orders under $35. Orders $35 or over are free unless you choose rush shipping.
Note that the delivery fee varies based on where you live, but it’s typically $9.99.
How Soon Will I Get My Order?
According to their website, Amazon Fresh says they’ll deliver your groceries as early as the same day or next morning.
Which Stores Does Amazon Fresh Deliver From?
Amazon Fresh seems to deliver from their Amazon warehouse stores, although that wasn’t made clear on the website.
Do They Honor Coupons?
You cannot use coupons with Amazon Fresh. Expect to pay typical Amazon prices.
8. Shipt
Shipt delivers groceries in select metro areas in dozens of U.S. states.
Some of the states they operate in include Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington state, Washington DC and more.
Do I Have to Become a Member?
Yes, you do have to become a member to shop using Shipt. They do have two membership options: a $10 single pass membership or a $99 per year membership.
What Does Delivery Cost?
Deliveries on orders over $35 are free; smaller orders will be charged a $7 delivery fee. Shipt single passes come with free delivery.
How Soon Will I Get My Order?
You can get your order in as little as one hour when you use Shipt.
What Stores Does Shipt Deliver From?
Shipt delivers from stores in your local area.
Do They Honor Coupons?
Shipt does not honor store or manufacturer coupons, however they do have in-app promotions you can apply to your cart.
9. Home Chef
According to their website, Home Chef is the number 1 rated meal kit company with the highest rating for customer satisfaction.
Some of the reasons why they got a number rating include their variety of meal choices and the value of the meals and services.
Home Chef offers 16 different meals you can choose from each week that can be mixed and matched for your own preferences.
The meals also cost less than a lot of other grocery delivery services with meals prices from $6.99.
According to their website, they beat grocery store prices by more than $7 on average, and customers can expect to spend less than $50 each week on their order.
Do They Honor Coupons?
Yes! There are coupons available for Home Chef. In fact, while exploring their website for this article, I found a $30 off coupon code that popped up my browser!
10. Walmart Delivery Services
Walmart is smartly getting in on the grocery delivery business.
This is a newer service for Walmart, however, they do have grocery delivery in most states at several locations in each state.
Fees for Walmart grocery delivery vary based on store location, time of delivery and other factors. Contact a store near you that offers delivery in order to find out about fees.
And note that you can always place your grocery order online at Walmart.com and have it ready for pickup.
Standard grocery pickup is free, but you’ll pay a fee if you want a rush order ready for pickup.
Do They Honor Coupons?
Unfortunately, Walmart pick-up service does not honor coupons at the time of this writing. However, that may change in the future.
There you have it: seven grocery delivery services that just might be able to make your life easier.
So, that being said, what else do you need to know about having your groceries delivered to you? Read on and find out.
What Else Do I Need to Know About Having Groceries Delivered to Me?
You may be wondering what else you need to know about grocery delivery.
Here are some tips and other information that can help you make a more informed decision about having your groceries delivered.
Should I Tip the Delivery Person?
Most grocery delivery services all you to tip your driver/delivery person. Tipping is encouraged, just like it is for any similar service.
Since most of these grocery delivery services don’t pay a huge hourly wage, many drivers survive on tips.
Are Grocery Prices Higher Through These Types of Delivery Services
Yes, many times they are. Grocery delivery companies will often add a small surcharge onto some or all products you order.
This means that, along with any delivery fee, you’re paying extra in the form of higher prices to have your groceries delivered.
You as a consumer can decide whether or not the higher prices are worth the convenience aspect of the service.
Will I Get Fresh Produce?
Some people worry about using delivery services for groceries because they like the idea of choosing their own produce items.
I know this was a big fear for me when I was considering grocery delivery.
You may take comfort in the fact that most grocery delivery services insist their shoppers be trained in “produce picking”.
In other words, they’re supposed to be able to know what fruits and veggies look like in their optimum state.
And if something happens where one of your deliveries doesn’t come with quality produce, you’ve got options.
Most delivery services come with customer service centers that can help you if an order isn’t quite right.
Grocery Delivery Service Comparison Table
| Name of Service | Specialty | Delivery Fees |
| Thrive Market | Organic groceries | $5.95 / free over $49 |
| Instacart | Local groceries | $5.99 and up / $0 for Express members |
| FreshDirect | Local groceries | $5.99 to $15.99 |
| HelloFresh | Meal kits | $8.99 |
| Blue Apron | Meal kits | $9.99 |
| Stop & Shop | Local groceries | $6.95 to $9.95 |
| Amazon Fresh | Groceries | $9.99 (average) |
| Shipt | Local groceries | Free to $7.00 |
| Home Chef | Meal kits | $10 / free over $40 |
| Walmart Delivery | Walmart groceries | Varies by location |
Summary
Grocery deliver services can be a huge benefit for some people. I used a grocery delivery service several times when my four kids (six years between them all) were little.
As you might be able to imagine, hauling four little ones to the grocery store wasn’t fun.
Even with my well-behaved kids, it was tough keeping track of them and shopping for groceries at the same time.
Moms of young kids, busy working professionals, the housebound and many other people in many situations might benefit from home grocery delivery.
While it does cost extra to have groceries delivered, there are some bonus savings as well. First, you don’t have to take the time to go to the store and back.
Second, you don’t have to spend the gas money – or the wear and tear – on your vehicle. Third, you don’t have to deal with potential crowds of people cluttering grocery store aisles.
Instead, you can shop right from the comfort of your home computer and have your groceries delivered to your door.
And, depending on your situation, those benefits might far outweigh the cost of grocery delivery.
If you’re finding that shopping for groceries is getting cumbersome or a little too time-consuming for your schedule, consider grocery delivery.
There are several great options for shopping online and having your groceries delivered right to your door.
And, as also shared, there are even services that will deliver complete meal plans to your door.
These types of services were created to make life easier. Try them today and see if they bring some peace into your life.
