Any Peapod users out there?

Marian
Mon, 22 Dec 2008 19:07:50 +0000

Two years ago, I was unable to grocery shop for almost three months because of a broken leg, and it was not convenient for other members of my family to do the routine shopping.

Peapod was a godsend. I don’t see how my family could have functioned without it during that time.

However, Peapod is not perfect. I found that the minimum was one of the problems, even though I was buying for three people. I often got around that by buying some non-food items – such as toiletries and cleaning supplies – as part of my order. On a few occasions, I bought extra quantities of things that have a long shelf life, such as bottled water, canned soup, or laundry detergent, just to get my order up to the minimum. I knew I would use up those products sometime, so I wasn’t really wasting money. But this approach to reaching the minimum may not be a convenient thing for an apartment dweller because of a lack of storage space.

The second problem with Peapod is that you can’t pick the fresh foods yourself. If you order a bag of prepackaged salad or a package of cheese, for example, you never know whether you’re going to get one that expires tomorrow or a week from tomorrow.

The third problem is that having to be home for a delivery you scheduled two days ago is often surprisingly inconvenient (unless you have your leg in a brace and are getting around in a wheelchair, meaning that you’re unlikely to go out anyway).

Also, if Peapod in your area is anything like Peapod in my area, never buy bananas or anything else that can be damaged by getting too cold. Peapod has ways of protecting perishable food from getting warm, but it doesn’t seem to have ways of protecting foods like bananas from getting cold. After receiving black bananas three times in a row, I gave up.