<p>Looking to streamline our family’s life, don’t want to spend major bucks.
Just hope to ease some stress on our schedules at a particularly challenging time.
We are in NJ.</p>
<p>Someone I know uses Peapod (Stop and Shop) to buy online and have delivered.
There are free codes for new customers so I might try it.
ShopRite from Home is out there also and I’m more familiar with their stuff and prices.</p>
<p>Any experience to share?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I used Peapod for a couple of months after breaking my leg several years ago.</p>
<p>Although the service was pretty good, as soon as I could ditch Peapod and start going to the supermarket again, I did.</p>
<p>There are a few issues with Peapod that annoyed me, but that might have been because I had no other way to get groceries – not even one or two items. I was totally dependent on Peapod. These are the things that bothered me:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>When you buy fresh food, you have no control over the expiration date. You could get food that is a week short of its expiration date (including produce that isn’t ripe yet), or you could get stuff that expires tomorrow. And you won’t know until it arrives. This makes meal planning difficult. </p></li>
<li><p>Foods that should not be exposed to refrigerator temperatures may suffer because the whole truck is refrigerated. This seems to be especially a problem with bananas.</p></li>
<li><p>If Peapod is out of stock on a particular item, you can choose to let them substitute a similar item (but you don’t know what it will be) or to omit that item from your order. Either one can be inconvenient.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a minimum purchase.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think Peapod could be a great alternative if you use it for one big weekly or biweekly shopping trip, as long as you have opportunities to pick up a few items at the store (particularly fresh foods) in between the Peapod deliveries. But if you try to use Peapod exclusively, the way I did, you may be frustrated with it.</p>
<p>Thank you, Marian. I can see that some of those things would get to me also.</p>
<p>I will be able to make small trips for produce/fruit.
Hoping that a delivery service will help with the large and heavy things for awhile.</p>
<p>We actually keep our bananas in the a bag in the frig; they turn brown but are fine inside.</p>
<p>Appreciate hearing your experience.</p>
<p>My neighbor loves peapod and had gotten a few others to join. (she doesn’t drive). I don’t see the time savings, as you have to go online to deal with it and I can whiz through my local ShopRite and get what I need. I also have a few standard things that I get weekly at Trader Joe’s, which is next door to my gym.</p>
<p>Does Fresh Direct deliver to your area? My D lives in Manhattan and uses them exclusively and has been happy with them.She made Thanksgiving dinner last year and will be doing the same next week with everything from Fresh Direct.</p>
<p>Just checked, cbreeze. FreshDirect delivers to several eastern counties in NJ.
We are just west of their current delivery zones. But they do say they are expanding all the time. I liked their delivery fee of only $6.99.</p>
<p>I don’t use the delivery services, but assuming the level of service is equivalent (and you’re dealing with the same issues with expiration dates), I would probably go with Shoprite. We have both next door to us in our town (along with BJ’s less than a half mile away), so I could use either store if I want. The qualify seems about the same, but the prices are higher at Stop & Shop (at least here). Which store do you usually use - or do you go somewhere else?</p>
<p>I don’t use delivery, even during my busy season at work, because I prefer to use fresh produce and meats and prefer to pick them myself - aside from the expiration issue. If I’m going to be there to pick those, I’m not really going to save much time ordering the rest.</p>
<p>A good friend who is a widow with a full-time job used Peapod when her twins were younger. Saved her considerable time and hassle. There are tradeoffs.</p>
<p>This isnt produce, but I did try alice.com a while back. Was convenient. Also sent DS stuf with them.</p>
<p>This is old, but worth a look [100</a> Places To Buy Your Groceries Online](<a href=“http://smartlifeblog.com/100-places-to-buy-your-groceries-online/]100”>http://smartlifeblog.com/100-places-to-buy-your-groceries-online/)</p>
<p>I have had very good experience with Peapod. I use them several times a year, and load up on heavy items (soft drinks, seltzer, water) when I order.</p>
<p>Consistently on time
Usually only one or two items is out of stock
Very happy with the produce, but when I have occasionally had problems (soft tomatoes or old-looking kale) they have promptly refunded my money.
There are a few items that are not carried at my local store but can be found on their online store.</p>
<p>One of the pitfalls of online grocery shopping for me is occasionally inadvertently ordering larger sized items if I don’t pay close attention to the product information.</p>
<p>Good to hear some positives about Peapod.</p>
<p>My shopping now is a real mess of different trips to different places.
Costco for some family favorites: breads, cereals, nuts, milk, eggs, fruit, yogurts, sliced cheese, and paper towels, TP.</p>
<p>Shop Rite for meats and produce. It’s about a 25 min trip so inconvenient.</p>
<p>A$P for quick pickups like pasta, canned tomatoes, etc. Can walk to it so convenient but the quality and selection is not good at all. It’s a small old store.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses, I think I will try Shop Rite as I’m cheap and I know the prices are better!</p>
<p>Well, I just placed an order at ShopRite for delivery on Friday afternoon, 4-6pm.
I’ll let you all know how it turns out.</p>
<p>Well, this was easy.
Only glitch I had was that SR called to ask if they could come EARLY.
(No, I’ll still be at work, that’s why I picked my delivery time).</p>
<p>All items as I expected, delivered to my kitchen. Even got free delivery ($10) for 1st time customer.
And they applied all the super special prices in effect in their flyer for Fri/Sat only.
Pretty cool.</p>