One of the many tough realities about having a chronic illness is the unpredictability of it all. You never know when you’ll feel well enough to go out or follow through with the ideas you had made in advance (one of the reasons we HATE making future plans – you just never know how you’ll feel the day of). Even when we make a to-do list the night before of how we would like our day to unfold and what we would like to get done – it’s rare that it will go exactly as planned. Often we don’t feel quite well enough to leave the house, are too fatigued to follow through or we end up needing so many breaks that time simply runs out.
There has been countless days where we plan on going grocery shopping or grabbing food out but we never actually get ourselves out the door (even the days we are fully dressed to do so). We end up pushing it off until the next day and that becomes the day after that and so forth and so on until we end up snacking on a hodpodge of whatever we can find in the fridge and cabinets.
A great tool that we have taken full advantage of recently are grocery delivery services. There are several different kinds that all basically make the hassle of going out to get food taken care of with the click of your computer or phone.
We made a hopefully helpful list of our favorite food delivery services companies and a breakdown of what you can expect if you’re new to this.
Amazon Fresh:
Like Amazon or Amazon Prime, Amazon Fresh is a super easy and user friendly food delivery service. you can sign up for a free 30 day trial, after that if you are a prime member you pay an additional $14.99/ month. With this service you get same day or next day deliveries and shop from many supermarkets and local shops.
it’s basically like going grocery shopping on your computer. You can even get ice cream and other perishable items and they come cold right to your door. If you use it often the additional charge becomes worth it.
Brandless:
A new site we love is called Brandless. They have hundreds of items ranging from food to cleaning supplies to stationary and every item is $3 (including jars of coconut oil!). They cutout the middle man so they are able to provide high quality items at a lesser cost that ship straight to you. You can shop specific categories like Certified Organic, Vegan, Gluten Free, Certified Kosher and Non GMO.
We’ve ordered from this site before and are always pleasantly surprised by each product – not to mention we love their simplistic and chic packaging. It’s free shipping on orders over $39 and if you refer someone you get a $6 credit. They’re partnered with feeding America so every time you checkout a meal is donated to someone in need.
Instacart:
Instacart is a grocery delivery service that connects you with personal shoppers in your area to shop and deliver groceries from your favorite stores in as little as one hour or a selected time that works for you. You can tell your shopper specific notes and you will also get updates form your shopper if they are out of an item and you want to switch it for something else. You also can choose an option to pick up your ready to go groceries at the store yourself if you wish.
There is a $5.99 delivery fee (which is waived if you pay $149 annually for a membership) and a 10% “service fee” of more than $12. Instacart will even will deliver from Costco (and you don’t need a membership to order from there)!
Uber Eats / Postmates:
We clumped Uber Eats and Postmates together because while they are different services they essentially provide and do the same thing.
We don’t use this option too often because it can get expensive but it’s wonderful to use if your’e really craving a specific meal (for us its PHO when we’re stuck with a cold) and are just unable to make a run for it yourself.
Postmates will deliver basically anything (groceries, dinner, even alcohol in under an hour). For 20% off our regular monthly plan you can pay $7.99/month (billed annually) for a year of free delivery with Postmates Unlimited.
For Uber Eats, restaurants offer different meals at varying prices on the Uber Eats app, so the booking fee for Uber Eats varies based on several factors (but you’ll always see the fee upfront so you know what you’re paying before you order).
Target Drive Up:
While this isn’t technically a grocery delivery service we decided to add Target Drive Up to our list because we are HUGE target fans (who isn’t?!) and we could literally live off target supplies alone. Target Drive Up allows you to order items from the Target app, and they’ll bring them out to your car when you arrive at your local Target store.
This is a really great option when you’re just not able to bring yourself to walk into a store and stand in line. We have been in that position where we literally get to a store, park and then have to drive home cause we felt too sick to actually get out of the car. This is a great option of those days!
*Not every service we mentioned delivers to every city/state. Most sites have you put in your zip & will be able to tell you what is available to you. Also many of these companies will offer promo codes or deals for first time users so make sure to check for those!
Happy Shopping + Eating!
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