We’re living in an age of ultimate convenience, which is especially helpful in college, when you’re busier than you’ve ever been and don’t always have easy transportation to run errands. Lucky for you, that convenience extends to the grocery store. Today, there are tons of grocery delivery options, but here are some of the best.
Third-Party Delivery Services
Grocery delivery services like Instacart, Shipt, Peapod and Envoy allow you to buy your groceries online and have them delivered right to your home. Although, access to each will depend on where you live.
How it works: They pick up groceries and other items from local stores and deliver them to your house, either for one-time delivery fees, or through a monthly or annual subscription to the service.
Peapod is available in New England, the mid-Atlantic states and the Midwest. This service accepts coupons and applies them to your purchase, so it’s easy to offset delivery fees. There’s also a promo on their website for a discount on your first purchase and free delivery. Stop & Shop and Giant are both available through Peapod.
Shipt is available in the Southeast, Chicago and Texas, and honors some in-store sales. Stores like Target, HEB, and Western Market all use Shipt. Side note: Because the service uses personal shoppers, you can also sign up to do the shopping for other people and get paid.
Instacart, the most widely available delivery service, is available in 50 states. It also delivers way more than groceries, including items from CVS, Petco, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Price Rite, Shaw’s and Aldi. Instacart’s website has a 14-day free delivery intro offer, so give it a shot.
Envoy is a little bit different. It’s a personal concierge service that does errands and rides as well as grocery delivery. It’s available in 11 states including California, Texas and Florida.
Walmart
Walmart’s grocery delivery service is relatively new, and there isn’t much information about the logistics. It seems as though the prices for delivered groceries are the same as they are in-store, which means they’re pretty much the least expensive you’re going to find. Walmart started rolling this program out just this year, and says that by the end of 2018, they’ll have grocery delivery available from 800 stores in 100 metro areas. That equates to about 40 percent of US households. So, you might have to wait to try out this service.
Whole Foods & Prime Now
For a few years now, Whole Foods has been offering concierge shopping services. You pick out what you want in advance on their website, the store preps it for you, and all you have to do is pick up a bag at the front door. Now that Amazon owns the healthy grocer, though, there are even more possibilities. You can now get Whole Foods products through Prime Now, a delivery service powered by Amazon Prime that will deliver your groceries (and other items) on the same-day as ordering, or at a scheduled time. It’s not available everywhere, though, and Whole Foods’ website says they’re currently expanding the service to more markets.
Amazon Pantry & Amazon Fresh
Amazon offers many grocery delivery options, including Amazon Pantry, a service that delivers everything from dry goods to paper goods. But here’s the thing about shopping on Amazon—sometimes you save a lot of money, and sometimes you overpay. For example, you may find that Trader Joe's products are seriously marked up, and that's because they're sold from a third-party vendor and not TJ's. However, if you’re going to school in Oregon and you’re really dying for the Crystal Hot Sauce you’re used to eating at home in Tennessee, it might be worth it to you to spring for the added cost.
Amazon Fresh is Amazon’s premiere grocery delivery service and delivers produce (in addition to dry goods), which costs $14.99 annually on top of a Prime or Student Prime membership. If your order is over $50, they offer free delivery, but there’s a fee for smaller orders. Search by zip code on their website to see if Amazon Fresh is available in your area. The upside: You can probably order straight from your parents’ account and not have to deal with figuring out if you have enough money for your order.