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A running list of where to buy groceries online when your local store is out of stock

Mar 29, 2021, 21:10 IST
Business Insider
Debanjali Bose/Business Insider
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  • Shopping for groceries right now can be a little tricky, both in-person and online.
  • We've compiled a running list of online stores we know of where you can get groceries right now.
  • Some places might be experiencing shipping delays or might have low inventory for certain items, but the hope is that you'll have more options to choose from when you need it most.

Depending on where you are during these trying times, getting groceries can range between easy-peasy to experiencing lines running around the corner.

Wherever your situation falls on that spectrum, you may have to order your groceries online. While we are all for supporting small and local businesses, and hope that you will continue to do so if and when you can, we understand that things are now, more than ever, out of everyone's hands.

For this reason, we've put together a running list of all of the online grocery retailers that are heroically managing and continuing to run and deliver us some of our most important and basic human needs. Some places might be experiencing shipping delays or might have low inventory for certain items, but the hope is that you'll have more options to choose from when you need it most.

We've included (and will continue to add) stores that specialize in everything from general groceries and pantry staples to seafood and even restaurants that pivoted and are now selling groceries online.

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General groceries:

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

  • Fresh Direct: Fresh Direct is our favorite large grocery retailer to order from online right now due to its ease of use, value, variety, and convenience as a one-stop-shop for all groceries. Keep in mind, though, that service may be slower due to high demand, as with many, if not most, places right now. Fresh Direct's delivery fee is $5.99. Read our review here.
  • Walmart: A lot of the bigger box stores are having trouble with order fulfillment, but Walmart seems to be doing relatively well. Delivery fees are a little on the steeper side ($9.94), but if you're on a budget and ordering in bulk, that may be the way to go.
  • AmazonFresh: Amazon has been hit-and-miss as far as having groceries in stock lately, but when things are in stock, Prime members can benefit from the service.
  • Peapod: We like Peapod for its shopping assistants and rewards program, along with its discounts. The delivery fee is $6.95.
  • Instacart: Instacart links up with local grocery stores (and more) to provide quick deliveries from within your neighborhood or general vicinity. The delivery fee is $7.99, though there's an Express option for free delivery on orders $35+, which costs $99 a year or $9.99 per month. Read our review here.
  • Shipt: Like Instacart, Shipt is widely available geographically and allows you to shop from local stores with the help of a personal shopper who will pick up and deliver your goods. For the premium, though, Shipt is membership-based: $99 annually, or $14 a month.
  • Thrive Market: Thrive Market sells organic meat and seafood, and much of it in bulk. Using sustainably-minded practices puts a premium on this stuff, but we've thoroughly tried the service and have come away repeatedly impressed. The monthly membership is $9.94. Read our review here.
  • Boxed: Boxed offers dry goods in bulk. There's no membership fee, but if you spend under $49, shipping ($6.99) is on you. Read our review here.
  • Costco: Costco is another place to head if you're shopping in bulk. Non-members are subject to some fees that members can avoid like a $3 delivery fee for orders over $75 and up to $15 on orders under $75. There's also a 5% non-member surcharge on all orders.
  • Mercato: Mercato facilitates local grocery deliveries for independent grocers in your area. Think smaller, higher-end markets that haven't breached the e-commerce world.
  • Patagonia Provisions: Patagonia Provisions started out with mostly canned foods and camping-savvy fare, but recently, the brand has introduced everything from baby food to pasta. It's not the cheapest, but the quality, from what we've seen (especially in the canned seafood), makes it worth it.
  • Bubble Goods: Its mission is to only curate the best organic and responsibly-sourced foods that don't have refined sugar, artificial fillers, and more. Unless you're already living this lifestyle, most, if not all, the items will the new to you.

Specialty items:

Snake River Farms

Bread

  • Bread Basket: The beloved NYC bakery has started to ship its artisan loaves of bread to 48 states nationwide. There's even an option to buy and send bread to healthcare heroes at different hospitals in the tri-state area.
  • Williams Sonoma: Somewhere in between Williams Sonoma's aisles of kitchen tools and appliances are fresh bread, pastries, bagels, and biscuits. Shipping is free on orders over $49.
  • Wolferman's Bakery: Owned and operated by Harry & David, this online bakery has all the baked goods including bagels, English muffins, scones, and pastries. Bagels ship with two-day shipping that won't incur an upcharge, but other items may take longer to receive.

Produce

  • Imperfect Foods: If you don't mind a bit of misshapen but still delicious and nutritious produce, dairy, and meat, you can score them at 30% less than grocery store prices. You only pay for the items you choose for your box, with up to $5.99 for shipping. The downside is that you can't see specific items before they're shipped, and the service is only available along the West Coast, or in the West South Central region, Midwest, or Northeast. Read our review here.
  • Misfits Market: Similar to Imperfect Food, but you choose between two boxes that should fit enough "ugly produce" to feed 1-2 people or 3-5 people. It currently operates in 24 states, with more on the way. Prices claim to be 40% less than what you'd find in grocery stores.
  • Asian Veggies: For produce that you'd usually only be able to find in Asian supermarkets such as bok choy, watercress, snow peas, Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce, and Korean pears, try ordering them online from Asian Veggies. Most items are sold wholesale (such as a box of 10 Korean pears or five pounds of carrots), so try to order for nearby friends and family. It currently operates in parts of New York (Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan) and New Jersey (between Jersey City up to Fort Lee) but you can contact the shop and arrange to meet somewhere reasonable if you're close to those areas. Order minimums are $45 and there's an $8 delivery fee.
  • Edible Arrangements: Edible Arrangements is known for its cornucopias of chocolate-dipped, and otherwise bedazzled fruits, but the brand is now offering whole fruit.
  • The Fruit Company: The Fruit Company offers monthly fruit boxes ("Americana," "Exotica," and "Organic," among others), as well as holiday gifts and business gifts.
  • Farmbox Direct: Farmbox offers "organic" and "all-natural" fruit and vegetable boxes in various sizes, as well as juice boxes. Better yet, you get free delivery within the continental US.

Meat

  • Farm Foods Market: If you can meet a 10-pound minimum, you'll want to check out Farm Foods. Shop by the type of meat and seafood and then browse through the farms from which they're raised or areas in which they're wild-caught.
  • Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative: Pasture-raised beef, pork, and poultry from a cooperative of families producing small batches of some of the highest-quality animal protein you can get your hands on this day and age.
  • Crowd Cow: Crowd Cow is a subscription-based delivery service known for top-notch cuts of meat from livestock that lived the high life, like Japanese Wagyu, organic and grass-fed American cattle, and so on. It also offers a variety of fresh and smoked fishes, predominantly from fishing cooperatives. Subscriptions start at $99 with free shipping and a 5% discount on every shipment. Read our review here.
  • Porter Road: Well-rounded Porter Road has all the meats, and while the steaks are great, we're a fan of the sausages and the bacon. Read our review here.
  • Holy Grail Steaks: One of the very few meat purveyors in the United States offering Japanese Wagyu, Holy Grail steaks offers just about every cut of steak you could want.
  • LaFrieda Meat Purveyors: If US restaurants had to choose one meat purveyor, it would probably be Pat LaFrieda. Shake Shack may be the most widespread of the brand's clientele, but fine restaurants from coast to coast call on LaFrieda for top quality cuts.
  • Snake River Farms: More top-notch, responsibly produced meat, also available in bulk. Read our review here.
  • Rastelli's: This iconic New Jersey outpost sells responsibly-raised meat in bulk. Boxes of different bundles and cuts of meat are available, but you can also subscribe to regular shipments with a 5% discount. The company is experiencing delays and expects to deliver items within 7-12 business days. Read our review here.
  • ButcherBox: Another meat subscription, but one that you can curate and build yourself instead of choosing from pre-determined bundles. There's currently a waitlist to join. Read our review here.

Seafood

  • Sea to Table: Sea to Table offers some of the best quality and most sustainably (and transparently) sourced seafood you can find on the planet, on the web, and in the grocery store. Traceability extends to where it was landed, how it was caught, and a conservative "best before" date that you won't find with competitors. Read our review here.
  • Sizzlefish: Pure, natural seafood delivery that we've found to be expertly handled, packaged, and shipped. Read our review here.
  • Wild Alaskan: A robust inventory of Pacific Northwest seafood from salmon to black cod and king crab, our favorite options from Wild Alaskan are the cod and halibut fillets. Read our review here.
  • Crab Place: Everything from Maryland blue crab and shrimp to some of the freshest, best scallops you can find in the world, Crab Place is going on 15 years in the e-commerce world and does an immaculate job with packaging and shipping. Read our review here.
  • Lobster Anywhere: If you want the best and freshest Maine lobster you can find, look no further. Lobster Anywhere has been in the game for over 20 years and is still going strong. Our favorites? The in-shell lobster tails and the lobster bisque. Read our review here.

Dry goods

  • Nuts.com: Nuts can be a great way to round out your protein, but they can be tough and expensive to buy in bulk. Nuts.com makes buying in bulk more approachable and more convenient.
  • The Wally Shop: This is the equivalent of buying food in the bulk aisle, complete with reusable jars and tote bags that you'd send back once you're done using them. If you're looking for wholesale nuts, grains, dry goods, and baking essentials, The Wally Shop has most everything you'll need.
  • iGourmet: iGourmet offers gourmet foods in individual sizes and in bulk. If you're looking for caviar or a leg of Iberico Jamon, you might want to start shopping here.

Ready-to-eat foods

  • Goldbelly: Goldbelly facilitates orders from restaurants big and small to deliver you just about anything you'd want, for a charge, but a subscription will help cut down on delivery fees if you find that you use the service enough. Orders are fulfilled by individual restaurants, so some might be delayed. There are also meal kits and monthly subscriptions for different types of foods like pizza or bagels, as well as subscriptions to foods from different cities. All proceeds from a City Subscription goes toward delivering Goldbelly care packages to healthcare heroes across the nation. Read our review here.
  • Factor75: Choose from a menu of dishes for complete meals that just need a few minutes in the oven or microwave. This is less like a meal plan or meal kit because there's no prepping or cooking on your end.

Meal plan and kit delivery services:

Lil Nas X's "Satan Shoe" collaboration with MSCHF.MSCHF/Twitter

  • Home Chef: Fresh, chef-designed meals based on your preferences (calorie-conscious, calorie-conscious, or vegetarian). Starting at $6.99 per serving. Read our review here.
  • Blue Apron: Blue Apron offers well-balanced meals made from responsibly sourced ingredients. Meal kits start at $7.49 per serving. Read our review here. Read our review here.
  • Purple Carrot: Purple Carrot offers healthful, plant-based meal kits starting at about $9.99 per serving. Options include protein-rich and carb-rich dishes. Read our review here.
  • Fishpeople: Fishpeople offers seafood meal kits as well as individually packed soups and jerkies, which are great on the go.
  • Sun Basket: Sun Basket offers sustainably-sourced meals in three ways: oven-ready, pre-prepped, and classic cooking. Each option will include perfectly portioned-out trays, depending on how much time you want to invest in your cooking. $10.99 per serving. Read our review here.
  • HelloFresh: A box of high-quality, fresh ingredients shipped directly to you from the farm for $7.49. The brand also offers flexible meal plans so you can skip a week here and there, and swap recipes. Read our review here.
  • Dinnerly: "Unfussy and affordable" weekday meals is what Dinnerly advertises, and it's spot-on: $4.49 a meal is the most budget-friendly meal plan or kit we've found yet. Read our review here.
  • Veestro: Plant-based, organic ingredients sent a la carte, per the chef's choice, or for weight loss. Veestro might be a little on the pricey side with meals starting at $9.90, but only by a small margin, and again, they're organic. Read our review here.

Restaurants that are now selling groceries:

Panera

  • California Pizza Kitchen: The chain restaurant California Pizza Kitchen has created CPK Market for meal kits, pantry items, and alcohol.
  • Subway: Subway, the sandwich franchise, is apparently still offering catering and is also stocking some stores with basic groceries.
  • Panera: Bakery chain Panera will deliver bread and bagels as well as fresh produce, milk, and dairy.
  • Just Salad: In New York and New Jersey, Just Salad is offering meal kits as well as fresh produce, and more.
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