What is Fresh Direct?

After moving to NYC, I started seeing trucks and hearing a lot about FreshDirect. Groceries... delivered? I had never heard of such a thing, besides Meals On Wheels, which is clearly not the same thing. I read some reviews online, which weren't too positive, saying you could find stuff for the same price in real stores and not have to pay shipping, etc. I created an account, for funsies, and I was immediately sent a $25 off coupon.

Well, now.

That's fun. I like getting $25 worth of groceries for nothing. An old habit kicked in - something I started doing while purchasing items online while planning my wedding. I searched for "Fresh Direct coupons", and found one for $50 off.

Well, now.

That's even better. I do like $50 worth of free groceries. The caveat was that I needed to spend $100 total, but that was fine by me... I already had $200 in my cart!

I went through a moral dilemma, though. I wanted to get all this super-awesome food, but the produce is delivered at the peak of freshness. What was I to do, needing to feed only 2 people and having more fresh produce than we could eat in time on hand? I changed my shopping approach.

I filled my online shopping cart with meat.

Meat is a tricky item. It can be very expensive, and it's less abundant in NYC, at my local grocery store, than in Texas, at any grocery store. Our freezer had been painfully empty since arriving in NYC, and our meat consumption left us wanting. So I took our $200 (minus $50, so closer to $150) and after comparing it to local prices and making sure it was comparable (which it was), spent it mostly on meat.

Need pictures? Here's my Fresh Direct Christmas:

The boxes arrived at my 5th floor apartment, at the scheduled time,

packed so neatly

with beautiful fresh vegetables

including some curly kale

and a butternut squash.

The meat was abundant

 

and packed my once-empty freezer.

The food is/was/has been delicious, and overall, I was quite pleased with the experience. I'm not a FD member (for the discounted shipping prices), but I would consider purchasing in bulk like this again, if I have an extra $150 lying around. Speaking of which, here's the receipt total, if you're curious:

80% lean ground chuck 2 lbs@$4.99/lb                       $9.98
90% lean ground beef sirloin 1 lb@$6.99/lb                 $6.99
Australian lamb loin chop (2") 0.84 lbs@$11.99/lb     $10.07
Beef fajita strips family pack 3.3 lbs@$5.39/lb            $17.79
Beef stew meat family pack 5.14 lbs@$4.99/lb           $25.65
Boneless pork loin chop (1") 2.9 lbs@$5.39/lb           $18.63
($3 extra charge to have the 6 chops individually vacuum-packed)
Frenched lamb rib chop 1 lb@$18.99/lb                     $19.99
($1 extra charge for vacuum-packed)
Pork tenderloin roast 1.08 lbs@$4.99/lb                      $5.89
Rib eye steak (1.5") 2.48 lbs@$15.99/lb                    $40.64
(I sure missed me some thick-cut rib eyes from Texas)
Sirloin steak (1") 2.3 lbs@$6.99/lb                              $18.08
($2 extra for individual vacuum packing)
Butternut squash 2.74 lbs@$1.49/lb                            $4.08
Green kale (bunch)                                                      $2.99
Jersey fresh asparagus (1 lb)                                        $2.99
Russet Potato (5 lb bag)                                               $2.69
Yellow corn by the ear (4 ears)                                     $2.00