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Shopping for groceries can be mentally and physically demanding. Grocery delivery services bring food and other household essentials straight to your door, eliminating the need to travel to the store, wait in checkout lines, and carry heavy bags.
Some of these services now accept Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards for customers who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). When a participant shops at a SNAP-authorized retailer, their SNAP EBT account is debited to reimburse the store for food that was purchased. SNAP provides qualified participants with monthly funds to help them afford and access nutritious food essential to maintaining good health.
Our Reviews Team researched and tested the best grocery delivery services available nationwide to help you make an informed decision for yourself or for someone you care for. Read on to see our top three picks for the best grocery delivery services available, including the benefits and drawbacks of each service.
Thrive Market offers a convenient way to shop for pantry staples and frozen foods. We appreciate that the service offers a number of dietary filters, allowing customers to quickly search and find what they want to order. Thrive Market waives membership fees for older adults with limited incomes and for veterans.
Founded in 2014, Thrive Market is a subscription-based grocery delivery service that strives to increase the availability of nutritious and affordable food.
Thrive Market stands out for its wide range of organic and natural products, including groceries, dietary supplements, personal care items, pet supplies, and more.
The service prioritizes nutritious foods and partners with brands and distributors that adhere to environmentally friendly practices. You’ll find sustainably sourced and organic frozen meat and seafood, as well as pantry staples with minimal additives and nontoxic cleaning products.
We appreciate that Thrive Market offers options to meet the unique nutritional requirements of older adults, including high protein, low sodium, and no added sugar diets.
Unfortunately, Thrive Market doesn’t offer perishable goods like eggs, milk, and produce. Since those types of perishable foods are fresh and nutrient-dense compared with frozen or processed foods, you’ll want to use a different service or visit your local supermarket for those items.
Thrive Market is our Reviews Team’s pick for “Best Grocery Delivery Service for Special Diets” because it offers a large selection of nutrient-rich foods and makes it easy to search for items by dietary restrictions. Plus, Thrive Market is the first online-only grocer in the United States to accept SNAP EBT payments.
Our Reviews Team has mixed feelings after testing Thrive Market for nearly two weeks.
We appreciate that the service features ethically sourced pantry staples and sustainably sourced proteins, when possible.
We also love that Thrive Market caters to people with special dietary needs. One of our testers who has celiac disease says the service outshines the competition by offering helpful and accurate search filters to help shoppers steer clear of allergens. This is an important consideration since gluten cross-contamination can be difficult to avoid. At least one-third of people with celiac disease are exposed to gluten despite choosing foods that are marketed as gluten-free.
Thrive Market offers many pantry staples, including a wide selection of gluten-free choices that meet our tester’s dietary needs. When shopping, we noticed several items were out of stock, especially frozen meat like chicken thighs and seafood.
We were disappointed when our initial order arrived three days late, with all the frozen items completely melted. When we contacted customer service, the representative was helpful and friendly, offering a gift card or expedited reorder to make things right. Still, we weren’t given the option to receive a full refund, which we would have appreciated.
Thrive Market claims to ship frozen orders Monday through Wednesday to help prevent delays over the weekend. Our order was shipped on a Friday, which may have contributed to the multiple delays we experienced.
Our second order was completely different. The box was cold, and everything inside was still frozen. The dry ice was intact, and the food packaging was in good condition. Only one box was slightly compressed, but not to the point where the food was damaged.
After researching the brand and interviewing other Thrive Market customers, we found that the initial delivery delays we experienced don’t seem to be a common issue.
“I would recommend this service to people with celiac disease or food allergies, with the caveat that delivery can be iffy. Sometimes, it can be worth it to endure some of the challenges of delivery services if it means you’re going to receive food that is safe for you and that there’s a wide variety of options available for your dietary needs.”
An estimated 6 billion pounds of imperfect or “ugly” produce that doesn’t meet aesthetic standards goes to waste each year, even though it is just as nutritious as non-aesthetically pleasing options. Misfits Market offers a win-win solution to the food waste crisis by partnering with farmers to rescue odd-looking and surplus fruits and vegetables and redistributing them at an affordable price.
Since its founding in 2018, the company has grown considerably, and now offers more items, including wine, organic meat, and plant-based proteins.
Unlike many other grocery delivery services, Misfits Market does not charge a membership fee. The service claims to offer up to 30% savings compared to grocery store prices. When testing, we found that prices are actually similar to those at local supermarkets in areas with low cost of living, but in high-cost areas, you may save more.
Misfits Market is our Reviews Team’s pick for “Best Budget-Friendly Grocery Delivery Service” because it is committed to offering high-quality meat, organic produce, and other groceries at affordable prices. Membership is free, and delivery is reasonably priced, starting at $5.99 per box.
Our Reviews Team had an overall positive experience with Misfits Market. We are impressed with the service’s broad product selection of grocery items and how easy it is to use.
We found the search function helpful. It allowed us to search for individual items and filter results by dietary restrictions, discounts, and organic options.
When our box was delivered, the ice packs were no longer frozen, and the box was damaged. However, the groceries were cold, and the eggs were well-protected in a double-layered cardboard box. We noticed that the vegetables appeared to be tossed in with the rest of our groceries, although the majority were still fresh and in good shape. The tomatoes in our box were no longer good, but we flagged them as spoiled, and our account was promptly credited.
“It’s very convenient to get staple groceries and things that are normally really expensive delivered (e.g., eggs, chicken, and salmon) because a lot of it is discounted.”
Launched in 2015, Hungryroot is a hybrid grocery and meal kit delivery service that simplifies meal planning by shipping fresh groceries and recipes to your door weekly.
When you sign up, you’ll start by taking a short quiz to get personalized meal and grocery suggestions. You can see the complete nutritional information for the suggested groceries in your food profile. If Hungryroot recommends anything you’re not happy with, there’s plenty of room for customization.
Hungryroot operates on a credit system, with each plan size assigned a certain amount of credits. You will choose a plan and pay a certain amount per week, which gives you credits to use in selecting your items and meals for the week. Although we initially found the credits system a bit confusing, we appreciate that it adds flexibility, allowing you to easily edit your delivery to swap recipes and ingredients.
Once you remove an item from your cart, you’ll receive credits to spend on anything on the platform. This includes the service’s extensive selection of add-on groceries, including fresh produce, dairy, raw meat, and prepared meals. Any unused credits will roll over to the following week.
When making changes to your grocery list, you can filter recipes and groceries for specific health goals, including weight loss, blood sugar control, and more. Specific filters include “Carb-Conscious” (less than 30 grams of carbs), “650 Calories Or Less,” and “Less Sodium (less than 800 milligrams).
We don’t like that you have to pay for a subscription before seeing the service’s meal and recipe options. And, despite offering a large grocery selection, items tend to be pricier than what you would find at your local grocery store.
Plans start at $69 per week and include three two-serving recipes, giving you six servings total at $11.39 per serving.
People with limited incomes may find better value in another service, such as Misfits Market or delivery from a local grocery store.
Hungryroot earns our pick for “Best Grocery Delivery Service for Meal Kits” because of its large selection of meal kits, many of which are easy to prepare. We appreciate that the service allows you to choose between meal kits, prepared meals, and grocery items, depending on what you need and how much time you have to cook that week.
Our Reviews Team is impressed with how straightforward Hungryroot’s website and mobile app are to navigate. We were able to easily modify our order and swap out ingredients we didn’t like.
Our box arrived on time, with perishable items closer to the ice packs to keep the cold items cool. There weren’t any damaged items, and the quality of the produce was satisfactory, aside from one pack of sliced apples that only lasted a few days in the refrigerator. Most items had clear expiration dates, except for the steak, which only said “consume within five days.”
We felt the font size on our recipe cards was a bit too small and lacked detailed, clear instructions. We also noticed the cooking times weren’t always accurate, with some meals taking longer than expected.
But when it came to the finished product, we were very satisfied with the flavor of our meals, although we found that some servings were small and left us wanting a little bit more.
“The service is worth it for meal inspiration ideas, but after you discover your favorite meals, I wouldn’t recommend continuing to use the service since groceries at the store are cheaper.”
The grocery delivery services we’ve focused on in this review deliver nationwide. Here are a few other grocery delivery options we tested:
To narrow down the best grocery shopping and delivery services, our Reviews Team conducted thorough research and testing, carefully evaluating each service based on the following factors:
We also had all of our reviews medically reviewed by a registered dietitian nutritionist to ensure the services are appropriate for the needs of NCOA readers.
Here are a few key factors to consider before placing your next order.
Not all grocery delivery services are available everywhere. Some only deliver to certain states or ZIP codes, while others might cover the entire United States. People living in rural areas often have fewer options than those living in a larger city.
Thankfully, several grocery delivery services, including Walmart, have expanded over the past few years to increase access to home delivery of groceries.
Before choosing a service, check if they deliver to your ZIP code or home address. Most websites offer a search tool to verify delivery areas on their homepage.
It’s important to know whether you can order everything you need from one grocery delivery service. If you can’t, you’ll have to use an additional service or visit your local supermarket for certain items.
Some services offer a one-stop shop, delivering more than just groceries, including household items and personal care products. Other services, such as Thrive Market, focus more on specialty pantry staples and frozen foods, which means you may still need to shop elsewhere for everyday items like fresh produce, meats, and dairy.
Some people may find it more convenient to schedule deliveries ahead of time, while others prefer on-demand delivery.
Services like Instacart, Walmart+, and Shipt, which connect you with local shoppers, are more likely to offer same-day delivery than virtual-only stores.
While online grocery delivery services can be convenient, costs can add up. Research shows that, despite its benefits, common barriers to grocery delivery include higher online food prices, shipping and delivery fees, and minimum order requirements.
Before deciding on a service, consider your budget and look for any hidden fees that may contribute to a higher bill. These may include membership fees, markups, service charges, same-day order fees, and long-distance fees. Some grocery delivery services accept SNAP EBT cards for grocery delivery.
Consider whether the convenience is worth it, and compare different services to see if there are more affordable options that meet your needs.
[TOC: Compare grocery delivery services]
| Delivery fee | Starts at $5.95; orders over $49 ship free | Starts at $5.99, orders over $60 ship free | Starts at $6.99; orders over $70 ship free | Starts at $3.99 | Free for members on order over $35; $6.99 for orders under $35 | Starts at $10 without a membership |
| Subscription required? | Yes, $12 a month or 59.99 per year | Yes, no cost | Yes, no cost | No | Yes, $12.95 a month or $98 per year | No |
| Availability | Contiguous United States | Contiguous United States | Most ZIP codes in the contiguous United States | Nationwide; limited in some rural areas | Select ZIP codes across the United States | Select ZIP codes across the United States |
| Delivery time | 2–4 days for pantry items; 1–3 days for cold items | Order one week ahead | Order one week ahead | Same day | Same day | Same day |
| Accepts SNAP/EBT | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes, for eligible food products |
Grocery delivery services can save time and energy, allowing you to order groceries from the comfort of your own home. They can also increase access to fresh, healthful foods without the challenges and inconvenience of going to the store.
If you want to try a grocery delivery service, our Reviews Team’s top recommendations are Thrive Market, Misfits Market, and Hungryroot.
Thrive Market, Misfits Market, Hungryroot, Instacart, Shipt, and Walmart+ are among the most popular grocery delivery apps used for convenient delivery.
Depending on the service you choose, grocery delivery can be more affordable than shopping at your local supermarket, especially when you factor in the amount of gas saved by not traveling to the store. Shopping for groceries online also makes it easier to compare prices and find the best discounts, leading to even more potential savings.
With competitive prices, a large selection, and reasonable delivery fees, Misfits Market is our top choice for the cheapest grocery delivery service
Have questions about this review? Email us at reviewsteam@ncoa.org.
