Last month, I discovered Amazon Fresh, a new grocery delivery service for Prime Members from Amazon. I’ve been waiting for grocery delivery in my area, rural Pennsylvania, for years. Amazon came to the rescue just in time to help me in my quest to simplify my life!
For Major Airhead and me, the goal of living simply extends to all facets of our lives: work, home, relationships, finances, health and wellness. Amazon Fresh enables us to affect two areas of our lives – it removes the stress of fitting weekly grocery shopping trips into our already “too busy” lives and it allows us to eat simply by offering us easy access to healthier, minimally processed and organic foods.
What Amazon Fresh Offers
Amazon Fresh offers basically the same selection as your local grocery store, with fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy, canned goods, frozen foods, snacks, health, beauty, and toiletry items and more. What I love about grocery shopping online is that you can sort items by type and quickly find what you are looking for. I purchase organic and all natural foods whenever possible, so I am able to narrow my selection by simply checking the “organic” box.
Not only can you shop all organic, but Amazon also allows you to narrow your search by other special dietary needs such as gluten free, paleo or vegetarian. A friend of mine, Sonya, also recently began using Amazon Fresh. Both she and her children must follow gluten free diets. In preparation for this post, I asked her about her experience. She told me that she is able to purchase all sorts of gluten free products that she cannot find in her local stores. She is extremely satisfied with the service.
Amazon Fresh also offers products from local companies through its Local Market feature. These products are somewhat limited in my area, but as of now I can order fresh baked Baklava, specialty fermented foods, homemade salsas, and even specialty ice cream and frozen treats!
I have not felt limited by the selection on Amazon Fresh so far, but it is important to note that Amazon Fresh may not carry a favorite brand that you have. To that, I say – live a little! Try something new, you might like it.
Prices on Amazon Fresh
Believe it or not, I have found some prices can be as good as or better than those at my local grocery store. For example, 16 oz. of Almonds at my local Giant usually runs about $7.99. I found the same size package of Happy Belly Almonds on Amazon Fresh for $5.24! A gallon of organic milk on Fresh is $6.59, while I usually pay $3.99 for a half gallon at my local store. Just two examples and I’m sure I could cite more.
One word of warning, you do have to pay close attention to the size of the product you are buying. It’s hard to tell from a photo whether something is 32 ounces versus 48 ounces, so be sure to read the description. I made that mistake early on thinking I was getting a good deal on organic butter only to find out that only two sticks were included instead of four!
Sure, some items are priced higher than you might have paid locally, but I consider that a trade-off. For what I may pay additional, I now have time to spend time with family, read, relax, or work on my blog! And to me that is priceless!
How It Works
Using Amazon Fresh is easy-peasy! You simply visit Amazon.com, click on Fresh and add items to your cart. As mentioned earlier, the sort feature makes finding items a snap, and you can also search by keywords like “k cups” and “hummus”.
You will need to first select your delivery window. It’s important to do this up front to ensure all items you order will be in stock for your selected delivery time. Fresh will alert you when an item is out of stock and whether or not it is expected to be available when your order is packed.
You can select from two delivery options: door step or attended delivery. Door step delivery does not require you to be home. The carrier (mine has been the United States Postal Service) leaves your groceries at your door. In my area, delivery is usually available 1-2 days out, so I do need to plan ahead. Delivery windows in my area are either from 7 am – 10 am or 10 am – 1 pm. All items are delivered in insulated totes and perishables are packed with special ice packs and sometimes even dry ice, to ensure they remain cold until you arrive home to unpack them. Attended delivery requires you set a specific delivery time, instead of a delivery window, and you must be present to receive your items. So far, I have been using door step delivery and have been extremely pleased.
Amazon Fresh is available to Prime Members and offers a free 30-day trial. I highly recommend trying the service to determine if it’s for you. You have nothing to lose! After the 30 day trial, there is a monthly fee of $14.99 which then entitles you to unlimited free delivery for order amounts of at least $40. If an order under $40 is placed, a $9.99 delivery fee will apply.
My Experience
So far, I am loving Amazon Fresh! I’ve had six grocery deliveries to date. In my opinion, the service is well worth the $14.99 per month subscription fee. I now do my grocery shopping while enjoying my morning coffee – how cool is that!
Amazon Fresh groceries come with a guarantee – if you receive something that does not meet your expectations, you can simply contact them for a refund. In my view, Amazon Fresh is suitably named. All fruits, veggies, and meats that I have received have been really fresh and I have had no concerns. 
I would be remiss if I did not share two small issues I have had so far. On one of my first grocery deliveries, two items I selected had run out of stock by the time my order was packed. In this case, I received an email from Fresh alerting me to the problem and letting me know that they substituted similar items FREE of charge. How could I have been upset by that!?
With the last grocery delivery I had, one of my seven totes was missing. I contacted Amazon to alert them. The representative credited me for all the items in the tote, plus gave me a $15 courtesy credit to cover the $9.99 delivery fee that I would be charged when I re-ordered to replace the items (since the overall total was less than $40.) This was a bit of an inconvenience, however, I feel I was made “whole” and the representative was so friendly and helpful I didn’t mind the inconvenience. Two days later, I had the items that I was missing. Thankfully, none of them was urgently needed.
I’ve been thinking about how this service might work for Major Airhead and me when we are travelling with our Airstream. I’m fairly confident that as long as the campground where we are staying will accept packages for us, it will work! One of the frustrating things we experience when we stay in new towns is navigating unfamiliar grocery stores and having to select from brands with which we have no experience. Being able to use the Amazon Fresh service and to schedule the grocery deliveries to coincide with our arrival to camp would be awesome!
My Recommendation
Friends, I highly recommend the Amazon Fresh service and suggest you check it out if you are currently a Prime member. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. This service is helping me to achieve my goal to simplify my life. If you are the least bit overwhelmed with the daily grind, if you want to have more time to do the things in life that matter most to you, if you have special dietary needs, or if you just like to try new things – this service is for you! In a word – it’s awesome!
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