Fresh Direct (Washington Heights, Columbus: credit, budget, price)

[laurenB]

How are the produce, deli & meats from there?
Do frozen goods come frozen or half-melted?
How much tip for the delivery fella?

[Ace Rock]

Originally Posted by laurenB

How are the produce, deli & meats from there?
Do frozen goods come frozen or half-melted?
How much tip for the delivery fella?

They're fine.

Tip $1-2. The deliverymen are salaried, and most likely unionized with a good wage. They're not living on tips like the takeout delivery guys.

[Henna]

Here are 66 reviews on Fresh direct. I'm sure some of the reviews mention tipping as well.
FreshDirect.com - Astoria, NY 11101

[Viralmd]

I order a LOT from FD. They're NOT unionized, so I do tip a lot. $5. They're cheaper than the supermarkets and have better quality.

[UpsonDowns]

I placed three orders and received rotting produce twice. I emailed and was credited, but will not order produce from them again. Everything else was fine for convenience and the meats were particularly lean. They don't carry a lot of the smaller brands that I like, but they are good for staples. But I find Whole Foods' store brands to be cheaper than Fresh Direct.

[Viralmd]

Whole Paycheck is cheaper than Fresh Direct???? I don't think so (at least for what I order).
I've never had rotten produce. And getting to Whole Paycheck is really tough from where I live. There isn't one around every corner....
It's not easy to take all those groceries on a bus...

[Carbro]

The Whole Foods at Columbus Circle is, for the most part, cheaper for me than the Food Emporium. Even if it weren't I'd probably shop there for the sheer pleasure of the experience. Generally I hate shopping, but not at Whole Foods.

[circa62]

Fresh Direct is of high quality but you pay for it. I did place a large order once and it came in about seven or eight large boxs whereas my neighbor joked about if someone was moving in.

[UpsonDowns]

Originally Posted by Viralmd

Whole Paycheck is cheaper than Fresh Direct???? I don't think so (at least for what I order).
I've never had rotten produce. And getting to Whole Paycheck is really tough from where I live. There isn't one around every corner....
It's not easy to take all those groceries on a bus...

As I said, Whole Foods' store brands are cheaper than the name brands that Fresh Direct offers. I pack lunches with .99 cent tuna from Whole Foods every day. I walked into my Washington Heights Gristedes yesterday and saw that the yogurt I buy at the Columbus Circle Whole Foods for .99 is a 1.19 up here. A big bag of 365 brand tortilla chips is 1.99 as is a big jar of their store brand pasta sauce. That's all I can think of off of the top of my head, but we operate on a tight tight budget and I have comparison shopped. A friend of mine who lives in Queens stopped into WF to get a drink and noticed that chicken breasts were .30 per pound cheaper at WF than at her local grocery in Jackson Heights.

If you buy all the fancy stuff, you can definitely spend your whole paycheck, but for the basics, the prices at WF are tough to beat. Especially if you just buy simple single ingredient items and not lots of boxed or frozen meals - which do actually cost a fortune.

[squeezeboxgal]

I'm a big fan of Fresh Direct, but mostly because I drink a lot of bottled water, and my kitties use a lot of cat litter. I get those items, at a price comparable to those in the grocery stores, delivered directly to my door.

Nice .....