Mackenzie Childs rug (c/o) Daily Harvest Anthropologie bowls Thrive Market Meat Box
It’s been around three-ish weeks (I haven’t kept track) of hunkering at home to stop the spread of Coronavirus now, and it looks like we’ll be here for a bit longer. I know I’m lucky and am not complaining as we’ve filled our time with work, cleaning, walking the pups, catching up on ALL the shows, and taking the occasional drive along the coast. During the first couple of weeks, I was still running out to the store for our weekly groceries (well, what I could get), but under current local and national guidelines, we’ve decided to skip even the grocery store this week and next.
While that’s admittedly been a bit of a challenge at times, I’ve discovered a few companies delivering healthy, delicious food (and wine!) straight to your door. (And while Instacart and Amazon Fresh delivery seem like obvious answers, it is just not possible to get available delivery times or even pick-up times at local stores right now in our area.) So today, I’m sharing a couple of favorites below and sending a big, fat THANK YOU to all the delivery drivers out there helping to keep so many people at home. We appreciate you!
Daily Harvest – I’ve been wanting to try out Daily Harvest for a while now, so it seemed like a no brainer timeframe to finally pull the trigger. And I’m so glad that I did. There are a few plans to choose from, and basically, the more items you choose, the lower the price per item. You can then choose from a bunch of different smoothies, soups, harvest bowls, oat bowls, chia bowls, bites, lattes, and new flatbreads, and everything arrives frozen. For the smoothies and lattes, you add a liquid and blend in a blender; for soups, add liquid and heat; harvest bowls, simply heat. You get the idea.
It’s all super easy, and I’ve loved everything I’ve tried. Friends have asked if it’s actually filling, and my answer is yes BECAUSE I’ve switched to eating four small meals throughout the day instead of three now. Also, if I make one of the harvest bowls for lunch, I might add in a handful of lettuce, half an avocado, or some nuts for a little crunch. Standout favorites so far include the Chai + Coconut Smoothie, Cold Brew + Almond Smoothie, Broccoli + Cheeze Bowl, and the Lentil + Tomato Bolognese Bowl. Daily Harvest is warning about shipping delays right now, but I’ve gotten both of my shipments on Wednesdays as promised. (You’ll get a shipment once a week on your designated day unless you skip or pause.) Use code RE-BTH68YD to save $25 off your first box.
Thrive Market – Thrive Market is another one that I saw advertised ALL over the interwebs, but I never joined because you can’t browse the selection before you pay for a membership. I still find this VERY annoying (especially right now when I didn’t know if everything would be out of stock), but I decided to join recently because, well, desperate times. I also mainly joined because I saw that they had frozen meat and seafood to ship. (Although at the time I didn’t know if it would be in stock – heads up, it is.)
I’m not sure how it usually works, but right now they are offering “Build Your Own” meat or seafood boxes with five different protein options. Eric loves chicken thighs, so we maxed out on those and then added chicken breasts, shrimp, and a pork roast. Everything is wild-caught or organically grown and high quality, but it is pricey ($119 for a box) for the portions. That said, we were very happy to have meat in the freezer and already have big Friday night plans for that pork roast.
Besides the meat and seafood, I also ordered wine and groceries that I thought were all very reasonably priced. I ordered this red bundle which includes 6 bottles I’ve never tried. (Right now – why not, right?) We’ve opened one and really enjoyed it, but you can browse through a pretty big selection. You can’t buy produce, but I did order soups, pastas and pasta sauces, condiments (from brands like Primal Kitchen), Safe Catch tuna, hand sanitizer, and a few other nonperishable things we needed.
Overall (besides the meat and seafood prices I guess), I’m really pleased with Thrive Market. As for shipping time, I placed my order on April 3rd and received the meat on the 7th, the wine on the 8th, and the rest of the groceries on the 9th. (Pretty great in my opinion.) They’re warning of 2+ week shipping time, but I think it really just depends on where you live.
Sitka Salmon Shares – I tried out Sitka Salmon Shares back in January, and I’m so excited to have another shipment on its way. If you’re not familiar with Sitka Salmon, it’s really just the coolest buy-in partnership between Alaskan small-boat fishermen and people like you and me. Buy a “share” to help support fishermen and receive high quality shipments of Alaskan seafood delivered straight to your door. While I haven’t received my second box yet, I know that the quality will be just as good as the first. If you’re interested in trying for yourself, use code “MSD” for $25 off any share (except for the Taste of Summer Share).
Total Wine – While we’re limiting alcohol to weekends (which obviously start on Thursday night, am I right?), nobody wanna run out of booze right now. I ordered wine from Thrive Market (above), but Eric usually prefers a whiskey cocktail to a glass of wine. Enter, Total Wine. To me, the wine prices were around $2 to $5 higher than the grocery store, but the liquor prices were pretty comparable. The whole process is easy peasy – order online, choose a delivery time (ours was next day), pay online, and you’re done. The delivery fee for us was $10, and don’t forget a generous tip for your driver right now.
If you don’t have a Total Wine near you, I’d do a little research on local liquor stores doing delivery near you. For wine, you can always order directly from individual wineries (we love Stag’s Leap, and they’re currently offering 40% off a case), or try one of these sites – Firstleaf Wine Club (to try something new) and Wine Access (for nicer wines).
xoxo