FreshDirect is a veritable foodie paradise. Its online store features more than 3,000 items, including ready-made meals, meal kits, and groceries you can order and have delivered to your door anytime. With most entrees below $10, meal kits starting at just $6.50 per serving, and an abundance of both organic and conventional groceries, its offer suits a variety of budgets.
In this guide to shopping at FreshDirect, we will explore the company’s product selection, take a look at the prices, and determine whether FreshDirect is a good place to get your food and spend your cash. Let us get started.
What You Get In A FreshDirect Delivery
The beauty of ordering from FreshDirect is that your delivery can include anything you want. You can freely mix groceries, meals, and kits in your order and get everything in the quantity that works for you. The store mostly focuses on perishables and sells everything from fruit, veg, meat, deli products, and seafood to dairy, frozen goods, beverages, baked goods, household items, and beauty products. The items are categorized by special diets and preferences, so you can choose from gluten-free, vegetarian, kosher, kid-friendly, and many other options. In a word, you can get virtually everything you need for your fridge, kitchen or household in your FreshDirect delivery.
The service primarily sources sustainable food, but a large portion of its assortment is organic as well. What all FreshDirect products have in common is that they are of rather high quality, sourced directly from farms, fishing boats, and artisans and handpicked by the company’s food experts. This means that you do not only get quality goods but also food of superior freshness. On average, the company’s food products last up to 7 days longer in a fridge than the food you purchase at a supermarket. This is possibly one of the greatest advantages of FreshDirect.
How Much Does FreshDirect Cost
Since ordering from FreshDirect does not require a subscription and you can decide on both the selection and the quantity of items in your cart, you are the one who determines how much your delivery is going to cost. There is only one rule. Your order needs to be worth at least $30, not including the applicable taxes and delivery fee. If you want your food delivered to the Hamptons, the minimum order is $99.
Considering that the service offers so many products, it is virtually impossible to list the prices for all of them. However, we will do our best to provide a comprehensive price overview for all major product categories in the following paragraphs.
FreshDirect Meal Prices
FreshDirect prepared meal items are divided into 14 basic categories: appetizers, breakfast, deli salads, entrées, green salads, marinated & kabobs, meal kits, pizza, salsas and dips, sandwiches and wraps, sauces and marinades, sides, soup and chili, and sushi.
If you opt for appetizers, you can expect to pay:
- 13.99 to $27.99 for ready-to-eat hors d’oeuvres;
- $6.99 to $16.99 for ready-to-bake hors d’oeuvres;
- $7.99 to $15.99 for chicken wings and chicken fingers;
- $5.69 and $15.99 for dumplings and buns.
The company’s entrées are particularly numerous, with a vast price range. You can get:
- Rotisserie items (chicken, half chicken, and sides) for $5.19 to $9.99;
- Single-serving entrées for $6.99 to $12.99;
- Entrées serving 2+ people for $6.99 to $24.99;
- Quiches and pot pies for $6.99 and $14.99;
- Kids meals, snacks, finger food, veggies, sides, and breakfasts for $3.49 to 24.99.
Price ranges for other ready-made items are as follows:
- Breakfasts cost $2.99 to $14.99;
- Deli salads mostly cost between $3.99 and $19.99;
- Green salads cost $5.99 to $8.99;
- Kabobs and marinated meat, poultry, and seafood mostly range from $4.99 to $25.99 per pound;
- Pizzas (6-inch and 12-inch) cost $6.99 to $8.99 each;
- Salsas and dips range from $1.99 to $9.99;
- Sauces and marinades range from $3.99 to $7.99;
- Sandwiches and wraps cost $7.49;
- Side dishes (8 ounces to 2 pounds) cost between $3.49 and $16.99;
- Soups and chili (12-32 ounces) range from $4.99 to $18.99;
- Sushi (about 8 ounces) costs between $4.99 and $8.99.
FreshDirect Meal Kit Prices
FreshDirect meal kits are divided into 3 categories: Standard, Smart & Simple, and Stir-Fry. Standard kits require you to spend 20-40 minutes in the kitchen, Smart & Simple options are ready in 10-30 minutes, and Stir-Fry items are normally ready in 10-15 minutes. All kits serve 2 people.
You can purchase:
- Standard kits for $9.50 to $14.50 per serving;
- Smart & Simple kits for $7.50 to $9.00 per serving;
- Stir-Fry kits for $6.50 to $8.50 per serving.
FreshDirect Grocery Prices
The prices of groceries vary immensely, depending on the type and the quantity. We will just take a look at the most popular categories, so you can get a sense of what to expect. For example:
- Fruit and vegetables start under $1, so you can buy 1 bicolor corn from a family farm for $0.59;
- The most affordable meat and poultry (e.g. chicken drumsticks) cost just $1.99 per pound;
- The most expensive cuts of meat can cost nearly $30 per pound;
- Prepped-to-cook seafood costs between $6.99 (e.g. 1 lb of fish cubes) and $50.00 (e.g. farm-raised lemon and dill salmon for 4 to 6 people);
- The most affordable cookies start at about $4.50 per pound;
- Bagels cost $2+ per pound;
- Eggs start at $3.49 per dozen;
- Cheddar costs $7.99+ per pound;
- Beers normally cost between $1.41 and $26.62 per pint;
- Wines and spirits range from around $10 to more than $100.
- Juices usually range from $0.59 per pint for virgin lemonade to just over $5 per pint for organic, high-quality juices.
FreshDirect Shipping Costs
With FreshDirect, there are 2 ways to take care of shipping costs. First, you can purchase the FreshDirect Delivery Pass and enjoy free shipping on all orders. You can get your Delivery Pass at checkout by choosing the FREE option in the Deliver To section of the Checkout page.
If you want to get free shipping for all 7 days of the week, you can pay $79 for the 6-month Delivery Pass subscription or $129 for the 12-month subscription. That means that with the 6-month subscription, you pay $13.17 per month. The 12-month subscription costs $10.75 per month. In case you just want to get the Midweek Delivery Pass and enjoy free shipping Tuesday through Friday, you pay $39 for the 6-month subscription, which translates to $6.50 per month. Keep in mind that these prices do not include any applicable taxes.
Getting the company’s Delivery Pass does not only allow you to reduce your shipping costs on an unlimited number of orders during your subscription, but it also lets you choose and reserve delivery timeslots that work for you. On top of that, customers who use the Delivery Pass gain access to exclusive special offers and enjoy an additional $5 discount on deliveries made Tuesday through Friday.
Should you decide to skip on the Delivery Pass, you can expect to pay $5.99 to $15.99 per delivery. More specifically:
- Deliveries to Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island come with a $5.99 shipping fee;
- Deliveries to Nassau County, Suffolk County (the Hamptons not included), Westchester, Rockland, Fairfield, and Northern New Jersey come with a $6.99 shipping fee;
- Deliveries to Central New Jersey, Southern New Jersey, the Greater Philadelphia Area, Delaware, and Washington DC come with a $7.99 shipping fee;
- Deliveries to the Jersey Shore (made only during the summer) come with a $9.99 shipping fee;
- Deliveries to the Hamptons (made during the summer only) come with a $15.99 shipping fee.
FreshDirect Coupons & Special Offers
To help you save cash on your FreshDirect purchases, we constantly collect active coupons and promo codes that you can find on our FreshDirect Coupons page. Usually, there are at least 1-2 coupons available, allowing you to get a $25+ discount. Making use of the coupons we collect is as easy as clicking the Click To Save button, so be sure to visit our coupon page frequently and take advantage of the savings opportunities at your disposal.
The service also offers coupons on individual products, which you can find in the Coupons section of the official FreshDirect site. Usually, you can save $1 to $3 per product. At all times, there are more than 300 products that come with individual coupons. To apply your coupon, you just need to tick the checkbox next to the fdcoupon logo underneath the product image.
For more savings, you can stop by the Sale section of the company’s online store. Surprisingly enough, this section normally features as many as 1,400+ products that usually come with 5% to 49% discounts. With so many options, you can purchase all the items you need on sale, which is pretty great.
If you know someone who would like to try out FreshDirect, you can join the company’s referral program and save even more cash. You can invite friends via email, Twitter or Facebook. Every time you successfully refer someone, you get $25 off your next order and your friend gets a $25 discount on the first delivery. The only trick is that the person you refer needs to be a first-time customer. There is no limit to the number of people you can invite. Your referral credit is automatically applied to your next order.
It is also good to know that the service frequently offers free samples, particularly for first-time customers. You do not have to do anything special to receive a free sample. You should simply choose the items you like and go to your cart to review your order prior to checkout. If free samples are available, you should see a message informing you what bonus product or products you can expect to find in your delivery.
FreshDirect Returns & Refunds
FreshDirect wants you to be 100% satisfied with every product in every shipment you get. If there are any damaged goods in your order, you should get in touch with the company’s customer care staff either via phone or email. The service recommends calling or sending an email as soon as you receive your order.
Usually, you are required to return the unsatisfactory goods. Once they reach the company’s headquarters, you should receive your refund equal in value to the purchase price of the damaged products.
Is FreshDirect Worth It?
What is left for us to figure out is whether FreshDirect offers good value for your money and whether all of its products are worth the cash. We will now go over all the main product categories once again, this time focusing on the price-to-value ratio.
Prepared Meals
With ready-to-eat items starting under $3 per serving and rarely exceeding $10 except for larger, multi-serving packages, FreshDirect offers some of the most affordable prepared meals on the market. Even the cheapest prepared meal deliveries rarely charge less than $8 per serving and some of them may charge more than $15 per meal, like Pete’s Paleo or Trifecta Nutrition.
FreshDirect meals contain all-natural and organic ingredients and they are suitable for a variety of diets, household sizes, and occasions. On top of that, they can be purchased subscription-free, so there are no strings attached. Therefore, we find FreshDirect’s prepared meals to be quite reasonably priced and worth the cash.
Meal Kits
What we like about FreshDirect meal kits is that there are both cheap and pricier options, so there is something for most budgets. The most affordable kits cost $6.50 per serving, which means that they are nearly 50% more affordable than the top-rated Sun Basket or Green Chef kits. Compared to the cheapest kits on the market, such as Dinnerly and EveryPlate, FreshDirect’s most budget-friendly kits cost about $1.50 more per serving.
On the other hand, the most luxurious FreshDirect kits cost $14.50 per serving, which is more than most services charge. However, these expensive options feature premium proteins like wild swordfish and come with multiple sides, which is why they cost more than others.
Since the company’s kits include high-quality, natural, and organic ingredients, suit the needs of omnivores, pescatarians, and vegetarians, and can be ready in just 10 minutes, they are definitely worth trying out. The cheapest options are among the cheapest on the market, so you can get really good ingredients and recipes at below-average prices.
Groceries
When it comes to groceries, the prices wildly differ from one product to another and not every item is as affordable as it could be. Therefore, you need to choose carefully if you want to save cash. That said, the service does offer premium-quality groceries that are often available as surprisingly low prices. If you shop wisely and take advantage of discounts and coupons, you can get Whole-Foods-quality groceries for even less than half of the usual price, which is pretty great. Therefore, if you stick to healthy options, FreshDirect can be a great place to shop and it can help you save quite a lot of money.
FreshDirect Is A Good Choice For…
One of the finest features of FreshDirect is that it has something for virtually everyone. Therefore, it can suit the needs of nearly all home diners who prefer higher-quality food. Some customer profiles that it is well-suited for include:
- Home cooks who want to cook healthy meals in less than half an hour;
- Singles, couples, and families alike;
- People who prefer organic food;
- Individuals on special diets;
- People who like to get all their food at one store;
- Home cooks who prefer online grocery shopping to brick-and-mortar stores;
- Busy people who have no time to cook but want to eat well;
- Folks who like throwing dinner parties;
- Eco-conscious home diners who support sustainable practices;
- Frugal shoppers who appreciate regular discounts, free gifts, and special offers.