Some time ago I was asking around for a new source for groceries. I was having a hard time making it to the Farmer’s Market, the upfront cost to the CSA was prohibitive, and I was driving over 30 minutes each way to the only decent grocery stores around making it quite an event. The store down the street is the kind of place you go only in total desperation for a key ingredient at the last minute, hoping they have it and the line to their only open register isn’t too painful. A friend had told me they were happy using Relay Foods, an online grocery service that provides many organic and locally produced food and offers either pick up locations or home delivery throughout the Maryland/ Virginia area and even in North Carolina. 

I hemmed and hawed at the suggestion assuming that picking out produce, the bulk of my grocery shopping, online would be too much of a risk. But when Relay Foods approached me about giving them a try, I took a look with a more open mind and decided the only way to know for sure how well Relay Foods works, is to try it for myself. 

The website was easy to navigate and my favorite part was that I could go right to their Vegan tagged items and avoid all the products made from animals that I dread seeing at the grocery store. The food was neatly organized by category and I was happy to see many of my favorite go-to vegan brands and a few new-to-me brands.  I stocked up my online shopping cart with pantry stables, organic produce, and some fun convenience items, all in the dark of the night from the comfort of my home.

With the choice of pick up or delivery, I selected from the home delivery options. Although I could have made one of the pick up locations work, it wasn’t the most convenient so I selected a two-hour delivery window a few days later. I was doing my shopping between the Christmas and New Year holidays so the pick up and delivery schedule was not their usual full availability but home delivery still worked with my hectic holiday schedule.

All of my groceries arrived on their delivery day, a tad behind schedule but they even offer to carry them into the kitchen for you which is really nice. Still skeptical at this point with my vegetable snobbery, I was anxious to give everything a good once over. Lets just say: perfect organic avocados. The most perfect avocados I’ve had in years. Not one, but several perfect avocados, the kind I’ve only seen in pictures – clearly they should be doing my shopping all the time. And can we talk about the pears so pretty I needed to photograph them right then and there? I had plans for a pear galette or mulled wine poached pear tart but we couldn’t resist grabbing one from the fruit bowl each time we walked by. So perfectly ripe, they were dessert even in their natural state. Everything from the kale, to peas, radishes, pears, peppers, all looked like I picked up a freshly harvested CSA bounty – my broccoli was the only thing that needed to get cooked up right away and their Customer Happiness Team is ready to field any concerns and make them right. Overall I was really pleased and I became a believer that day. 

Over the next few days I’ll share a couple recipes using some items I received from Relay Foods like a Tofu Banh Mi and Poached Avocado with Tempeh Bacon Hash and Sage Hollandaise after my favorite Philly breakfast, so please check back.

Relay Foods Discount:

With my Tell a Friend link, you can get $20 off your first order of $60 or more – if you want to give Relay Foods a try without a huge risk, but I’m pretty sure you’ll have no regrets. 

{this post was sponsored by Relay Foods but all opinions here are my own and I’d never promote any product or business I do not stand behind.}