metrocake

Living just outside of Manhattan is an odd experience. There are all kinds of stores in Manhattan that deliver inside the city’s boundaries for a rather small fee. However, that fee is usually doubled once the delivery van goes over a bridge or through a tunnel to my side of the river, so I usually don’t bother — I’d rather plop my butt on the subway or in a cab and have my purchase home with me, now, than pay twice my cab fare and wait for a delivery.

Sometimes this approach works, sometimes it doesn’t. One day I almost dropped cans of food all over the subway because a cashier didn’t double-bag me. Another time, I almost fell on my stairs because I was trying to carry too much at once.

While I do like Whole Foods and some of the other organic markets in Manhattan, I’ve found myself shopping closer to home and using my little red cart. The produce sometimes isn’t as good, but the convenience has made up for it, especially when I’ve had no time to shop and need to stock up.

All of this may change, however. When I lived out East on Long Island (way, way, way out), I was never able to use any of those nifty food delivery services — there was never anything in my area. (Pity me, do, my diamond shoes were too tight!) Now that I’ve “gone urban” — or at least gone “bridge and tunnel” — there’s Fresh Direct, an online grocery store. And they’ve just started delivering to my neighborhood.

On the one hand, I’m totally stoked, since their selection seems pretty extensive. They have a nice range of fruits and vegetables (tomatillos and habaneros, hurrah), as well as organic frozen dinners for the nights when I can’t cook. They also carry coffees, cheese, baked goods, meat, seafood, and wine. There’s even a “health and beauty” section that includes — hee! — condoms. (You could have an entire romantic evening delivered — cook a nice meal accompanied by wine, “play safe” afterwards, and have coffee and croissants the morning after.) I could really see this service working for me — it’s a $40.00 minimum order, but if I placed a largeish order every few weeks, it would balance out. I’d just need to keep a close eye on what vegetables I ordered, and when I used them.

On the other hand, I could totally see this encouraging me to be even more sedentary than I already am. :P All of my food delivered — hey, why leave the house?! But more important, this will take away some of the things I really enjoy about food shopping — checking out the quality of the vegetables and fruits that I buy, roaming the aisles to see if something sparks me to cook a new dish, or (ahem) making that sneak impulse purchase of a rather unhealthy snack. :D

I know I’ll try the service at least once; the prospect of having fresh food delivered the day before I wish to cook something is too good to pass up. Let’s just hope it doesn’t contribute to my downward spiral of urban sloth… :)