Shopping on Freshdirect

Frugal it's not, but for busy New York City professionals time is money and Freshdirect does save time. Luckily, their product line has also improved recently and there are several wild local seafood options and even a limited selection of grass-fed local meat. I usually only use Freshdirect if I'm working on an important project with a tight deadline. Despite being kind of expensive, it's a lot cheaper and healthier than the alternative when I'm busy...which is eating takeout.

So what's good at Freshdirect?

100% grassfed local ground beef is an obvious choice. It can be quickly made into patties and seared. If you eat dairy there are several good grassfed cheeses available, as well as grassfed milk and cream. Unfortunately, the local chicken and eggs are fed a "vegetarian diet" which is a euphemism for grains.

But the seafood options are great. My favorite is the local sea bass, flounder, and cod filets. You can also order wild salmon and crabs. I hate to say it, but when you are busy and don't have access to real cooking equipment, a fish cooked in a microwave can be a good option. When a microwave was my only option, I would put the seasoned fish in a microwave-safe glass dish with some chopped vegetable and microwave until cooked.

The Thai coconuts I've ordered from there have been the best quality that I've found in the city. I often get purple spoiled ones at the coop, but the Fresh Direct coconuts are well...fresh. They also sell coconut oil now.

They have local vegetables and fruits too, which are usually pretty good. If you are truly pressed for time, they also sell vegetables that are pre-prepped.

Overall the OMGIDONTHAVETIMEFORANYTHING Fresh Direct diet is: grassfed beef patties and local fish cooked in coconut oil with some easy-cook vegetables like asparagus. Now if they only sold lard...