Call Kurtis: Putting Online Grocery Services To The Test

FAIR OAKS (CBS13) — Ordering food online can be tricky. You're not the one deciding which tomato to grab from the bunch or choosing the freshness of the milk.

You can let someone else do your shopping, but are they picking out the best stuff for you?

We decided to try three online grocery services, and put them to the test with the help of a local family.

With two kids under 3, life can be hectic for Katie and Dan Moraida, and grocery shopping with kids, well, sometimes there are meltdowns.

"Literally screaming at the top of her lungs. Literally, it was horrible," said Katie about one recent shopping trip.

Dan's not so sure you can trust they'll pick the highest quality stuff.

"Chicken, poultry, milk—is it the one that's going to expire tomorrow, or is it the one I'll move to the side that'll expire later?" said Dan.

First up was Safeway. They require a $49 minimum order and the first delivery is free. After that, it ranges from $3.95 to $12.95 depending on how much you spend and how big of a window you give them to deliver. Half way into the one-hour window, Safeway delivery shows up and the worker even carts in the groceries.

They were out of peaches, but the delivery guy lets us know it was removed from our bill.

Scanning the quality of the food right away the family zeroed in on the lettuce.

"This is broken and brown," said Katie.

They also pulled out some broken asparagus that they said was a little mushy. Katie also says the cantaloupe wasn't quite ripe. Dan wasn't happy with the tomato.

"That's bruised," he said. "Definitely wouldn't have picked that one."

They were pleased with the bananas, avocados, chicken, milk and the ice cream.

"It's pretty cold," she said.

When it comes down to the overall experience, Dan has one piece of advice.

"I probably would stay away from the produce," he said.

Next up, Raleys, who shops for you but doesn't deliver. The service is free the first five times, but after that it's $4.95 for any order less than $100.

Dan pulled into the parking lot of the store and called the number for the ecart service. A worker came out within a couple minutes.

When he got home, we checked out what we got.

They were quite happy with the quality of the produce.

"I think they're good," said Katie.

But something's funny about the peach we ordered—it had no fuzz.

"Instead of peaches, we got nectarines," said Dan.

And we thought we ordered five bananas but only got two. It turns out the system goes by weight instead of quantity, so we got half a pound of bananas instead of five bananas.

The family said the ice cream was cold, the meat looked nice and the cheese didn't expire until February. Overall they're impressed.

"The quality is great," said Katie.

Last up, Amazon Fresh. You must be an Amazon Prime member. Your first 30 days of orders are free, after that, the delivery service runs $14.99 a month. Each order must be for more than $40.

Amazon ships through the postal service and the food shows up in big green coolers and every item is packed in a plastic bag.

Dan and Katie noticed that the ice cream is packed in dry ice and frozen solid. The eggs, cantaloupe, cheese and salmon look good, upon their observation.

But Dan who works in the food industry doesn't think the chicken looks fresh

"I'm not okay with the color," he said.

Katie is not happy about the dented, split open avocado

"I think that's unacceptable," she said.

Once again, we ran into peach problems. This time they didn't show up, and we were charged for them.

"I really had my heart set on peaches," said Dan.

To get some insight on the food delivery, we asked food expert Patty Mastracco to examine every order.

Patty's really disturbed by the Amazon avocado and the Safeway lettuce.

"It's really brown. It's like somebody didn't even look at it," said Patty about the lettuce.

Her best advice when ordering is to list exactly what you want in the note section, if the service offers one.

"I'm really specific, so I'll say 'ripe cantaloupe,' 'ripe peaches,' said Patty.

Dan and Katie say the services are convenient, but maybe not the best option for a family on a tight budget.

"I can load up the kids and go myself," said Katie.

They'll skip the delivery fees, risk a toddler meltdown and shop themselves.

"I feel like we could get way more, just by going to the store," said Dan.

It's important to note that Amazon did refund us our money after we called them about the forgotten peaches.

For the most part, prices online are comparable to in-store prices.