Food Delivery for Quarantine: a comprehensive list from Amazon Delivery to Zifty

by Kristina Reynolds

Besides your basic pizza and Chinese food delivery, find out all your best delivery options for all kinds of cuisines (e.g. Mexican, Indian, Italian, Japanese, etc.) and preferences (e.g. ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook, etc.)

Self-quarantining due to the Coronavirus?

Ordering in food for delivery is a great way to fight cabin fever and enjoy your extended time at home. It’s also safer than going to a restaurant or supermarket to buy food and risk exposure to others who may be infected with COVID-19.

The risk of getting COVID-19 from food delivery is very slim, but to be extremely safe, it is advisable to wipe down all food packaging when you receive your order and wash your hands thoroughly after handling.

What kinds of food delivery are there?

In terms of what levels of preparedness of foods are delivered, there are 3 main types:

ready-to-eat meals – Just like it sounds, these foods are delivered as complete meals. All you need to do is eat. This is the most traditional and most common form of food delivery.
ready-to-cook meals – These are delivered as meal kits which include sets of all the necessary ingredients to make a meal. You do the cooking.
groceries – These foods are delivered from supermarkets. They are simply groceries which were selected by you.

There are also different methods of transportation for food delivery:

bicycles/motorcycles/scooters: common in densely populated areas to quickly deliver ready-to-eat meals
cars: this is generally the most popular mode of transportation for ready-to-eat meals
drones: this mode of transportation is being tested by food delivery companies including Amazon, Dominos and Uber (as of 2018)
on foot: used for delivery when walking very short distances, usually within small neighborhoods or dense areas
trucks: primarily used by grocery and ready-to-cook delivery companies
roller skates: this was common in the 1950s for delivering ready-to-eat fast food meals to cars parked in the restaurant parking lots, but as the drive-through became a more convenient way of getting food over the decades, it has been limited to places like Sonic
service carts: used for in-room service within hotels to deliver ready-to-eat meals

Back in the early 2000s and earlier, phone calls were the most common method of ordering food for delivery. The very first food order placed on the internet was in 1994 for a pizza from Pizza Hut. It took about a couple decades to really catch on. The increasing convenience of ordering food online has made phone orders less common than internet orders. In addition, as more and more internet companies provide food delivery services, the variety of foods available online for delivery continues to grow tremendously.

Which food delivery service is best for me?

You can determine which food delivery services best fit your lifestyle by looking at your lifestyle. Do you like to eat healthy? Do you like to cook? Do you like to experiment with flavors and cuisines? Here’s a quick breakdown of the different food delivery services available so you can easily decide what works best for you.

Ordering In Meals

Use these food delivery services if you just want to order and eat…

as fast as possible:
- Doordash (reliable delivery time estimates for ready-to-eat meals)
- OrderUp (uses technology to deliver ready-to-eat meals as efficiently as possible)
- Postmates (a logistics company that delivers ready-to-eat meals, alcohol and groceries)
- UberEats (large fleet of drivers that delivers ready-to-eat meals from restaurants, or chefs without physical restaurants)
from a wide variety of cuisines (i.e. provides American food delivery, Italian food delivery, Indian food delivery, Chinese food delivery, Japanese food delivery, etc.):
- allmenus (owned by GrubHub; a comprehensive database of menus nationwide for takeout and delivery by GrubHub)
- Amazon Restaurants (a subsidiary of Amazon.com that provides ready-to-eat meals from a growing number of restaurants)
- Doordash (reliable delivery time estimates for ready-to-eat meals)
- Eat24 (owned by GrubHub; order ready-to-eat meals for delivery by GrubHub)
- Seamless (owned by GrubHub; order ready-to-eat meals for takeout or delivery by GrubHub)
from highly-rated restaurants:
- Caviar (provides ready-to-eat meals from restaurants with 4+ stars on Yelp)
meals delivered to you at work (if you can’t stay home):
- Byte (delivers ready-to-eat meals to offices)
- Foodify (delivers ready-to-eat food to office meetings and events)

Cooking

Use these food delivery services if you want to cook…

meals covering all kinds of cuisines:
- Chef’d (recommendations from 1000’s of celebrity chef-made recipes delivered as ready-to-cook meal kits; no subscriptions)
- Home Chef (make meals from a wide variety of cuisines within 30 minutes)
- Plated (chef-created globally-inspired meal kits as featured on Shark Tank)
- Sun Basket ($40 off 1st order, organic, non-GMO ready-to-cook meal kits covering a variety of cuisines)
and save money:
- Dinnerly (delivers ready-to-cook meal kits; self-proclaimed “the most affordable meal kit around”)
- Home Fresh (low-priced meal kit home delivery service)
- What a Crock (chef-crafted meals to simply put your crock pot in the morning and eat at night)
healthy meals:
- Freshly (100% gluten free fully prepared “heat and eat” meals ready in 3 minutes)
- Green Chef (healthy chef-prepared ready-to-cook meals that take 30 minutes to make)
- Martha & Marley Spoon (healthy seasonal ready-to-cook meals by Martha Stewart)
- Prepped (healthy pre-cooked meals that simply need to be heated up)
- Sun Basket ($40 off 1st order, organic, non-GMO ready-to-cook meal kits covering a variety of cuisines)
- Veestro (100% pre-cooked plant-based vegan meals that only need to be heated up)

filling meals:
- Blue Apron (a meal kit delivery company that delivers chef-created ready-to-cook meals using fresh ingredients)
and don’t want to be stuck in a subscription plan:
- Chef’d (recommendations from 1000’s of celebrity chef-made recipes delivered as ready-to-cook meal kits; no subscriptions)
- Prepped (healthy pre-cooked meals that simply need to be heated up; no subscription necessary)
by simply heating up food:
- Freshly (100% gluten free fully prepared “heat and eat” meals ready in 3 minutes)
- Prepped (healthy pre-cooked meals that simply need to be heated up)
- Veestro (100% pre-cooked plant-based vegan meals that only need to be heated up)
- What a Crock (chef-crafted meals to simply put your crock pot in the morning and eat at night)

Buying Groceries

Use these delivery options you need groceries (or specific ingredients for cooking)…

and want it at a scheduled time:
- Amazon Fresh (a subsidiary of Amazon.com that delivers groceries at scheduled times from select retailers, most notably Whole Foods)
and want it within the same day:
- Instacart (delivers groceries from popular supermarket chains in as little as an hour)
- Postmates (a logistics company that delivers ready-to-eat meals, alcohol and groceries)
and want rewards:
- Delivery.com (ready-to-eat meals from select restaurants, groceries, alcohol, and non-food & beverage items)

A-Z List of all Food Delivery Companies

What are all the companies that deliver food & how are they different?

There are tons of companies that deliver ready-to-eat meals, ready-to-cook meals and/or groceries. (Some restaurants and groceries may deliver their own food.) Here are some of the most popular ones from A to Z:

Amazon Fresh (a subsidiary of Amazon.com that delivers groceries at scheduled times from select retailers, most notably Whole Foods)
Amazon Prime Pantry (a subsidiary of Amazon.com providing access to an exclusive selection with thousands of low-priced groceries in everyday sizes)
Amazon Restaurants (a subsidiary of Amazon.com that delivers ready-to-eat meals from select restaurants)
Blue Apron (a meal kit delivery company that delivers chef-created ready-to-cook meals using fresh ingredients)
Byte (delivers ready-to-eat meals to offices)
Caviar (delivers ready-to-eat meals from restaurants with 4+ stars on Yelp)
Chef’d (recommendations from 1000’s of celebrity chef-made recipes delivered as ready-to-cook meal kits; no subscriptions)
Delivery.com (ready-to-eat meals from select restaurants, groceries, alcohol, and non-food & beverage items)
Dinnerly (delivers ready-to-cook meal kits; self-proclaimed “the most affordable meal kit around”)
Doordash (reliable delivery time estimates for ready-to-eat meals)
Favor Delivery (a Texas-based delivery company that delivers local food in under an hour)
Foodify (delivers ready-to-eat food to office meetings and events)
Freshly (100% gluten free fully prepared “heat and eat” meals ready in 3 minutes)
Gobble (make full-flavored meals in 15 minutes in one pan)
Google Express (grocery delivery from chain supermarkets and stores)
Green Chef (healthy chef-prepared ready-to-cook meals that take 30 minutes to make)
GrubHub (the nation’s largest online and mobile takeout food ordering and delivery service for ready-to-eat meals)
- allmenus (owned by GrubHub; a comprehensive database of menus nationwide for takeout and delivery by GrubHub)
- Eat24 (owned by GrubHub; order ready-to-eat meals for delivery by GrubHub)
- MenuPages (owned by GrubHub; a limited database of menus with food images for takeout and delivery by GrubHub)
- Seamless (owned by GrubHub; order ready-to-eat meals for takeout or delivery by GrubHub)

HelloFresh (chef-curated recipes for ready-to-cook meal kits; scheduled delivery times and flexible plans)
Home Chef (make meals from a wide variety of cuisines within 30 minutes)
Home Fresh (low-priced meal kit home delivery service)
Instacart (delivers groceries from popular supermarket chains in as little as an hour)
OrderUp (uses technology to deliver ready-to-eat meals as efficiently as possible)
Martha & Marley Spoon (healthy seasonal ready-to-cook meals by Martha Stewart)
Munchery (tracks gastronomical micro-trends in different cities to deliver chef-made meals)
Postmates (a logistics company that delivers ready-to-eat meals, alcohol and groceries)
Plated (chef-created globally-inspired meal kits as featured on Shark Tank)
Prepped (healthy pre-cooked meals that simply need to be heated up)
Sun Basket ($40 off 1st order, organic, non-GMO ready-to-cook meal kits covering a variety of cuisines)
Terra’s Kitchen (healthy ready-to-cook meal kits delivered in a re-usable delivery vessel)
UberEats (delivers ready-to-eat meals from restaurants or chefs without physical restaurants)
Veestro (100% pre-cooked plant-based vegan meals that only need to be heated up)
What a Crock (affordable chef-crafted meals to simply put your crock pot in the morning and eat at night)
Zifty (delivers ready-to-eat meals from local restaurants and brands)

Kristina Reynolds is the Founder & CEO of Glutto and an alumna of the University of California, San Diego. She writes articles & posts for Glutto Digest with insights from fellow industry experts. Furthermore, she is the author of The Fittest Food Lovers: How EVERY BODY Can be Incredibly Fit and Still Enjoy Food, a collaborative philanthropic book with proceeds going to charities that fight world hunger.