Grocery shopping can be so much fun on a sunny, leisurely day. Cozy bakeries where the smell of freshly baked croissants greets you at the door, delicatessens that look and feel like Alibaba's cave, olive oil shops where you can taste a variety of emerald green oils from all over the world...
It is less fun though when it is raining, you are in a hurry and you need to stock up on laundry detergent, potatoes and bags of rice. This is where delivery comes in. Hooray!
You can have groceries delivered to your apartment in Amsterdam. Depending on what time you order, it is generally not next day delivery although you may get lucky with Albert Heijn. But if you are organised (I am still working on that), you can have your groceries delivered on the same day, during the same time slot each week.
The delivery time slot generally spans a few hours so someone needs to be home during that time. Albert Heijn and Ekoplaza (if delivered by PostNL) will send you an sms letting you know about an hour or 30 minutes before arrival of your grocery delivery.
There are quite a few supermarkets to choose from. We tend to buy organic food when possible and I prefer to shop not too far from our place so we generally go to or order from Ekoplaza, Marqt or Albert Heijn.
Ekoplaza
Of the three supermarkets mentioned above, I prefer Ekoplaza which sells only organic foods. They also have some cleaning supplies and generally, a smallish section with organic body care products and vitamins. Not all stores are the same size so the selection will depend on which branch you visit.
The branches I have visited have great vegetable and fruit departments as well as a large selection of dairy products, fresh eggs and plant milks. They also carry a good array of gluten free products including fresh gluten free bread on Tuesdays and Fridays and some gluten free teff bread in the freezer. I also really like their Japanese grocery section which has organic miso, kombu, wakame and a variety of soy sauces, mirin and ponzu. Their grains, nuts and flour selection is also very good and they carry plenty of yummy snacks.
If you order over €60,00 worth of groceries, Ekoplaza will deliver them to your house. Costs for delivery depend on your postal code and on the company which will actually deliver your groceries for Ekoplaza. This sounds complicated but while ordering online you can easily see how much delivery costs will be for which date and time slot.
It appears from the Ekoplaza website that the delivery fee varies between €0,00 (via Ekoroute) and €7,50. In my area I often pay €4,50 for delivery based on the time slot I choose. Some items that you can find in the store are not deliverable though. For example, the gluten free bread and the Jack' n Jill kid's tooth paste I like are not available for delivery.
Groceries are delivered in cardboard boxes or reusable crates. Ekoplaza charges €4,00 for a crate which they will reimburse to you once you return the crate to them.
It generally takes a few days (a minimum of 2 days but often more) before you can get your groceries delivered.
Alternatively, you can also choose to pick up your bagged and paid for groceries at an Ekoplaza near you at a specific time. I have never tried this option but there does not seem to be a minimum order amount and it saves on delivery costs although there is a (smaller) service fee if you order totals €25,00 or less. As far as I can tell the service fee will vary between €1,00 and €2,50 depending on the total price of the groceries that you will pick up. You have to show your order confirmation mail to be able to pick up your groceries.
For both delivery and pick up, you can pay for your groceries in advance at the time you order. However, in the past there have been instances where I could pay with a PIN at the door at the time of delivery to my apartment. That seems to depend on the company which will deliver the groceries-PostNL or Ekoplaza. Which company will deliver depends on where you live. When you pick up your groceries, the Ekoplaza website states that you can also pay cash.
You can order groceries online in English.
My experience with Ekoplaza deliveries has been good in general. We have had some broken eggs, sticky boxes and damaged yoghurt containers but the store has been very good about reimbursing the costs and once even threw in a nice present.
I do not order eggs for delivery any more though as these mishaps generally happen when I promised my daughter that we would make muffins with the eggs and then find ourselves without eggs but with a very disappointed kindergartener.
Marqt
Marqt sells organic food as well as non-organic food. They claim to sell only sustainable food and products. I tend to go there for dry goods and items that can be kept for a longer time period. I like their selection of plant milks, crackers, teas and snacks as well as their spices, olive oils and pastas.
They have a decent selection of fruit and vegetables although, in my experience, it really depends on when you go there. I have seen some shrivelled tangerines and limp lettuce there a few times. They sell some prepared foods and have a good fresh fish section and a well stocked cheese department. As we do not eat meat I cannot give you any feed back on that but I know they sell meat as well. Marqt has their own bakery which I believe also has a collaboration with the BROOD bakery. We like the BROOD spelt and corn breads. Marqt's whipped cream chocolate truffles and their croissants are a tasty sweet treat.
One thing that I have found tricky with Marqt is that at the branch where I used to visit (it is now closed), the staff did not seem to check the sell by date regularly enough so I sometimes inadvertently bought items we could longer eat. This happened more than a few times so I always check the sell by date at any Marqt now.
Please note that Marqt only accepts PIN and credit cards. No cash.
So far Marqt has not delivered food but they may in the future. What that future will hold is a bit unclear at the moment as it appears that Marqt has recently been taken over by Ekoplaza's parent company. For now both stores exist and are operating.
Albert Heijn
This supermarket has been around for 130 years and can be found all over the city (and the country). They have many locations. Their stores come in different sizes from Albert Heijn To Go, which mainly has quick take away food items for when you are on the go, to XL stores which have a very large selection of all kinds of products. The larger stores particularly have a good organic fruits and vegetables section. They do sell fish as well but we go to Marqt, the Albert Cuyp market or fish mongers when we want to eat fish as we think the quality is much better at those places.
Albert Heijn (AH) sells bread as well, including gluten free bread. We do not buy bread or other baked goods here though as they often include additives and/or sugar. Plus I like going to an actual artisanal bakery-there is something quite romantic about it, the smell is amazing and I like to support the local bakers, the community and of course help preserve the art of bread making.
Some larger AH stores also have sushi counters. When I lived in NYC buying sushi at a supermarket was a big no no so I did not buy any in Amsterdam either until I found out that my Japanese friends do buy sushi from there and think it is not bad! So that swayed me and sometimes I do buy some of the AH take away sushi now.
I generally only buy organic products at AH and some basic household goods. However, this is a general supermarket which offers mostly non organic products that you can find in most super markets in Western Europe ranging from fruits and vegetables to dairy, cheese, meat and fish, bread, drinks, snacks, dry goods, frozen food, cleaning supplies etc.
AH's website seem to only be offered in Dutch which is rather disappointing.
They do have a good delivery service and will deliver as of €50,00 or €70,00 Euro depending on the day. Delivery costs vary between €2,50 and €13,50. If you would like, AH can send you an sms notifying you about the expected time they will actually arrive within your time slot. I just saw on their website that you can also set up a delivery plan for 3, 6 or 12 months. I have not tried this but it seems that this allows you to save on delivery costs. For all deliveries you can pay at the door with your PIN card.
Groceries that do not require being cooled are delivered in crates. AH charges €4,00 for a crate which they will reimburse to you once you return the crate to them when they deliver the next order. It also seems possible to return the crates at the service desk of some AH stores.
AH also has Pickup points, where you can pick up the groceries you have ordered online. You can type in your postal code on the AH website and it will tell you where the nearest Pickup point is. There is no minimum order amount but there is a service fee which seems to start at €1,50. I have no experience with the Pickup points.
All my experiences with AH delivery have been positive. I have never had anything broken or damaged.
Picnic
Lately I have heard quite a lot about Picnic which is a grocery delivery service. However since it does not deliver to my area yet, I do not know much about it. Once it does and I have tried it, I will let you know.
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