Got a question about keeping kosher on a budget? Please feel free to email me at kosheronabudgetATgmailDOTcom. I’d love to help you in anyway I can.
Today’s reader question comes from J, in Oregon via New Jersey:
I know you said you used a co-op to order some of your kosher food, and that it turns out to be a pretty good deal in most cases. I’m wondering if you’ve ever used a website like kosher.com or aviglatt.com? We recently moved to Oregon for my husband’s residency and I am really having trouble finding the products I was used to [in New Jersey]. I was wondering if those sites might be a good deal or not.
Great question, J. Unfortunately I really don’t know the answer since I personally haven’t ordered from them. I have checked the prices on occasion and they seem fairly competitive. However, the shipping is expensive and if you’re not ordering in bulk, I think that jacks up the price per unit considerably.
For now, I stick to using the KC Kosher Co-Op (mostly for cheese, frozen veggies and frozen “convenience” items — although I try to keep those to a minimum), Golden West Glatt for my meat, and local shopping for the rest. If there is something that I really want that’s not available in one of those three places, I would probably just do without.
Do any of you have more first-hand knowledge to share with J? Have you ever used an online kosher “superstore” like kosher.com or aviglatt.com? What are your experiences with price, service and quality?
To tell you the truth, I don’t know much about kosher.com. The reason I shop at AviGlatt.com is because they’re very active on Twitter/Facebook and very accommodating when it comes to coupons. I asked them last week on Twitter for a 5% off coupon and within minutes I had a 10% coupon in my direct message box.
Now being active on social media isn’t necessarily what’s going to sway me one way or the other, but knowing I have a direct link with the inside in case any issues come up is a totally “mechaya” (breeze?). Lol.
Besides, I know if I shop in bulk every 2 weeks from there, I’m saving so much more than if I’d have gone to the local supermarket.
Thanks, Yael & Rick for the input on Aviglatt. That’s good to know! I love that they sent you that coupon code, Yael – you know I love that! 😉 I wonder if they ever do free shipping codes (since that’s the big price chunk, I bet!)
For those wondering about aviglatt.com, they are wonderful to deal with. They have been very helpful with my questions an you can find them on Twitter an Facebook too.
I know AviGlatt.com offers free Ground Service (3-5 Business days) to orders with purchases of $150.00 or more (on Dry Goods Only). The reason I enjoy that is because why do I have to go out to a supermarket for dry goods every few days, if I can set up times (every 2 weeks which is a nice amount of goods) to do all the shopping from inside my home (without leaving? yum) and get it delivered for free…
2 days ago I had an order for $207.93. So I like the free delivery, but wanted more. I asked them for a code or something because I was getting a lot of dry goods. They gave me $25 bucks off (code) for the entire order. Total: 182.93 + free delivery.
AviGlatt also occassionally offers free next day shipping on orders over $350 which works great for frozen things. I don’t know if that would work all the way to Oregon, but we put together a “community” order with about 5 other families and had specialty frozen food in our freezer within 2 days. It was wonderful.
Portland has its own co-op… nwkosher.com. We just moved from there in January. Have you already looked there, and are still not finding things you need???
Awesome, thanks so much for posting this! I will make sure “J” sees it! Y’all are such helpful readers. 🙂