What is Amazon Fresh and how does it work?

Fancy a break from cooking? Amazon Fresh offers same-day delivery slots for fast, easy and delicious dinners

Keep your fruit bowl full with same-day delivery from Amazon Fresh (The Independent/ iStock)

It can be hard to find the motivation to peel yourself off the sofa to cook dinner during the cold, dark and gloomy winter months. But after Christmas, most of us don’t have an endless amount of money for takeaways. Thankfully, there is a middle ground in the form of Amazon Fresh, which could be the answer to all your at-home dining needs, whether shopping for one or feeding a family.

Amazon Fresh is Amazon’s fastest-ever grocery delivery service. It offers same-day or next-day delivery in two-hour or one-hour windows for Amazon Prime members, so you can order on your phone, tablet or laptop and chill out until the food arrives. Offering a selection of curries and pan-Asian cuisine as well as winter comfort food, such as ready-made lasagne and fish pie, there’s a great variety to satisfy all kinds of cravings. Prices for a meal for one start at £4, which is a lot cheaper than ordering a takeaway.

And you can shop for extras alongside the food, too. If you order a takeaway from your local Chinese, you’re unlikely to be able to add hand wash or toothpaste with your chow mein. But Amazon Fresh sells cleaning supplies, medicines, beauty and grooming products and last-minute gifting options including birthday cards and candles, as well as ready meals, wine, spirits and some delicious cakes and desserts.

Amazon Fresh offers food and health and beauty items from Morrison’s, Iceland, Whole Foods and Booths as well as Amazon’s own brands and a selection of artisan makers, including Gail’s bakery and Press juices. Here’s everything you need to know about using Amazon Fresh to get you through January, and beyond.

Read more: How to create an Amazon wish list

(Amazon)

What is Amazon Fresh?

Amazon Fresh is a grocery delivery service that allows Prime members to buy everything they normally would from their weekly shop on Amazon, whether that’s products from its own brands or food from the likes of Booths, Morrison’s, Whole Foods and Iceland. Delivery is fast with one-hour and two-hour slots available on the same day or the following day. The one-hour slots have a higher delivery charge than the two-hour slots, but we’ll cover that in more detail later.

To place an order, simply navigate to the Amazon Fresh page of the Amazon website and use the search function to find what you need. There are tabs at the top of the page for “fresh and chilled items”, “frozen items” and more so that you can browse different departments to see what’s on offer, like a virtual aisle of a grocery store. You’ll find ready meals in the drop-down menu under “fresh and chilled” and wine under “beverages”.

How to find out if Amazon Fresh is in your area?

There’s a postcode checker on the Amazon website. Simply type in your postcode and you’ll see if Amazon Fresh will deliver to your door. Right now, it’s focused on London and southern England. However, there are plans to expand the delivery, so keep checking if your postcode isn’t eligible right now, as things may change.

What can you buy on Amazon Fresh?

Sweet and sour chicken is one of many ready meals on Amazon Fresh (Amazon)

You can buy fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, and nuts and seeds to kick-start a healthy new year or hunker down with some hearty comfort food. There’s a huge selection of mouth-wateringly tasty ready meals, with highlights including sweet and sour chicken (£4.25, Amazon.co.uk) and porcini mushroom tagliatelle with truffle (£4.25, Amazon.co.uk)

You’ll find a far superior selection of wines and spirits on Amazon Fresh than in your local convenience store or supermarket. David Beckham’s single scotch Haig Club whisky (£23.94, Amazon.co.uk).

Amazon Fresh offers same-day delivery of premium spirits (Amazon)

Craving snacks to enjoy with a Prime movie or box set? There’s a whole section devoted to chocolate and sweets, and you can find some seasonal bargains here.

Amazon Fresh could also save your life if you’ve forgotten a friend’s birthday as you can get birthday cards and pampering gifts from Aveeno and Maybelline delivered straight to your door.

What are Amazon Fresh delivery costs?

There’s a deal running until 31 January where a two-hour delivery slot is free if you spend more than £40. Otherwise, the same slot would cost £4 if you spend between £15 and £40.

If you wanted a one-hour window, it’s £7 for spends of less than £40, £5 for spends between £40 and £60 and £3 for orders more than £60. You can access a delivery cost chart on the Amazon website, to show you exactly how much your order will cost.

Is Amazon Fresh only available for Prime members?

Yes, right now only Prime members can place orders for Amazon Fresh. However, it is possible to take out a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, which will get you access to Amazon Fresh, as long as it’s available in your postcode.

What are the Amazon Fresh operating hours?

Amazon Fresh offers delivery slots between 7am and 11pm, so you can order everything from breakfast to dinner and late-night snacks.

How do Amazon Fresh stores work?

If you don’t want to wait for a delivery, you can visit an Amazon Fresh store. Use this postcode checker on the Amazon website to find the nearest one to your house. You’ll need to have an Amazon account to get into the store and the Amazon mobile app. Entry is via a QR code that you generate from the mobile app. Log into the Amazon app, tap the basket icon and click ‘In-store Code’ to get your QR code and scan it at the gates to enter.

Add your shopping to your basket as normal and then walk out of the store. There’s no need to queue at a till or pay for your shopping as Amazon can detect what’s been picked off and returned to the shelves. Once you walk out, you’ll be emailed a receipt and payment will be taken from the default card stored in your Amazon account. If you spot any mistakes on the bill or have any product complaints, just contact Amazon support for a refund.