The online store that quietly stocks my whole pantry
I've been a member eleven years and saved over $13,000 doing it. Here's the math and the hack.
Heads up: the link below is a referral link. I only ever link things I actually use.
EAT WELL
Thrive Market: most of my pantry, delivered
The short hit
Thrive Market is a membership grocery store for clean, healthy products, delivered to your door. If you’ve ever wished the good stuff from Whole Foods would just show up without the hunt or the markup, that’s the whole idea. I’ve been a member for over ten years.
The offer, the hack, and my cart
New here? Use my link for 40% off your first order. It easily covers the membership.
Membership runs about $5/month, paid annually. Renewal hack: when you’re near the end, go in to cancel and they’ll usually offer you a lower rate to stay. I’ve kept it for as little as $19.95 for the year ($1.66 a month). You’re not threatening anything, just saying it feels too expensive. They want you shopping, so they work with you.
My current autoship staples: Thrive Market Organic Chicken Bone Broth (best price for the real, no-junk stuff); Birch Benders Paleo Pancake & Waffle Mix (my kids make it themselves); Native Forest Organic Simple Coconut Milk (no gums); Thrive Market Organic Pasta Sauce (the Sicilian Gravy is legit like my grandma’s); and the Thrive brand for basics and baking (coconut sugar, coconut flour, baking soda, nuts, spices, mustard, rice, applesauce, beans, pumpkin).
Other brands I grab a lot: Simple Mills, Quinn, Acure, Hu, Primal Palate, Enjoy Life. Want my full cart? Just reply and ask.
The deeper cut
When I started writing this, I had to look up how long I’d been a member. Turns out 2015. My account tracks how much I’ve saved buying through them instead of retail: $13,042.20.
I’ve spent more than a decade looking for ways to outsource and automate, and having all the healthy stuff I used to hunt down at Whole Foods just show up was exactly what I wanted. I’ll be honest, I balked at the membership fee at first. I didn’t have a Costco membership then and couldn’t see why you’d pay just to shop somewhere. But the prices beat the stores and the convenience was real, so I tried it and stayed. Eleven years later, I have a Costco membership now and still pay for Thrive too. Worth it.
Another honest take: it used to be every price beat the store, and that’s not always true anymore. Plenty of items still are cheaper than in stores or even cheaper than Amazon, but not all. But the convenience is worth a lot to me, and the autoship is the real magic. It’s a box of the stuff we use constantly, on a schedule, and I adjust it before it ships. I also use it to test new gluten-free and paleo snacks my stores don’t carry yet. I used to love walking every aisle of the grocery store for something new -now I do that from my couch, because who has time for stores??
My whole pantry basically comes from here: snacks, canned goods, beef sticks, crackers, cleaner candy for the holidays, even cheaper clean shampoo. Their own brand is as good as the name brands for less - if they have their own brand item as an option I don’t hesitate to get that one instead of the brand name.
One more of my favorite Thrive hacks: I’ve been known to ship a box to a vacation rental or to my family’s place in NJ for the holidays. That way I know the kids’ favorite snacks and our staples are waiting without me figuring out what the nearby stores carry.
Before you go
Hit reply and tell me the one clean product you can never find at your regular store. I’ll tell you whether Thrive carries it, or what I’d swap in.
Talk soon,
Kristen ❤️