Never Leave Home Again: 6 Services You Can Order Right to Your Door

A combination of grey skies and horrible political news may have led you to an overwhelming feeling of weltschmerz (from the German, meaning world-pain). Do you basically feel like locking the door and not leaving your apartment until someone can pretty much guarantee sunshine and a brighter future for us all?

Yeah, me too.

On the downside, that ain’t happening. On the bright side, read this and you never have to leave home again, thanks to some terrific home delivery options which take in everything from the essentials of food, booze and groceries to laundry and massages.

Slip into your sweatpants, breath a sigh of relief and join me under self-imposed house arrest…

1. Breakfast in bed

Oh, damn! You can get breakfast delivered? You have my attention! If you can get your act together and order before 2 p.m. the previous day, The Cycling Croissant will peddle on over to your house as early as 7 a.m. to deliver fresh baked goods. Choose from three set options, starting with The Classic (two croissants, pain au chocolat and mini palmiers) from Baguette & Co., or Edible Flour if you’re seeking vegan and GF-options. The only thing that could make this better is if they brought coffee, alas, only an option for larger orders…

2. Air your dirty laundry

If making the exhausting journey to the laundry room fills you with dread—and you’re prepared to splash out a little extra (some have minimum $50 charges) or maybe combine loads with a friend or partner—then say a big hello to the world of laundry pick-ups. The Greater Vancouver Laundry and Linen Service on West Broadway will come to your home, take your washing away and return it 48 hours later: clean, fresh and folded. They charge $1.50 per pound. The Laundry Valet also offers the same service from Davie Street in the West End; they charge $1.60 per pound and also have a $50 minimum. Swan Laundry on Burrard charges $2.25 per pound and a $5 each way charge for the driver, and there’s just a $10 minimum.

3. A menu of options

Oh, man. Once upon a time just a few years ago, the best we could hope for was a pizza coming to the door, but now thanks to a raft of new delivery services, the world of fancy restaurant food can now be ours at home—without even having to put on pants.

DoorDash offers up the option of ordering alcohol, as they have a couple of breweries, Vancouver Urban Winery and some liquor stores on their site, although that may come with an additional fee. I’ve ordered emergency hangover-curing poutine a few times from my beloved La Belle Patate and been delighted with the fast, polite service and quality of the food when it arrived. Here’s a link which gives you free delivery on your first order. No, you’re welcome.

I gave Foodora a spin (they have one of the city’s best restaurants, Bauhaus, on their books) and I decided to see how gluten-free fried-chicken chaps Juke responded to delivery. Impressively, the order arrived and the chicken coating had lost none of its crispness and the chicken was juicy and warm. A few points lost for arriving 20 minutes after a pre-booked 8 p.m. delivery, but it was handled well and I appreciated the ‘we’re running late!’ text.

Although I’ve not tried them myself, I’m going to give Lazymeal a shout-out, as Buckstop, one of my favourite restaurants, uses them and owner Fiona assured me that they “…have their junk in line.” Recommendations like that do not come lightly.

4. Dial a bottle

Right now, there is something immensely comforting about knowing that you are never more than a phone call away from a stiff drink. We ran a pretty thorough investigation into the fine folks who can get you tipsy without leaving the house earlier last year. Click here and dive in.

5. Groceries to your door

I’m a huge fan of getting my groceries delivered. No more staggering around with bags loaded high on my way back from the shops! Stong’s Market is a great local independent grocer and they have a brand new online delivery system which finally replaces their rather clunky old one. Deliveries need to be for a minimum of $50 excluding tax and delivery charges ($7.99). You can usually sneak in a next-day delivery if you put your order through before 10 p.m. the evening before.

SPUD also has a home delivery system beyond their Community Supported Agriculture boxes. The latest you can put in an order is 3 p.m. before your delivery day (in Vancouver they deliver five days a week), and if you spend $35 or more, delivery is free. If you use them regularly, you can give them a key to leave your groceries inside, and their bins are packed to stay fresh for up to six hours.

Save on Foods offer free delivery for your first order and after that rates vary from $4.95 to $9.95 with mornings clocking in as the most expensive delivery time. You have until 10 p.m. to place a next day delivery and the minimum is $40. 

6. The ultimate in relaxation

I first heard about Soothe from a friend’s rapturous Facebook posts so I decided to give it a whirl myself. You can schedule in-home massage seven days a week from 8 a.m. until midnight. In theory, they can be there with an hour’s notice, but that’s never been the case whenever I’ve tried to book on a whim; however, your luck may be better than mine. On the positive side, I’ve found scheduling in a booking is absolutely fine and the therapists have been great. Here’s a $30 coupon code for your first massage. Enjoy! 

I’ve written about him before, so I was thrilled to discover that one of my favourite practitioners in the city, Michael Strickland is now offering an in-home service too. Michael specializes in incredible eight-hour Mongolian Massage journeys but offers a two-hour taster as part of his services.I asked him what the benefits are to in-home massages versus spa treatments, and he said, “The reason I love doing mobile massages is because I leave the clients in ‘the zone.’ For 23 years, I have worked in spas around the world and the places I have seen the most results from my work has been resorts where clients can leave the spa and go directly back to the room, rather than having to shower, get changed, and then drive. Having a massage before sleep or a nap is the best thing to fully integrate into your system and you can do that at home!” I tried it and he’s not lost any of his healing abilities. Your new self-care treat? Scheduling two hours with Michael instead of Netflix.