Direct Eats (U.S.): Easy Special Diet Searches

Updated 2018! Last year was the first time that Direct Eats (formerly Abe’s Market) came onto my radar. Not only is it an online store that I’ve purchased from a few times, it’s also one of the sites I use to research the latest and greatest products for my work here on Go Dairy Free and with Allergic Living magazine.

Though it’s a great place to find select dairy-free food items (best for natural and organic snacks, mixes, and other convenience goodies), Direct Eats is also a gem for discovering all types of neat natural items – food, household items, beauty, gifts, even yoga products!

Direct Eats Pros

• Free shipping on every order within the continental U.S. – no minimum purchase!
• Comparatively good prices on many health, beauty and wellness items.
• They provide detailed product information, including descriptions, ingredients, and nutrition facts.
• You can search by Diet/Lifestyle, including dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, vegan, fair trade, kosher, and more. Plus, you can pick more than one category.
• Many unique food items that might be hard to find elsewhere, plus an eclectic mix of snack foods.
• Ever-changing good sales that are easy to take advantage of with the free shipping.
• Both single item and bulk purchasing options are available for many products.
• It’s just plain fun to wander through their site and find random cool things, including some great gift-worthy items.

Direct Eats Cons

• Sometimes, like when using the search, the Diet/Lifestyle options are not available for filtering.
• Some of their food items seem overpriced, and often don’t beat in-store (at least for my area). However, they do carry many items that might be hard to find in stores.
• It isn’t a one-stop-shop. They do not have fresh items, so it is better for some specialty pantry stocking and buying “fun stuff”.
• They do not ship to Hawaii, Alaska, or outside of the continental U.S.

My Direct Eats Experience

I think my latest shop on Direct Eats is a good example of the pros and cons …

• My initial goal was to find Jason’s 5000 IU vitamin E cream, which seems to be scarce, even online, a good natural sunscreen for a fair price, and a few flours and starches for my pantry. Mission accomplished in minutes on the beauty products, but my pantry-stocking searches left me without my current needs.
• But, I hate paying for shipping, so I started surfing around for other items I needed, which turned into a good hour-long venture since they have a very shallow drill-down system. (Direct Eats now has free shipping, so this is no longer an issue)
• I found the Yogi Green Tea (love that brand!) and Bear Naked Granola (hadn’t tried yet) on sale for great prices, so I had to throw those in.
• I’d been wanting to update my review of Namaste Foods Say Cheez, but couldn’t find it in stores here – fortunately Direct Eats had it!
• Now comes the temptation: how could I pass up a new-to-me salted dark chocolate; ooh, Alba has shave cream, too; well I’ve been looking for a better paper products option – who is this Caboo; and gourmet popcorn – sign me up! Obviously a lot of spontaneous “fun” purchases that weren’t overly expensive, but weren’t what I would call values either.

All in all, Direct Eats is a fun shopping experience, but be forewarned that it’s easy to checkout with only a few necessities and a lot of cool stuff that you probably could have lived without.

Just make sure you have a budget set and peruse their sales and stock-ups before you get in too deep. Then sit back, relax, and enjoy the virtual discovery.