I sometimes wonder if I’m a living oxymoron. Cooking shows are totally my jam. (No pun intended, though I do love a good jam…!) – I live for just about everything that comes out of Bobby Flay’s or Michael Symon’s spicy meaty kitchens. Cooking classes? All about those. Cook books? There’s a shameful amount crammed into my teeny Park Slope studio apartment. But, truth be told, unless it’s to impress a date or a dinner party, I seldom cook. My mom lectures me on this often – the money I am wasting, how it’s “not nice” to have no food in the house. I’ll never get married, that way, she worries.

My marriageable status aside — shopping and preparing meals takes time – and it’s time that often feels like a waste when you live alone. As a freelancer, time is money. On top of that, I don’t know the last time you went grocery shopping, but supermarket food prices are rather staggering – and if you are buying for one vs. for a family? The cost per meal ratio is pretty crazy, especially when you factor in non-staple ingredients and the inability to buy bulk. My mom can go to Costco and buy chicken thighs for 12, shooting her price down. Me? Again, not so much. It’s a struggle to fit three Lean Cuisines and leftover pizza in my freezer.

But I digress. I’m something of a Seamless addict (you may recall my Greatest Review EVER award from them a few months ago, if I may pat myself on the back…) and in my own self-rationalizing (er….research) I came across the somewhat startling but VALID realization that it’s infinitely cheaper for me to order in than to buy groceries.

Granted, my case is not the same case for many – I live in New York City, where I don’t drive, live alone, and don’t have the ability to go hunting for the best grocery deals. But that’s sort of my point – eating right and finding the best deals is just different here than it may be elsewhere in the country. (Truth be told, if I lived elsewhere in the country, I’d likely be married and have a family to feed and much of this would be moot anyway.)

Lets, case in point, bring up my typical local Seamless orders.

Just Salad: I order from here 3-5 times a week. So often that I am their FourSquare mayor and have achieved the limited edition VIP Pink Bowl Status. My current favorite salad – the Almond Berry Blast – Romaine Lettuce, almond slivers, crumbled feta, fresh blueberries and strawberries, in a homemade lemon vinaigrette – $9. Less if you have the loyalty card. It’s so big I can stretch it two meals. Were I to order the ingredients for this salad from FreshDirect (or my local supermarket?) – easily 4X the cost.

Mura Sushi: Especially as the weather warms, I’m all about my sushi – something that if I tried to make myself, I could easily DIE FROM. (Not kidding, sushi with non-correctly made sushi can be dangerous!) – also, the cost of buying sushi-grade fish and all the parts and particles involved? Crazy pants. However, I can easily get my 2 sushi rolls for under $10. And that’s a quality high-protein dinner.

Maya Taqueria: My “treat” meal is the kale whole wheat burrito (hold the rice) from Maya – it’s $8 and I’ve stretched it two meals and still been stuffed. Get it “wet” – that’s covered in enchilada sauce, and it has serious kick!

And there you have it, I can eat good AND EAT WELL for easily under $10 a night, and eat all my favorites. Show me any grocery shopping that will give me that – and, behold, I can do so without breaking a nail or opening my stove. Hello, Brave New World, it’s nice to see you!

Aly Walansky is a popular New York City based lifestyles and travel journalist who seeks no greater mission than the perfect spicy tuna roll. Her writing can be seen in dozens of online magazines and print publications. Visit her blog at www.alittlealytude.com and follow her on twitter at @AlyWalansky.

• Agoda Asian Cuisine – 8-10 Murray Street, Financial District (Asian Fusion)
• Aux Epices – 121 Baxter Street, TriBeCa (Asian Fusion)
• Barn Joo – 893 Broadway, Flatiron (Korean)
• Gradisca – 126 West 13th Street, West Village (Italian)
• Native Bean – 50 Avenue A, East Village (Bagels)
• Pure & Fresh – 58 West 36th Street, Midtown (Deli)
• Ribalta – 48 East 12th Street, East Village (Italian)
• Siri Thai – 641 Tenth Avenue, Midtown West (Thai)
• Tabata Noodle – 540 Ninth Avenue, Midtown West (Japanese)
• Umami Shoppu – 513 Sixth Avenue, West Village (Japanese)

Samgyubsal Jjim from Barn Joo

Have a restaurant that you would like to see added to the site? Send us an e-mail and we’ll make sure to do our best to bring them aboard!

Most Popular Restaurant This Week:

• Bun Mee, 2015 Fillmore Street, Lower Haight

Bun Mee serves authentic and innovative banh mi-inspired sandwiches prepared to order, along with appetizers, rice and noodle bowls, salads, sides and deserts. Bun Mee is a a gourmet Vietnamese sandwich eatery that blends the street food concepts of Vietnam with founder Denise Tran’s flavorful modern interpretations using fresh, local ingredients.

Grilled Pork Banh Mi and Mango Sesame Salad

Most Liked Items This Week:

• Fried Crab Meat Rangoon from SF Oceanic
• Cheesesteak from Jake’s Steaks
• Pad Se-Ew from Soi Gow

Got other hot spots in San Francisco? Share your favorites in the comments below!

1. Fried Pork and Oyster Salad from Kin Shop

Celery, peanuts, mint and chili-lime vinaigrette

Fried Pork & Oyster Salad – Kin Shop

2. Dry Aged Burger with Foie Gras from Blue Planet Grill

Self Explanatory

Dry Aged Burger with Foie Gras – Blue Planet Grill

3. Rib Sampler for Two from Blue Smoke Battery Park

Four Memphis, four KC & two Texas. Served with sliced pickles

Rib Sampler for Two – Blue Smoke Battery Park

4. Zarape de Pato from Rosa Mexicano

Layered duck tortilla pie. Roasted pulled duck layered between soft corn tortillas and topped with yellow pepper-habanero cream sauce

Zarape de Pato – Rosa Mexicano

5. Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass from Tao

With wok vegetables

Chilean Sea Bass from TAO

6. Willow’s Mac N’ Cheese from Willow Road

Sweet sausage,lemon, fennel pollen, and parsley

Willow’s Mac N’ Cheese – Willow Road

7. Donut Ice Cream Sandwich from Holey Cream

Because you must end on a sweet note

Donut Ice Cream Sandwich – Holey Cream

What will you be splurging on today? Share in the comments below!

• BabyCakes NYC - 236 N Larchmont Boulevard, Mid Wilshire (Dessert)
• El Dorado Peruvian Seafood – 730 Vine Street, Hollywood (Peruvian)
• El Nopal Restaurant – 10426 National Boulevard, Cheviot Hills (Mexican)
• La Cocina – 4438 182nd Street, Redondo Beach (Mexican)
• La Mixteca Mexican Grill – 5421 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood (Mexican)
• Pa Ord Noodle – 7075 W Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood (Thai)
• Santee Falafel - 1335 Santee Street, Downtown (Middle Eastern)
• Sea Salt Fish Grill – 508 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica (Seafood)
• Susan Feniger’s Street – 742 N Highland Avenue, Hollywood (Vegetarian)
• The Village Idiot – 7383 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood (American)

Vanilla Cupcake from BabyCakes

Have a restaurant that you would like to see added to the site? Send us an e-mail and we’ll make sure to do our best to bring them aboard.

1. Kale Caesar Salad from Fat Radish in the Lower East Side

2. Stir-Fried String Beans with Yibin Veggie Buds from Szechuan Gourmet in Midtown

3. Fried Brussels Sprouts from Brother Jimmy’s in Union Square

4. Mano Negra Tacos from La Lucha in East Village

5. Grilled Vegetable Salad from Ready to Eat in the West Village

6. Mexicorn from Casa Loca in the East Village

7. Glazed Carrots from Rabbits Cafe in SoHo

8. Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes from Rockin’ Raw in Greenwich Village

9. Stuffed Eggplant from Pure Food in the Upper East Side

10. Sauteed Kale from Blossom in Chelsea

11. Sweet Potato Fries (yes this counts!) from Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen in Midtown West

12. Artichoke and Hearts of Palm Salad from Tacocina in the Upper East Side

13. “Comme un Taboule” Maki Roll from Sushi Shop in Midtown East

14. Zucchini Pancakes from Akdeniz in Midtown

15. Avocado Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing from Dao Vegan in Park Slope

16. Roasted Beets with Lentils and Goat Cheese from Dig Inn Seasonal Market in Union Square

17. Broccoli Sub from No. 7 Sub in Greenpoint

18. Wite Bean, Root Vegetable & Pumpkin Soup from Gobo

19. Roasted Fresh Artichoke from Village Natural in the West Village

Got some other favorite Veggie Dishes? Share them in the comments below!

You guys got some really great food quirks:

I like my chopped steak almost raw.  You folks know me.

I am looking forward to eating this bowl of leaves.

PLEASE BAG THE BROWNIES IN A DIFFERENT BAG THEN THE ICE CREAM

Parmesan Packets

Sour cream with wings

PLEASE HAVE HOT MUSTARD HOT OIL AND CHOPSTICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE HAVE HOT MUSTARD HOT OIL AND CHOPSTICKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can we be invited to this party?

we are coming by to pick things up and wanting margaritas!!! weeee

Lots of birthdays being celebrated this week!

please add “Happy Birthday Cynthia love mom and dad” to the order

This is a Birthday Lunch GIFT! So  if you don’t write the amount of what i pay that would be great! Just deliver the food with the detail of the order without the price. Thank you sooo much!

Please place a note saying  ”HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUBEN!!!!!!! Now you can have your cake and cookie too!  -Elyse”

Some of you just have the best relationships with your delivery restaurants:

Hello guys this’s [redacted]. Miss the greatest food in Hyde Park and miss you too. If Start raining crazy forget about the food I’ll stop by another day ok. Safety first

My favorite pizza makers Marco and George. This is for Shawn who works around the corner. Ill be over there in a few minutes see ya soon.

Many of you were mindful of the weather this week:

Sorry to make you come out in the rain again the quesadilla is just too good.

Use the Avenue entrance – it’s closer for you int his weather!!

Thank you very much for delivering in such a rainy day. Take your time and be safe :)

Sorry about the weather. I threw in some extra tip for you.

We are looking for a Systems Engineer in NYC who is passionate about Seamless and an expert with Windows infrastructure.  To be an ideal candidate, you must possess an expertise with Active Directory and GPO’s as well as strong experience with IIS configuration and management. You will be responsible for creation and configuration of physical & virtual servers, alerting & monitoring, load balancing and logging to support the ongoing evolution of the Seamless technology platform.  You will contribute to projects from inception through production deployment and work closely with Architects responsible for the infrastructure, security, and the application and data sub systems of the platform. If you enjoy wearing a hoodie every day and breaking from work for a rousing game of ping pong, this is the place for you.

If this sounds like you, apply here now!

If this doesn’t sound like you but you know someone else who fits the bill, please spread the word!

First Name: Alexandra 

Age: 24 birthday cakes

Occupation: Copywriter (yes, like Peggy) 

How and When Did You Discover Seamless? At work! We can order dinner any night we stay past 7 pm. However, soon after starting my job, my relationship with Seamless went from professional to personal, and I started ordering from home.

Where Do You Use Seamless? Pretty much anywhere I can get WiFi—at my desk, in my bed, on my phone (often, on the way home from spin class or walking up the stairs to my apartment). 

Favorite Kind of Food: Thin crust, margarita pizza. Call me a plain Jane, but there’s nothing more perfect than a little crust, a little sauce, and a whole lot of cheese (with a decorative garnish of basil). I’m also obsessed with avocado toast with red pepper flakes and eggs over medium. 

Least Favorite Kind of Food: Never have I ever eaten an olive. 

Favorite Place(s) to Order From on Seamless? Loving Mottsu sushi on Mott street right now and long time fan of Peubla Mexican Food & Coffee Shop, who makes the best burritos and breakfast tacos around.   

What’s your record for orders placed on Seamless in a 24-hour period? Probably 3—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But with a dessert, so maybe that makes 4? 

If you had to eat one food for 30 days in a row, what would that be? Definitely sushi. There are 1 million options (rolls? sashimi? brown rice? white rice?), and it’s filling, and healthy!   

Least Favorite Thing About Calling Restaurants? Oh man, thanks to Seamless, I haven’t done it in so long I can hardly remember. Probably not being able to hear the person on the other end. With Seamless, there is no yelling involved.  

Favorite Celebrity Chef? Geof Manthorne from Ace of Cakes (@geofmanthorne) because he is a babe. 

What Superpower Do You Wish You Had? I’d love to be able to teleport from place to place. No traffic, no lines, no rain delays!  

Plans for Tonight? Picking up laundry, then meeting my roommate for wine and spaghetti limone at Lil’ Frankie’s .

E-mail us at thedeliverybag@seamless.com if you’d like to be the next Seamlesser of the Week or if you’d like to suggest a friend! 

Did you know cornbread rises? I didn’t.

— Megan E.

One time I put pasta on to cook and went into the other room to watch TV. 10 minutes passed and I forgot about my food and decided to head off to a friends house… I was there for about an hour when I remembered my food still cooking at home. Panic set in and I sprinted the half mile him. When I got to the top of my street the fire brigade were outside my house. I ran down as fast as I could, which still seemed like slow motion.

The fire brigade had been called for what turned out to be an inconsequencial incident at the Chinese restaurant right under my apartment. I’d forgotten to turn my pasta on to boil in the first place. By now it was swollen and white…

I turned on the gas and waited 20 minutes before gobbling down that disgusting beige sludge, rendered delicious by its secret ingredient: relief.

– Dermot H.

When we moved to NY, he had never used a gas stove. Because we lived in the East Village, our apartment was decrepit and the stove was at least 30 years old. He had no idea how to turn on the oven, so he just turned the nob without igniting the flame. I noticed this about 10 seconds later and freaked out, running in what seemed like slow motion towards the nob, twisting it off as if our apartment was seconds away from destruction.

We let the kitchen air out a bit, then I taught him how to turn it on. He more or less got the hang of it. The funniest part is that even though we are now in a new apartment with brand new appliances, he gets so scared to use the stove when I’m around that he asks me to leave the kitchen when he needs to cook.

– Matt T.

I was studying abroad in Prague, and it was around Christmas time, so my friends and I decided to host a little holiday party. Every holiday party needs cookies. So we decided to bake our own from scratch.

I’m not sure if we followed some sort of Czech recipe? Or Google got confused and gave us the wrong recipe? Or the ingredients we bought were just not the right ones? Because… when we removed our “cookies” from the oven, they never came off the baking sheet. They were stuck there for eternity.

And that was the end of my baking career.

– Jessie G.

Not a klutz moment, but I had a nerve wracking dinner party experience.

My friends were coming over for this elaborate themed dinner that I planned. We’re talking multiple courses, flowers and menus printed on vellum.

It was in the middle of winter and I go to start boiling something… but the water doesn’t come out. The pipes were frozen! My landlord had to delay all of his plans and show up, girlfriend in tow, to thaw out the pipes outside in the freezing weather.

Miraculously, they finished 15 minutes before the party and everything was fine.

– Alex C.

Do you have any Kitchen Klutz-y stories? We’d love to hear them — Share them in the comments below!