Avoid Infection with DoorDash

    Eating is vital but pandemic burnout can mean that we don't always have the energy to cook. That said, going out to eat isn't strictly advisable either. How can we make this work and avoid a diet exclusively of convenience store meals and grocery store bento? Enter delivery service DoorDash.

    Living in a small town in Japan has generally meant that the only deliver option was Strawberry Cones, a Japanese chain of overpriced pizza restaurants. While I am extremely lucky to be in a location where a great pizza place and decent curry both exist within walking distance, the pandemic has cut down on how far I am willing to drag my kid in public to obtain dinner. A walk to either of these shops or the nearby grocery store would be emotionally and financially draining any year, but now all of these trips are also dangerous.

    I've heard about some Japanese taxi services taking up with UberEats or similar online food ordering options during the pandemic but never bothered to look for them until a recent hiccup with the Strawberry Cones website left me scrambling for dinner options.

    That's when I stumbled upon DoorDash, which shockingly actually services my area, unlike UberEats or DiDi, which both celebrated coming to Miyagi by limiting their services to a few wards of Sendai city only.

Lots of options, easy delivery. All you need is a credit card to pay and the AU Wallet Prepaid card will do.

    DoorDash is adding new restaurants to my delivery area pretty regularly as different shops realize the benefit of offering delivery. The prices are a little higher than they would be if you showed up in person to order the food, which is why we are limiting our orders to places that we can't easily get to on foot or aren't marked up terribly. Prices from the curry shop were increased by about 100 yen per item, while the price on a popular pizza from my favorite pizza place practically doubled on the app.

Some places give a huge lead time on the order. This one still arrived within 60 minutes.

    I am much more fond of ordering from places I just can't get to on foot, like KFC, Pizza Hut, and an independent burgers from a little shop I've never even seen before.


The app sends an alert when the food leaves the restaurant and when your deliverer or "dasher" is in your area. 

    There's also a great deal currently open in the app in my area. If you order from any of the restaurants in the 30 or 3000 group and it takes more than 30 minutes to fill your order, you will receive a coupon worth 3000 yen off of your next order. These coupons are sent to the email account registered to the app and expire 14 days after issuance. One caveat is that there is a limit of 12000 yen in coupons per account, which means after 4 coupons, you're not getting anymore. Still, 12,000 yen in discounts on family dinners doesn't suck.

Want a little discount anyway? Feel free to use my referral code and we both win!  https://drd.sh/z05jkzEVpCW5OBd1  

    At the end of the day, these delivery services provide a great option to get dinner you don't have to make without the risk of going to the restaurant yourself. While they are a little pricier, some of these deals are worth it, especially if you can get the discounts, too.