The Core

If you use grocery programs such a Whole Foods, HungryRoot, etc. you need to check the food temps when delivered during the hot months (even if your area isn't hot).  According to tracking info, the following was shipped just 1 day earlier than received.  I shot all the contents with a laser thermometer.

HungryRoot arrived at 2:27 PM.
Outside temperature was 82 f and it was partly sunny. I moved it inside immediately after delivery, the driver was just
getting back in his van. It was not left outside.

Chicken thighs: 38
Basil pesto: 48
Lemon pepper Chicken: 56
Korean BBQ Chicken: 69
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese: 63
Fresh garlic: 57
Peaches: 59
Garlic sauce cups: 64
Baby broccoli: 64
Blueberries: 70
Asparagus: 63
Broccoli florets: 63
Halved brussel sprouts: 63
Cookie dough: 69
Naan: 57
Mango halves: 71
Lentil quinoa rice mix: 77
Sweet potato: 69

We loved Hungry Root's quick, easy, semi-fusion meal plan but this was the 2nd overly-warm delivery this summer, so we requested a refund and canceled until Fall.

From the title, I was thinking this was going to be a PSA reminder that if you depend on delivered food, you should stock up before UPS goes on strike.

The chicken and the cookie dough seem like the real concerns, but wouldn’t you cook those anyway?

By the way, I know almost nothing about meat having bought almost none in 40 years but thinking of doing so now. So the above is a real question, not rhetorical.

Many of the other items we bring backpacking. I’ve had mozzarella sticks  in my backpack for four days before eating it.

But to the general problem, yes. We suspend most food deliveries in the summer because of temperatures and bears.

There is a chocolate I buy direct from a company that makes/sells only coffee and chocolate and they have products they literally take off the market May through September because even with gel packs and insulated boxes they can’t guarantee quality. For all other shipments there is a $10 up charge on shipping and maybe more in summer. 

>What percentage of times in a Florida summer did you get a warm shipment?

Out of probably 40 or 50 shipments over the years there have maybe been 2 or 3 that have been problematic. And both of those were in Florida in the middle of summer.

Nearly all the shipments come packed in dry ice and 90% of the time there is still plenty of dry ice in the cooler box when it arrives. The other few the dry is gone but everything is still frozen. And there are a couple companies that ship the meat fresh, not frozen and they just use ice packs.

>frozen bison

I have had some bison from a couple different places and it has been excellent. It is different enough from beef that you know you aren't eating beef but not different enough that it would be off-putting to beef lovers. Haven't eaten too much venison though. Most of the venison I have had has been in sausage.

I've had ostrich steaks shipped to me.  Not bad, but not good enough to buy again.

Bison is good.