We have complained many times about the poor state of food stores in Amsterdam, dominated by dreaded Albert Heijn supermarkets. With the online options even more limited we often ended up zigzagging all across town to get the ingredients we wanted in many small specialty stores.
A few weeks ago we discovered online grocery store ruudmaaz.nl which quickly has changed all that!
ruudmaaz.nl is a small operation with a big dream. The name is a play on “duurzaam”, Dutch for sustainable, as Ruud Maaz is set on providing Amsterdammers with an easy way to order the tastiest foods from local producers and entirely without plastic packaging.
The basics seemed well covered. Delivery is next day during a two hour time window in the evening. The selection is great and we quickly managed to put the minimum of € 50,= worth of groceries into our shopping cart and place our first order.
The arrival of our food certainly was a happy moment. Being used to delivery by a grumpy and sweaty Albert Heijn kid, the tone was set when the delivery team rang the door bell with a big smile. It was obvious that they were completely sold on the sustainable idea and proud of the tasty groceries they had in their bag. Everything was delivered right into the kitchen which looked like we had just gotten back from the farmer’s market.
There was milk and yogurt in glass bottles from local dairy producer Weerribben Zuivel, fresh fish from Fishes who also have a store in Amsterdam, smoked salmon from our favorite Frank’s Smokehouse, individually packaged sausages and organic chicken from Amsterdam based butcher De Wit, a whole week’s supply of seasonal local fruit and much more. Basically it was like all of our favorite shops had huddled together and sent us a great package of their best foods!
We’ve quickly adopted placing orders regularly and hope that ruudmaaz.nl continues to expand while maintaining the small scale spirit!
Dear Mark, good to hear you liked your first Ruud Maaz experience, looking forward to nok on your door frequently;-). Cheers, Devi, Ruud Maaz
Hi,
I’ve just discovered your fantastic blog and I’ love it! My fiance and I have recently moved to Amsterdam, and I’m a real foodie, and we’ll definitely be looking at buying from ruudmaaz :)Thankyou!
Hi Laurie,
Thanks for the nice feedback. Hope you like Ruud Maaz. Their selection is getting bigger every time!
–dutchgrub
I’ve heard about these guys too – glad to see it seems to be such a good service!
Thanks for the tip on Ruud Maaz. We’ve been ordering from them for a month now. Very pleased with the service and quality of products. And Devi, the owner, is super friendly and helpful via e-mail and SMS. We’re telling all our friends to try them out.
Oh, and we love the “minder verpakking” approach! One reason we rarely shop at Marqt now, which was formerly our choice for delicious, organic, and fresh food, is that everything from Marqt seems to be done-up with two layers of plastic. Ruud Maaz’s minimal and statie-geld friendly packaging is a nice change.
Hi,
If you like ruud maaz, you also might like Smaak ( http://www.smaak.nl/ ). They have a nice section with recipies and (selectable) ingredients.
They also sell absolutely amazing “kwark”, Weerribben kwark.
Cheers,
Jan
Hi,
thanks for the review; I was just looking for this kind of shop. I can’t wait to try it! I hope I’ll be as happy as you are with their service.
Hi – I am hoping someone can assist. I am in Canada – my daughter is on Europe trip – now in Amsterdam. Developed a severe reaction to sunscreen so stuck in her hotel room at
BEST WESTERN Leidse Square Hotel – desparetly trying to find grocery store or restaurant that will deliver meals to her as she has been living off cooking and chips for 2 days now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated – thank you.
Hi – I am in Canada. My daughter on vacation in Europe and has developed severe reaction to sunscreen so she is stuck in room at BEST WESTERN Leidse Square Hotel. We are desparately trying to find grocery store or restaurant in her area that could deliver meals to her since she can’t go out until reaction clears up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Hi Irene,
I think the hotel should be able to help. She can get sushi, pizza, salads, kebabs etc delivered by loads of take aways. I’m sure the congierge will look up telephone numbers and help her order. Hope she’ll get better soon. At the moment it is very cloudy here (Amsterdam) So maybe she can even go out.