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After a long day at work, the prospect of pushing a cart down crowded supermarket aisles can seem overwhelming, especially if there’s a young child in tow.

Well, it’s possible to restock your cupboards from the comfort of home--if you don’t mind paying a little more and are willing to settle for fewer choices.

A number of Web sites allow you to order groceries and other household items online. However, only a couple of them have set up shop in Southern California, where higher-income residents are spread thin across a wide geographic area and mild temperatures make customers less willing to pay a premium for delivery.

Another caveat: Online grocery sites may seem convenient, sparing you the hassle of queuing up at the store, but they aren’t always quick.

Navigating through screen after screen to find the products you want, or coming up with the right keyword to find them in a search can be time-consuming and frustrating.

At Pink Dot, finding turkey for sandwiches involved keying in the words “turkey,” then “luncheon meat” and finally “meat” before I actually found the cold cuts. It took me almost 40 minutes to fill my electronic cart.

Still, it saved me that extra trip to the grocery store, and I didn’t pick up any impulse buys like wine or chips.

Pink Dot delivers groceries, deli items and videos the same day in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Its prices are higher than your local supermarket’s, and it carries only a few brands in each category, such as two types of dry cat food. But it’s quick and the $2.99 delivery charge is relatively painless. (But don’t forget to tip the driver.)

My last order from Pink Dot arrived in 30 minutes, just as the Web site said it would, and it was in good condition, except for a wilting deli sandwich.

Shoppers in Orange County can get food delivered the same day from Whyrunout.com in Aliso Viejo. And if your pantry isn’t completely bare and you don’t mind forgoing perishables like meat or fresh vegetables, you can order food from New Brunswick, N.J.-based NetGrocer.

Unlike its competitors, NetGrocer offers prices as low as, or in some cases lower than, the supermarkets’ because of special promotions. However, the groceries take days to arrive and the FedEx delivery charges of $8.99 to $19.99 for California make it less of a bargain.

The country’s most prominent Web grocers--Skokie, Ill.-based Peapod, Foster City, Calif.-based Webvan Group and Bellevue, Wash.-based HomeGrocer.com--don’t yet have warehouses in California, although all are believed to have designs on the Southland.

Webvan, started by Louis Borders, co-founder of the Borders bookstore chain, delivers in the San Francisco Bay Area, and 2-year-old HomeGrocer takes orders in Seattle.

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Groceries

Web sites reviewed: Pink Dot: https://www.pinkdot.com; Whyrunout.com: https://www.whyrunout.com; NetGrocer: https://www.netgrocer.com; Peadod: https://www.peapod.com; Webvan Group: https://www.webvan.com; HomeGrocer.com: https://www.homegrocer.com