I don't remember reading how soon you had to place the order. For some reason two days sticks in my brain. I already had a list, and just wanted to start typing it in somehow, but I didn't see a way to "save" my list, so I just went ahead a submitted it. I don't think that January is too busy of a time, but if you want a specific delivery slot, you might want to do it a little bit ahead of time. The ones for January 31st, and January 2nd were completely booked, and they were closed on New Year's day. I guess if you really had a problem, you could take a taxi to a grocery store and do a quick grab and go of the necessary items.