Disclaimer: The following is a review of Imperfect Foods and includes a referral link should you choose to try Imperfect Foods. If you sign-up with my referral link, you will receive $10 off your first box and I will receive $10 off my next one.
Imperfect Foods
I have always been intrigued by the idea of “imperfect produce.” Growing up, I loved going to farmer’s markets, seeing all the fresh fruits and veggies, and trying the free samples directly from the stand. Fresh and local produce always tastes better than the store-bought variety!
I first heard about the idea of “ugly” fruit and veggies in college and immediately was shocked. What do you mean people don’t want a carrot it there is an imperfection on it? It had literally never occurred to me to wonder why all of the apples in the store looked perfectly identical. I just assumed that’s the way apples looked. Despite the name, growing up in Orange Country, CA, I was always a fair degree removed from how my food was grown. As I got older and the idea of ‘ugly produce’ broke into the national scene, I began to wonder about intentionally seeking out ugly produce, but it always seemed harder than just going and picking up food at my local grocery store.
Enter COVID-19.
With grocery stores in Los Angeles swarming with people and shortages of certain foods, my partner and I decided to make the jump and decided to try Imperfect Foods, an organization dedicated to reducing food waste and building a better food system for everyone. That way we could avoid exposing ourselves and any immunocompromised friends and family to COVID, while simultaneously getting delicious fresh food delivered. We haven’t looked back since, and I haven’t been to a grocery store in more than 4 months. Plus, the entire process was easier than going to my local store!
Why Imperfect?
The Imperfect Foods model is simple: Provide discount foods, veggies, and pantry staples to consumers, and eliminate food waste through paying farmers fairly for their products.
There is a huge gap in how our food system works [or more accurately, doesn’t work]. 1 in 5 children in the United States grows up in a food-insecure household and yet 40% of food in the US goes uneaten. Imperfect is stepping in to fill that gap to prevent food waste AND feed our communities.
Screenshot from the Imperfect Foods Website
According to Imperfect, there are a few reasons things are categorized as imperfect. One of the biggest reasons is purely cosmetic. If the sweet potatoes are too small, the apples are bruised, or the carrots look strange, a grocery store will not want to purchase these products from farmers. That is one of the true things I value about Imperfect, their commitment to paying farmers fair prices for their products. While I know there has been a lot of conversation around if those products could have been donated instead, paying farmers for their wages is also an important part of our agricultural system which allows farmers to provide for their families and thus grow more food. In addition, Imperfect has donated over 5 million pounds of food to local food banks and has been donating to organizations helping to bridge food insecurity around the United States. In addition, Imperfect offers low-cost boxes (beyond their already discounted products) for individuals who are low-income.
Screenshot from the Imperfect Foods Website
And it isn’t only cosmetic imperfections which result in food being considered imperfect. Excess inventory, packaging changes, and more, all mean a particular food can’t be sold at a grocery store. Imperfect has saved more than 139 million pounds of food in the past 5 years! I definitely recommend going through their site and learning more about their mission because every time I communicate with them (such as if I ever have a challenge with my order) they have been incredibly helpful.
How It Works…
When you sign up for Imperfect, you will receive a particular shopping window, during which you can make changes to your cart. For instance, our shopping window opens at 1PM on Monday, closes at 3PM on Tuesday, and arrives on Thursday. When your shopping window goes live, Imperfect will have automatically pre-selected items for your cart which you can adjust, add, or remove. I believe the items usually end up being less than $20 total.
Now, my partner and I have never spent less than $90 on Imperfect, but that is purely an “us” decision. Imperfect is pretty much the only way we have been buying food and groceries for the last 4 months, and we home-cook every meal during COVID. This allows us to load up as much as we want in our cart, from olive oil, to meat, to fruits and veggies, and coffee. However, Imperfect is almost 100% of the time less expensive than our local grocery store, so we tend to buy more due to the low price point which in turn allows us to cook more. Below you will see a screenshot of just some of the items listed during our weekly sale with our regional price points. In speaking with my friend out of Columbus, OH who also uses Imperfect, she has said that Imperfect is also significantly cheaper than shopping at her local grocery store in Ohio.
One thing to know about shopping with Imperfect is that you cannot always plan what will be available week to week, as it relies both on seasonal availability and what products they can acquire on a weekly basis. For instance, we have not been able to get bananas on Imperfect for the past few months. If you are planning a specific recipe, you will likely want to supplement with a trip to the grocery store, but shopping with Imperfect has provided an opportunity for us to be far more creative with our recipes.
The Results
Our delicious food patiently waiting for me to take it inside.
So now you have done it. You added your items to your cart, and you wait. On the day of delivery, you will receive a text message letting you know your order has arrived (got to love the no-contact delivery!).
The next step is to bring it in and get to eating! Every single item I have received from Imperfect has been delicious. If you are a meat-eater, all their meat is antibiotic-free and vegetarian-fed. Their eggs are at the very least cage-free [though often they are organic, free-range, or pasture raised]. If you are vegetarian and interested in meat substitutes, they also have delicious options! We absolutely love their seasoned tofu, and are regularly able to get Impossible Burger meat from them as well.
So what’s the result?
A box of absolutely delicious food minus a lot of the excess packaging which would end up in the trash if I purchased it at the store. AND it cost me less than going to the grocery store, helped pay farmers fair wages and reduced food waste.
Would I Recommend It?
HELL YES!
If I could shout it from the rooftops I would. Imperfect Foods has been life-changing for us, and we have no plan to go back to the grocery store any time soon. If you are interested in trying Imperfect and receiving $10 off your first box, use my referral link and get to shopping!