Imperfect Produce

Mother Dragon

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Has anyone done business with this company? Here's what was in Next Door:

Today I received my first ever box subscription! It’s from a company called Imperfect Produce and it’s all about being less wasteful when it comes to produce that is still good but maybe not as visually appealing for a grocery store to buy. I could have customized the order but was lazy and decided I wanted to be surprised.

My small box came with everything refrigeration-cold and included: 1 Fennel 1 cilantro 2 Grapefruit 2 small Oranges 2 Roma tomatoes 2 white/yellow potatoes 3 honey crisp apples 4 small bell peppers 5 small sweet potatoes Kind of excited to think up a recipe for some of this stuff. It’s like my own chopped episode! None of the items were actually misshapen, just small.

If you are also interested you can check it out. Imperfect: Ugly produce delivery for about 30% less!

 
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Mother Dragon

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If you use it, let us know how it is.

As long as the stuff doesn't have rotten spots, I don't care how it looks. If you were to see oranges as they come off the trees, you'd be shattered because I assure you they're NOT evenly orange. They look pretty ugly.

However, two small potatoes won't do much. There will have to be enough of one thing in the box to be worth cooking.

Now if we could just get good meat the same way...
 

Kat0121

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If you use it, let us know how it is.

As long as the stuff doesn't have rotten spots, I don't care how it looks. If you were to see oranges as they come off the trees, you'd be shattered because I assure you they're NOT evenly orange. They look pretty ugly.

However, two small potatoes won't do much. There will have to be enough of one thing in the box to be worth cooking.

Now if we could just get good meat the same way...
Our area of Florida is prime (and well known) citrus country. When DD was younger, I worked part time for a local company who does a lot of catalog sales during Thanksgiving/Christmas. Every Friday during the season they would leave crates of oranges and ruby red grapefruit out for us to take that weren't pretty enough to sell. Most of them had what they called "tree rub" on them. They were so good. I would take some into my regular job and people were all over them. I have to say they treated us seasonal people quite well and I sure do miss the perk of being able to take a big bag of free fruit every week. Their headquarters are right down the street from me. If my shift started at 6 PM I left at 5 to 6 and was still early.
 
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Mother Dragon

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I just counted 13 grocery stores of various qualities within 7 miles of my home. If I price shop the ads carefully and know prices, I believe I can beat Imperfect Produce, especially since I don't have to pay shipping. I can also get the quantities I want. I don't have to store what I'm not ready to use, either.

I think I'm going to pass on this one.
 

Kat0121

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I just counted 13 grocery stores of various qualities within 7 miles of my home. If I price shop the ads carefully and know prices, I believe I can beat Imperfect Produce, especially since I don't have to pay shipping. I can also get the quantities I want. I don't have to store what I'm not ready to use, either.

I think I'm going to pass on this one.
I'd agree with you. Looking at the box, the fennel looks past it's prime. I don't like fennel so I may be wrong on that but it looks droopy. Way too few potatoes and WAY too many green peppers ( I HATE green peppers) so 1 is too many for me,. The apples look good, the tomatoes look OK. The cilantro? No. Cilantro is not food. It's green leafy soap. I'd also pass.
 

foxxycat

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Doesn't look very filling..I imagine it's not cheap to have home delivery...I would think a good variety would be starches one could cook- potatoes along with veggies for salads/add ons and maybe some herbs to give things flavor...peppers don't have a long shelf life..they get slimy pretty fast I find. I tried slicing/freezing them but I hated the new texture..so I admit some veggies are only good when fresh. In our house we have a fussy eater but lately he ate the pot pie I cooked the other night with peas/carrots=he insisted for years nope won't eat peas in his food...the doctor has been pestering him to eat better and he's actually been more open to veggie type foods...

I find some grocery stores are better with produce than others. Shaws/Hannafords here is hands down best for produce. Market basket is only good if you eat them in 3 days then they get droopy and yucky. Some fruits have longer shelf life- apples/oranges= seems the root veggies/fruits have longer shelf life and not as picky as say things that grow in hot climates like tomatoes/peppers/cukes.

It is interesting to see what comes in these home service delivery things-it's probably fine for those who are good at making a variety of things to use up veggies but would have to be comparable to the prices in the stores for me to use it...
 

Willowy

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I never have any success with grab-bag type programs. I need to be able to choose what I get and make plans.

One of the local grocery stores has an "ugly produce" section with stuff that's marked down. But not by much. If they're just going to throw it away they really should mark it down more.
 

LTS3

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One of the local grocery stores has an "ugly produce" section with stuff that's marked down. But not by much. If they're just going to throw it away they really should mark it down more.
Or just donate the unwanted produce to a food bank or homeless shelter or other place.
 

Kat0121

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Or just donate the unwanted produce to a food bank or homeless shelter or other place.
my DD used to work in the bakery at our local Sam's. The amount of food they threw out every day was appalling. They donated SOME things but only when the manager "felt like it". The restt went in the compactor. My poor DD would get yelled at by other employees when she was given the task of throwing things out (as if it were her decision) but they were not allowed to give away anything to anyone without the store manager's permission- even other employees (who got nothing). Carts and carts of food got thrown out.
 

Willowy

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Yeah, there's a massive amount of waste at grocery stores. All those pre-cut things in plastic, with expiration dates? Thrown away the day they expire. If someone decides not to buy meat at the checkout counter, it has to be thrown away because they don't know how long it's been out of the fridge. Etc.

The local food bank doesn't have refrigerators (or the resources for them) so they can't take perishables. There is Feeding South Dakota and they'll take perishables, but they're somewhat limited in what they can distribute before it's totally spoiled. We really need a better infrastructure to distribute and/or recycle unsold food; the waste is just unsustainable.
 
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