What Do You Get Exactly In an Imperfect Produce box?

We subscribed to a small organic box of Imperfect Produce a few weeks back and we are truly enjoying it. A small box contains between 7lbs – 9lbs of produce and averages $16, including the delivery fee. The fruits and vegetables are fresh and flavorful, the options are pretty good with some variety week to week (got some Apricot recently) and they have mastered deliveries. Everything shows up at your front door exactly when it is supposed to, and the contents look just as fresh as if you had bought them from the supermarket’s produce sprinkles area. 

I haven’t noticed anything too unusual about the produce in case you are concerned they would deliver something inedible at your house… Sometimes the limes or peaches are a bit smaller than the average grocery store size or you see a zucchini that has a bit of a natural skin scratch in a little area… I was honestly expecting to see some crazy produce genetics, but all I have to say is that these fruits and veggies are perfectly normal with only slight visible differences from what you get at the supermarket. It seems crazy to waste these fruits and vegetables because they are not up to some arbitrary standard. Bottom line: there is nothing imperfect about imperfect produce.

Several studies show that ⅓ of all the food that we produce gets lost or go to waste. According to the Food and Agriculture United Nations Organization (FAO), this is 1.3 billion tons every year, being larger food losses with root crops, fruits and vegetables (50% goes to waste, yikes!). The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that about 94% of the food we throw away end up in the landfill. Thankfully we have composting in our city, but even this is a terrible waste of perfectly good food. By reducing food waste, the United States can help address climate change, as 20 percent of total U.S. methane emissions come from landfills.