Do you pay attention to how much food you waste?

I truly didn’t until I saw a billboard a few years ago talking about how much water gets wasted when we throw away strawberries, eggs, milk, etc. and I had just thrown away all three of those things because they went bad before I was able to use them! More recently, Instagram did its creepy Instagram thing where it knows what you’re thinking, and started advertising Imperfect Produce on my feed. I had clicked on it a few times but wasn’t sure about a weekly “commitment”, or how the fruits and veggies would turn out – until a friend of mine said she’d tried it and loved it! So, check out my experience below:

Ok, but what is Imperfect Produce?

Good question. It’s a company committed to selling produce that doesn’t quite fit the cosmetic requirements of retail. According to UNESCO and Environment Working Group, 1 in 5 fruits and veggies grown in the U.S. don’t meet cosmetic standards. This could mean crooked carrots, smaller fruit, oddly shaped tomatoes – and this usually causes them to go to waste. What Imperfect Produce does is work with trusted growers to take their “ugly” produce and deliver it to subscribers’ doors. In the past when a farmer would have an “ugly” fruit or veggie, they would have to either leave it to waste in their field, or sell it at a very low cost to a processor. With Imperfect Produce, they don’t have to lose money or break-even on those ugly growers any more. If you’re not sure about the “ugly” produce, here’s a link to a graphical representation of what makes produce cosmetically unacceptable in the store.

So, how does it work?

When you sign up, you decide how frequently you’d like a produce box, what type of produce you want, and how much. For my husband and I, I chose 1 small box, 1 time a week, fruit and veggie mixture. You can also choose from Organic, All Fruit or All Veggie. They recommend a small box for 1-2 people. (I do have to say, having so much produce around is helping me stick to my diet. If you’ve read my About Me, you know I’m on Weight Watchers – and fruits and veggies are key!) The Thursday after signing up, you’ll receive a link to customize your box. You have until the end of the day on Friday to choose your items and change your mind. If you don’t actually need to purchase for the following week, you can simply click skip.

When you are choosing your items, you’ll see they have a really good selection of produce (watch my video to see what I chose!), and they tell you what makes it “ugly”. To be honest, some of it isn’t even ugly – it’s just extra. They simply had too much. That was the case with my blueberry pint and I have to say, they were awesome! Poor lil’ guys would have never made it to the store! After you pick your produce, just sit back and relax – on Monday it will be delivered to your door! It comes with instructions on where you should store each item for it to live its best life, which I thought was helpful because we just keep things where ever they fit.

You’ll do some good for the environment!

Once you receive your first box, check your account online to see how much water you’ve helped save, the pounds of CO2 saved and pounds of food saved! It tugs at the heartstrings. According to the Imperfect Produce homepage, they’ve helped save a total of 19 million pounds of food, 772 million gallons of water, $6.5 million in groceries, and 42.3 million pounds of CO2!