Anybody here order produce from Imperfect Produce?

Hi- Somebody in my condo building got a delivery from Imperfect Produce. Has anybody ordered from them? I looked at their website, and apparently they deliver food that would otherwise go to waste. and you can get it delivered once a week or less often, and they also send you an email telling you exactly what is available to choose from, and so you can pick and choose what you want. The prices start at $12-$13 dollars for 7-9 pounds of produce, and go up from there. Here is a link to their website.

https://new.imperfectproduce.com/how-gr ... vice-works

My son is getting it... Much of it they puree for baby food. They're not 100% thrilled and may not keep it up, mostly because it's not produce they really love.

I order from there and don't love it, but I haven't found a better alternative. I was previously ordering from Door to Door Organics, which went out of business last year. In my search for a replacement, I tried Irv and Shelly's Produce, which was the most beautiful produce I had ever seen (DTD's quality had slipped quite a bit before closing) and I absolutely loved what I received, but I didn't like that I couldn't customize, especially since I have my own garden in the summer. Imperfect has been ok, but the customization window is short and I often miss it. They also don't offer a huge variety of produce regularly, and several times as I'm customizing they have run out of what I wanted. The produce itself is fine, I haven't had any quality issues with it. Most of it is surplus, not actually ugly.

I've subscribed to them for about three or four months now. They're perfectly fine for what I wanted: a dependable supply of fruits and vegetables delivered to me in the Midway area once a week. I was just stoked that they actually delivered to my neighborhood.

The produce I've gotten has all been perfectly fine. The vast majority of it is not "imperfect" in any way except for being surplus produce. They give you an opportunity once a week to modify your order. At first, I didn't do so, as the "grab bag" quality of getting random produce appealed to me, but then I just ended up with way more potatoes and carrots than I knew what to do with, so I've been deleting those off the order. You can pretty much customize it a la carte. If you delete an item, they'll just charge you that much less on the bill for the week. And skipping deliveries is super easy, as well. We've been gone on our delivery date three times in the past five weeks, and skipping deliveries was just a click of a button on the website, and there is no penalty associated with it.

My only qualm with them is that it's not really any cheaper than shopping at my local Pete's Market and Cermak Produce. Removing the shipping costs from the equation (which are around $5, and totally worth it for convenience), for the produce I get, I could buy it at my local store at probably about 2/3 the cost. But I mostly subscribe to it to force me to remember to actually buy and eat/cook vegetables and fruits. For that, I have no issue.

As Imperfect Produce grows in Chicago, so do challenges for local farmers
https://trib.in/2NiCGLw

Somebody in my condo building gets fruit from them on Thursdays. I was able to peak inside her box, and I was underwhelmed. I suspect that she did not specify what she wanted. All she got was lots of apples some pears and three plums. I am sure none of the fruit was local. At the farmer's market today I got a 1/4 peck bin of peaches, 2 pints of blueberries and a muskmelon. I'll take my selection of fruit over hers any day. Has anybody here gotten any melons, berries or peaches in their box?

NFriday wrote:Somebody in my condo building gets fruit from them on Thursdays. I was able to peak inside her box, and I was underwhelmed. I suspect that she did not specify what she wanted. All she got was lots of apples some pears and three plums. I am sure none of the fruit was local. At the farmer's market today I got a 1/4 peck bin of peaches, 2 pints of blueberries and a muskmelon. I'll take my selection of fruit over hers any day. Has anybody here gotten any melons, berries or peaches in their box?

Peaches and apricots, yes. I think I may have once gotten a cantaloupe, but don't quote me on that. I don't recall ever getting any berries. Apples and plum are by far the most common. I've gotten figs and dates a couple times, too.

US News and World Report did an interview a few months ago with one of the founders of imperfect produce. Apparently for lower income families, they offer a box of produce for 1/3rd less than there regular price. They say they lose money on those boxes. They are also looking for a way for people receiving the LINK card to go online and link their card to an order that they place on the website. Currently the federal government will not let people use their LINK card to pay for food online. I thought that Amazon had figured out a way around that though? Here is a link to the article.

https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest- ... ste-hunger

I asked over at mashupmom today if anybody had tried imperfect produce, there were quite a few people that had tried it, but only a few people loved it. The rest of the people thought it was way too expensive, and would rather go to Jerry's or Aldi's to get their produce, and one person said that the produce was too small. I said that for some body that lives in a food desert, Aldi's is not an option. Apparently the state of Mississippi has the highest percentage of people that are food insecure 22%. North Dakota has the lowest percentage of food insecure people. Only 8% of residents in that state have problems getting enough food. Hope this helps, Nancy

Hi- Rachael over at mashupmom.com, recently purchased a box of produce from Imperfect Produce, and here is her review.

https://www.mashupmom.com/an-imperfect- ... ent-488732

She also has a code you can use to get 50% off of your first delivery. She said that most of the produce she got was of good quality. The only things she did not like were the avocados, which she felt were too small, and would never get ripe, and a lemon that had a soft spot on it. She was able to customize her box to include both organic and conventional produce. She also warned that you only get two days to customize your box, and if you wait until the last minute, some of the produce you want might be out of stock. She thought the price was reasonable for her box, but she got a larger box. I think that most of the people who think it is too expensive get a small box. You get charged a $4.99 delivery fee no matter the size of the box.

Has anybody had an problems with their tomatoes getting smashed in the box? Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote: I think that most of the people who think it is too expensive get a small box. You get charged a $4.99 delivery fee no matter the size of the box.

I actually get the large box of veggies and fruits, and, besides, I'm not counting the delivery fee in my assessment of the pricing. I'm a subscriber, but I can get much of this stuff cheaper at Pete's Market (but Pete's does tend to be inexpensive produce-wise). For example, a small head of red cabbage at Imperfect is $2.19. (I'm not 100% sure what it is at Pete's but the last time I bought a small head of red cabbage there, it was around a buck to buck and a half at most.) Two yellow onions are $0.89 (a 3-lb bag at Pete's is 99 cents). Spinach is $1.89 a bunch (Pete's is $0.89). Limes are $0.69 for 2 (Pete's is 12 for a buck right now), 3 tomatoes on the vine are $2.79 (I'm not sure what Pete's is right now, but they're usually much cheaper than that). Red potatoes are reasonably priced at $0.69/lb -- probably about the same at Pete's, maybe as low as $0.49/lb. Two red peppers are $2.19 (today, $1.49/lb at Pete's; I bought three for $1.59 yesterday) etc.

It's not unfairly priced, in my opinion, and the point of it for me wasn't to save money, but the pitch to save 30-50% on produce prices compared to grocery stores doesn't pan out in my particular situation. I'm sure for some, perhaps many, people it is cheaper than their local options.

A truly unfortunate typo to use for a banner quote? (Sep 01, 7:53pm)

Not sure where the typo is. I suppose some people might not understand the context of the quote, but that is their problem.

-Will

WillG wrote:Not sure where the typo is.

It's a bit of a crude joke commenting on "peak" vs "peek" and the double meaning of a word that follows.

No secret meaning here. You're reading way too much into it.

=R=
for LTH

Binko wrote:

NFriday wrote: I think that most of the people who think it is too expensive get a small box. You get charged a $4.99 delivery fee no matter the size of the box.

I actually get the large box of veggies and fruits, and, besides, I'm not counting the delivery fee in my assessment of the pricing. I'm a subscriber, but I can get much of this stuff cheaper at Pete's Market (but Pete's does tend to be inexpensive produce-wise). For example, a small head of red cabbage at Imperfect is $2.19. (I'm not 100% sure what it is at Pete's but the last time I bought a small head of red cabbage there, it was around a buck to buck and a half at most.) Two yellow onions are $0.89 (a 3-lb bag at Pete's is 99 cents). Spinach is $1.89 a bunch (Pete's is $0.89). Limes are $0.69 for 2 (Pete's is 12 for a buck right now), 3 tomatoes on the vine are $2.79 (I'm not sure what Pete's is right now, but they're usually much cheaper than that). Red potatoes are reasonably priced at $0.69/lb -- probably about the same at Pete's, maybe as low as $0.49/lb. Two red peppers are $2.19 (today, $1.49/lb at Pete's; I bought three for $1.59 yesterday) etc.

It's not unfairly priced, in my opinion, and the point of it for me wasn't to save money, but the pitch to save 30-50% on produce prices compared to grocery stores doesn't pan out in my particular situation. I'm sure for some, perhaps many, people it is cheaper than their local options.

We subscribed for a few months, but eventually gave it up because our experience pretty much matched yours - we mostly buy produce at Fresh Farms, and it's generally cheaper. Also, Imperfect rarely offered our staple veggies (lots of eggplants, peppers, mushroom, onions, etc.) and when they did, they were a LOT more expensive than Fresh Farms. Then our garden went into overdrive, and we decided it wasn't worth it. Maybe it's because the produce at Fresh Farms, although perfectly fine for cooking purposes, isn't always cosmetically perfect so it's cheap?

In any case, it's probably fine for many people, but wasn't quite right for us.

Eva -I know this is probably not convenient for you, but I can get eggplant and peppers for 4/$1 at the Evanston farmer's market. Somebody who is also a member of a weight loss group that I am a member of, told me that she buys most of her veggies at h-mart. I think she has been at the Fresh Fields on Golf, and she thinks they are too expensive. She buys a lot of bok choy and mushrooms though. A lot of people that buy from Imperfect Produce like the fact that their produce gets delivered, and saves them a trip to the store, and so they are not as concerned about price.