June 23, 2023
Cold Brew Club Coffee Review
Category:
Coffee & Tea Reviews
This Imperfect Foods review contains affiliate links and we may be compensated if you make a purchase. All opinions are our own.
Written By Alison Chew
Imperfect Foods delivers a wide variety of sustainable and affordable groceries directly to your door while helping to build a better, less wasteful food system.
Choose from a large assortment of “unwanted” groceries and exclusive items including fresh produce, dairy products, meat and seafood, snacks, plant-based proteins, pantry staples, and more with savings of up to 30% compared to your local grocery store chain.
The cost of Imperfect Foods varies depending on what you order and your delivery area. Some areas have NO box minimum, while others have a $30-$45 order minimum which you will see during sign-up and when customizing your box. All areas have a shipping fee of $4.99 – $8.99, again depending on the area.
Imperfect Foods is free to sign up to and you are only charged when your shopping window has closed and your groceries are being prepared to ship. Aside from the delivery fee and the cost of the products you order there are no subscription or service fees.
And while Imperfect Foods is a subscription service, you can easily skip weeks or cancel at any time through your online account.
The Imperfect Foods site gives the following cost examples based on the number of people you are feeding, but you are not held to a specific box size or order minimum (unless you are in an area with a minimum). All items in the Imperfect Foods Marketplace are priced individually except for some produce that you can buy in specific quantities or by weight. SHOP NOW >>
1-2 people Recommendation
3-4 people Recommendation
5+ people Recommendation
Currently, Imperfect Foods delivers to most of the West South Central region, Midwest, Northeast, and all along the West Coast. Please check your zip code on the Imperfect Foods site to see if they deliver to your area. SHOP NOW >>
With Imperfect Foods, you can have your weekly groceries delivered right to your door. Personalize your box by choosing from more than 60 different types of produce and 100’s of other items like fresh herbs, dairy, proteins, snacks, beverages, pantry staples, beauty items, and more every week. SHOP NOW >>
Getting started with Imperfect Foods is easy. Simply answer a few questions, create an account, and add your credit card info. There are no signup or subscription fees and you are only charged when your box ships.
Each week you can personalize your box with sustainable groceries during a 3-day window. Our window was Monday from 1 pm to Wednesday at 12 pm for a Friday delivery. If you don’t like the items available that week or don’t need/want a box, simply skip the week in your online account. SHOP NOW >>
Imperfect Foods has a mission to fight food waste and everything that they sell supports this mission and helps to make a better food system for everyone. The food that they rescue, and feature in their marketplace, are most often rejected by grocery stores for one of four reasons.
Simply put, consumers want groceries to look “perfect” and if they don’t grocery stores will not put them out on their shelves. We are glad that Imperfect Foods and others are here to rescue this food that would otherwise go to waste. SHOP NOW >>
To my surprise, our Imperfect Foods box was delivered by an Imperfect Foods truck, and they say that most boxes are delivered by one of their drivers. Though a few customers will have their box delivered by a third party.
For our Imperfect Foods review, we ordered limes, grapefruit, broccoli, red peppers, onion, cilantro, potatoes, jalapenos, corn on the cob, ground bison meat, mahi-mahi filets, and hamburger buns. Everything that we ordered was included in the box and all items were cool with meat and seafood on ice packs and cold to the touch.
In one of the emails sent by Imperfect Foods, they said that we would receive a “storage guide” in our first order and unfortunately we did not receive this. They did not that we could access it online, but it would’ve been more convenient to have in the box.
As we unpacked our Imperfect Foods box we noticed the limited amount of packaging and applaud them for their efforts to reduce waste. We were also pleasantly surprised to learn about their Packaging Return Program via the QR code on the insulated bag that our meat and seafood came in. SHOP NOW >>
Imperfect Foods says that the Packaging Return Program has prevented 1,007,043 pounds of packaging materials from going to the landfill and we wish more companies would offer this service. This program allows you to return your clean gel packs and liners to Imperfect Foods during your next delivery by simply leaving them wherever your box is usually delivered.
They then sanitize the gel packs and reuse them while the liners are recycled and broken down into high-quality resins which are then used for packaging. We LOVE this! SHOP NOW >>
Back to our order! All of our produce arrived safely and in good condition. Per our tip above, we filled our box with ingredients for two meals with some extras.
Here is a breakdown of the items we received and how much we paid for each:
We made two dinners with the ingredients from our Imperfect Foods box. We started the weekend with a wonderful fajita-style mahi-mahi with corn on the cob, sauteed red peppers and onions, with fresh jalapenos and cilantro. We even made a homemade grapefruit and lime margarita to go with 🙂
We found that the selection of proteins was more extensive than other online groceries/produce box retailers that we have tried and love the convenience that this offers. SHOP NOW >>
The second dinner that we made include bison burgers on sprouted whole grain hamburger buns with baked broccoli and corn on the cob. Bison meat has a slightly sweet taste and is much leaner and better for you than beef and we really enjoyed these burgers.
In this box, we didn’t add too many “extras” from the marketplace, but it is good to note that Imperfect Foods has the largest selection of items for an online grocery/produce box service outside of our local grocery store that we’ve seen. SHOP NOW >>
We compared the price of the items in our Imperfect Foods box with those at our local Giant Foods grocery store, Whole Foods, or online prices.
Overall, we saved $1.29 by shopping with Imperfect Foods than with our local grocery stores and didn’t have to leave the house.
See below for price comparison.
| Item | Imperfect Foods Price | Grocery Store Price | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Limes: 3ct (.75 lbs) | $1.49 | $2.99 ($3.99/lb) | $1.50 |
| Grapefruit: 2ct (1.5 lbs) | $1.99 | $3.38 (1.69/each) | $1.39 |
| Broccoli: 1 bunch (1.5 lbs) | $2.99 | $2.49 /bunch | $0.50 |
| Russet Potatoes: 3 ct (1 lb) | $0.99 | $0.99/ lb | $0.00 |
| Jalapenos: 2ct | $0.99 | $0.38 ($0.19/each) | $0.61 |
| Cilantro: 1 medium bunch | $1.29 | $1.00/bunch | $0.29 |
| Yellow Onion: 1ct (1 lb) | $1.25 | $0.99 / lb | $0.26 |
| Red Bell Peppers: 2ct (1 lb) | $1.99 | $3.98 ($1.99 each) | $1.99 |
| Large Sweet Corn: 4ct | $2.49 | $3.20 ($0.80 each) | $0.71 |
| Angelic Bakehouse Sprouted Whole Grain Hamburger Buns | $2.99 | $5.59 | $2.60 |
| Imperfect Foods Wild Caught Mahi Mahi: 1 lb | $9.49 | $9.99 | $0.50 |
| Frontière Natural Meats Ground Bison: 12 oz | $8.99 | $8.24 | $0.75 |
We spent a total of $36.94 on our Imperfect Foods box plus an additional $4.99 for shipping for a total of $41.93. We would’ve spent around $43.22 plus tax if we had driven to the grocery store or stores.
We saved $1.29 (including shipping) with Imperfect Foods AND helped to reduce food waste and donate to those in need. That’s a 3% savings plus a really good feeling from giving back! SHOP NOW >>
TIP: Even though our savings wasn’t huge with this box there are savings to be had if you select the right items. We’ve noticed that Organic items and some Pantry items are less expensive through Imperfect Foods compared to our grocery store and we will keep an eye out for these deals in the future.
Imperfect Foods delivers a wide variety of sustainable and affordable groceries directly to your door while helping to build a better, less wasteful food system.
Choose from a large assortment of “unwanted” groceries and exclusive items including fresh produce, dairy products, meat and seafood, snacks, plant-based proteins, pantry staples, and more with a savings of up to 30% compared to your local grocery store chain.
We love that you are not committed to a specific box size and can fill your Imperfect Foods box with as much or as little as you want. We also love that boxes are fully customizable and that you are not locked into buying a certain amount of produce before shopping in the Marketplace. And speaking of Marketplace, Imperfect Foods has the largest we’ve seen.
And while we love that you aren’t committed to a box size, certain areas do have box minimums and all areas pay extra for shipping. In addition, we only saved about 3% over our local grocery store with this Imperfect Foods order and if you are looking to save more we recommend searching for deals in the marketplace, organic items seem to be deeply discounted along with some pantry items, to maximum savings. But the convenience is definitely a plus!
Compared to other produce rescue/grocery delivery companies Imperfect Foods is the only service that has no box minimum, is fully customizable and has the largest marketplace. But we did see greater savings with some competitors.
We recommend Imperfect Foods to anyone looking for the convenience of grocery delivery while supporting a less wasteful food system, those looking for a fully customizable produce box, and those looking for a produce box with no minimum order. SHOP NOW >>
Looking for more grocery and produce delivery services? Check out our Grocery Directory >>
