Imperfect Foods: An Honest Review

**Update to add that Imperfect Foods has begun taking back any gel packs or aluminum packing that came in your order to reuse with future orders, making this even more zero waste!

Incase you missed it last week we tried out Misfits Market for the first time. While we decided it wasn't the best fit for us, we were still excited about the idea of having a grocery delivery service for sustainable groceries. Enter Imperfect Foods. This is another delivery service I've heard of and from what I had read it had slightly different features than Misfits Market, so we figured this week we'd give it a try!

I'm going to break down my whole Imperfect Foods experience for you the same way I did with Misfits Market, then I'll be making a comparison post to showcase the different pros and cons of each service compared with your local grocery store option as well. Here are my thoughts:

The Set Up:
Setting up my account was really easy. I put in my zip code and email so I could be sure they delivered to my area and then created my username and password. Once logged in I saw that my delivery date would be Friday and was told I would be able to log in to make my selections starting Monday at 1 pm through Wednesday at noon. 

I think that not being able to choose your delivery date is a con because if you don't work from home it wouldn't be great to have all your groceries sitting out if your delivery date is on a weekday. However, for me personally I want my groceries delivered on a Friday and that's the date I got so I was perfectly happy with it!

Choosing My Box: 
I picked the medium produce box for $22 after shipping. I thought this would be a good fit. However, in the end it didn't really matter what box I picked because you add all of your items in individually and your total is based on what you buy. Imperfect Foods is great because you can fully customize your box and there aren't any restrictions by placing foods into groups etc. Also they let you know what's wrong with the items where you add them to your cart so you can decide if the imperfections are something you're okay with. I really liked this added feature because it helped me decide between organic and inorganic broccoli based on what imperfections I was okay with etc. 

While you can fully customize the box, they do start you off with a full produce box in your cart of seasonal items. If you forget to go in and make any selections this is what you'll be sent for the week. While I don't love that, one feature I did really like  is that you can select a "never list" of food items you would never want to receive. You can also add in recurring weekly items so that they know if you want anything each week and what quantity. 

Another thing I really liked was that their grocery section of the site was really well built out with tons of options. They also had skincare and lotion (all zero/low waste options too) that I have a hard time finding. I felt that everything was priced reasonably too. 

Next Steps: 
With Imperfect Foods your cart just sits until the cut off date and time when it's submitted, so even after you're "done" you don't fully submit it on your own. It made me a little nervous to not "check out" my cart but after the cut off time I received an email stating that my order had been placed. 

The Delivery:
The delivery process was very smooth, I received a text on Friday when my order was out for delivery with an estimated delivery time and I could see what number my delivery was in the queue. I also received a text right after the package was delivered so I was able to go grab it and bring it in!

The Packaging:
The packaging I thought was great! It was very minimal, just a cardboard box. My special add ons I chose were in a recyclable aluminum bag with an ice pack. 

The Produce: 
After last week's box from Misfits Market I was feeling cautious about how the produce might be. However, we were pleasantly surprised with how great the produce was. Honestly it was all stuff I would have picked out at the grocery store -- actually the romaine lettuce heads where HUGE and I probably should have ordered 2 rather than 3. 

All this to say we've converted to Imperfect Foods! We loved the experience and the produce and are going to keep up our subscription and spend hopefully less time at the grocery store from now on! 

Would you try a grocery delivery service? And if so which one and why? Let me know in the comments below! 

*Links to Imperfect Foods are my refer a friend link, if used you'll get $20 off your first 4 orders and I'll get $30 off my next order too :)