April is Earth Day month and sustainability seems to be a hot topic.  I must admit, I am guilty of wasting food, especially produce.  A lot of times, I just forget it is in my refrigerator and it goes bad.  On a national level, 6 billion pounds of produce go to waste in the United States, but a lot of this waste occurs before it is even bought by consumers.

I recently decided to try out a produce delivery service called Imperfect Produce.  This company addresses the problem of food waste by using the produce that would otherwise go unsold.  This produce is not rotten or past its prime!

According to the Imperfect Produce website, produce can be considered imperfect because of:

• Size: too small, too big, or too varied.
• Asymmetry; too misshapen
• Scarring: marks on skin/peel
• Lack of consumer market: too unknown
• Discoloration: too different in color from average
• Surplus: too many

Imperfect Produce delivers a box of produce to your doorstep on a weekly basis, or every other week.  The box can also be customized to meet your needs.  You can order a box of various sizes: small, medium, large, and extra large; organic or non-organic, all vegetables, all fruit, or mixed.  I chose a small organic box of fruits and vegetables for my first box.  In my area, deliveries are made on Friday night.  It was on my porch when I checked on Saturday morning.  The Monday before the delivery I received an e-mail with details about what was expected in my box for that week.  You have until Wednesday to make any changes you want.  While I like the element of surprise in trying produce I do not usually buy, I also appreciate not having to pay for something if I already know that our family will not eat it.  You can also put your subscription on hold or cancel at any time as long as you let them know before the customization window is closed.

This was the contents of my first box: spinach, lacinato kale, onions, braeburn apples, red potatoes, grapefruit and navel oranges (I took out the scheduled cilantro).

I was inspired to make a kale salad and roasted parmesan and garlic potatoes to accompany some chicken.  I was really surprised when my kids gobbled it up!  For some reason, I do not buy potatoes that often since we usually eat rice or bread as our starch.  I also usually do not buy lacinato kale, so it was fun to experiment.  The only disappointment was that the apples were a little softer than I would have liked.  I think next time I will try to substitute more vegetables for the fruit.

Another reason why I liked this box is that it gives me the push I need to buy organic.  I have good intentions of buying more organic produce at the grocery store, but then I see how much cheaper “regular” (or should I say “pesticide”) produce is, and then I cave.  Knowing exactly how much I spent on this organic produce, I also feel like I have more impetus to use it up instead of letting it languish in the fridge.

Unlike meal delivery services, there is not a lot of extra packaging waste.  All of the produce is simply placed in a cardboard box.  If you post a picture of your produce with the included googly eyes on social media, they donate five pounds of food to a local food bank.  The expression on this red potato is pretty funny, don’t you think?

Imperfect Produce has an awesome referral program.  If you sign up with this link, you can get $10 credit to Imperfect Produce.  It is worth a try!