An Honest Imperfect Foods Review

When we got sick during the pandemic, we knew we couldn’t go out for food. But with a hungry 19 month old who’s diet consisted of mostly fresh food, we didn’t know what to do to keep us all fed. So we tried out imperfect foods.

This is my honest review on imperfect foods. We used them for just over a month, and paid for it all ourselves. I am not being paid for this review, and it is a totally honest unvarnished review.

Why imperfect foods?

I hate grocery shopping. Honestly detest it. It seems like such a waste of time and it is always a hassle. Grocery shopping has never been my favorite activity.

When we lived in DC, there were all kinds of delivery services. We used Pea Pod from Giant and I honestly cannot recommend them enough. We moved from DC almost 5 years ago, and ever since I have been looking for a replacement for Pea Pod. But out in the California desert, those options don’t exist. Honestly, before the pandemic we didn’t even have access to instacart.

Imperfect foods was literally the only delivery option we had. So it was worth a try.

The first box

Initially it was really exciting. We could customize our box and get things we eat. Inventory was a little sparse and things ran out fast, but that was easily explained through the pandemic. Our first box arrived well… except it was missing something we added to our cart.

The system was too opaque, I couldn’t tell if we were charged for the item or not. And being a busy mom with a very active and sick toddler, I didn’t have time to contact them to find out. I chalked the missing item up to a max five dollar mistake and let it go. After all… it probably wouldn’t happen again, right?

We also ordered some fish with the first box. The box came late in the day, and the fish was only kept cold with a single ice pack. Nothing was frozen anymore. We ate the fish that night, and it didn’t taste great. It was certainly edible, but any quality it might have had was destroyed by the warm conditions. We decided it was too dangerous to order meat again and elected to avoid it in the future.

The second box

It happened again. We were missing a few items in the next box. And the fruit was okay, but a little bruised.

We still had an ice pack in the box because we ordered some cheese, but the ice pack was barely cold. Even so, the presence of the ice pack likely saved most of our produce. It was quite warm out and had spent all day on an un-refrigerated truck.

The baby had fun unpacking the box, and she decided picking apart the insulation of the box was the best activity ever. We started keeping the insulation when we got rid of the box because it made such a fun toy.

The Third Box

Box number three didn’t arrive on its scheduled day… or the day after. Instead it arrived late in the evening two days after it was meant to. We didn’t order any cheese or anything that would warrant an ice pack, so the fruit and veggies were left in hot warehouses unprotected for two days.

The box was hot when it arrived. So were its contents.

The kale was yellow and slimy. The watermelon had liquefied. The apples could be salvaged, but one whole bag of mandarins were mush. The grapes were all dead. Fortunately, the mushrooms survived (I am a huge mushroom fan).

We lost over half the box.

I emailed customer service, and they refunded the things we couldn’t salvage. Honestly, I feel they should have refunded the whole box.

The fourth box

Also arrived a day late. While the contents weren’t warm enough to break down and decompose, the box had clearly been shaken to within an inch of its life while also being subject to heat.

All the berries and grapes were more or less squished. A lot of the fruit was bruised. But at least the kale survived this time.

The state of the fruit is ultimately what led us to canceling our subscription. They FedEx the boxes and they are not well cared for in shipping, leading to very bruised fruit and unreliable delivery times.

The Good

It delivers, and has enough of an offering to keep things interesting. You customize your box about a week before it is delivered and then it magically shows up on a specified day.

Because of the limited offerings, decision paralysis doesn’t come into play. The limited selection also forced us to try and adapt some new recipes. It was kinda fun.

We could also order things from them we couldn’t find in stores. Like oyster mushrooms. Can’t get those in my neck of the woods.

The Bad

You still need to go to the grocery store. They just don’t have enough types of items to keep you from having to go to the store. So it winds up feeling like another step in getting food.

Because they are shipping through conventional means, the fruit is often bruised and is sometimes squished beyond salvaging. Ordering meat is dangerous because they don’t really use a reliable method of keeping the meat cold

Their system is opaque. I had a hard time figuring out what I was charged at the end of the day and why, and they are not very easy to contact. You need to send an email and wait for a response. Sometimes the response is just a form letter type of deal.

The food is not cheaper than the grocery store, in fact I found most of their food to be significantly more expensive, while also being lower quality. I have no problem eating lower quality items, but I don’t want to spend a premium on it.

And saving money can be difficult. Because you are ordering your food a week ahead of time, it was more difficult to meal plan or remember exactly what you ordered.

The Verdict

It is a neat concept with poor execution. We have canceled our subscription and are back to doing full grocery shopping in the stores.

I had hoped this would save us time and make life easier. In the end it made life harder and cost time. It is good in a pinch, but I would not recommend it for usual use. It is simply too unreliable.

Have you tried imperfect foods? What did you think?