Looking for a Produce Box Subscription? Here are Your Options
If you’re looking to introduce more fruits and vegetables into your diet or simply trying to scale back your grocery budget, produce subscription boxes are just the thing. It’s farm-fresh produce delivered to your doorstep weekly. Plus if you choose the right company, there’s the knowledge that you’re helping to eliminate food waste. For ethically sourced produce aimed at food waste elimination, your best options are Misfits Market, Imperfect Foods, and Hungry Harvest.
Here’s why:
Misfits Market
Misfits Market launched in 2018 to decrease farm-level food waste and to supply fresh food to the general public. For starters, a major plus for Misfits Market is that unlike Imperfect Foods or Hungry Harvest they deliver produce boxes to all zip codes -not just select urban metropolises – to all the 37 States they currently deliver to.
Here’s why Misfits Market is a good option to consider.
Subscription Box
There are two subscription box options. The Mischief box with up to 13 pounds of produce for $22 and The Madness box with up to 22 pounds of produce for $35. Enough for 2 and 5 people respectively.
You can’t add beauty products like Imperfect Foods, but Misfits Market still gives customers the option to also add snacks to orders including chocolate, chips, plant-based milk, and sauces for additional fees.
Delivery
Generally, they deliver weekly or biweekly Monday through Sunday at a flat rate of $5.50.
You get to pick your preferred delivery day. You can pause the subscription at any time.
Pluses
- Up to 40% off grocery store prices
- Most flexibility around delivery times
- Recipe blog
- Eco-friendly packaging; clamshells, recycled cardboard, compostable plant-based bags
- Launching a new add-on marketplace with products from sustainable brands for 25-50%
Imperfect Foods
Imperfect Foods was started in 2015 by founders who noticed that due to the strict produce aesthetic guidelines of grocery stores, perfectly good food was being thrown away simply for being misshapen, and under or oversized.
Here’s what you need to know about Imperfect Foods to make a decision.
Subscription Box
Right off the bat, Imperfect Foods stands out by having no subscription box fees or service fees. Don’t worry. You’ll still get produce selected for you. Imperfect Foods maintains the allure of subscription boxes but without the fee, by starting each week by filling your box with produce based on answers you give to lifestyle questions.
Then, you’re free to take anything out or add anything to your curated grocery list. See an item you love? Subscribe and get added to your box every week.
If you’d rather not add or subtract anything, that’s between $16 to $24.
It’s not just produce. You have the options of meat, snack, and even beauty products that are ethically sourced and made with eco-friendly practices.
Delivery
Imperfect Foods deliver weekly or biweekly with a $4.99-$8.99 flat-rate fee. Orders over $50 equal free delivery.
You’re assigned a delivery day and window based on your location. You can skip weeks by canceling anytime at no charge.
Pluses
- No payment until the box is delivered
- Ethically and locally sourced products
- Recipe blog
- Variety; over 60 produce options
- Reduced Cost Box program; offers a 20% discount off every order to anyone who is low-income
Hungry Harvest
In 2014, Hungry Harvest was conceptualized from the inside of a dorm room at the University of Maryland, and by 2015 the company had secured a deal on Shark Tank to end food waste and hunger by rescuing fruits and vegetables rejected for imperfections.
An area that sets Hungry Harvest apart from Imperfect and Misfits Market is the acceptance of EBT. Electronic benefit transfer is a card-based system, like a debit card, that lets recipients of government assistance such as food stamps pay retailers directly for their purchases.
Here are more reasons why Hungry Harvest is a solid produce box subscription choice.
Subscription Box
Hungry Harvest boxes start at an extremely affordable $15. There are different box sizes, with the chance to choose organic or inorganic produce. Plus, Hungry Harvest lets you opt out of produce that gives you hate. Is there a vegetable you’d never eat in a hundred years? Then put it on your “never” list, and Hungry Harvest will substitute it for something else for you.
Like the other companies, you can add other staples to your “ugly” produce subscription box, but admittedly Hungry Harvest’s selection is much smaller.
Delivery
They offer two delivery options. Weekly and every other week. Hungry Harvest scores on the affordability score again by having a delivery fee of $3.49 and no fee at all for orders over $29.99.
As is the usual practice you can pause subscriptions.
Pluses
- Comparatively most affordable
- Actively donates to local hunger-solving organizations
- Produce in a SNAP project; fresh, reduced cost community produce markets are made accessible to families and individuals with limited food access, either geographically or financially.
Evidently, three are similarly top-tier companies giving value for money. Thus, whichever one you choose (factoring in location), you’ll get fresh produce while contributing to food waste reduction.
