Imperfect, Misfit, Etc. (The Food Delivery Services)

[weinoo]

11 hours ago, dtremit said:

I don't think we've had any issues with Imperfect potatoes when we've gotten them in the past — guessing it was just a bad batch.  Have not ordered any in a while as we are getting them in our winter root CSA.

I know it was a challenging season for potatoes in much of the northeast due to the weather — our summer CSA lost a bunch of their crop and some of what was left was bad in the middle. So they could have gotten some local ones that were subpar.

 

I will say that both Misfits and Imperfect have been great about crediting for anything damaged or unusable (though sometimes their email support is backlogged a day or two).

 

Indeed, both bad in the middle and a bit on the outside too. And since it was such a challenging season for the potato crop here, probably wise to avoid potatoes from Imperfect, if you're getting Imperfect in the northeast.

 

7 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

I haven't had a problem with potatoes (or sweet potatoes) -- the occasional bad lemon or lime, and the hit rate on berries is not great, but that's true in-store as well.

 

Yep - I don't have as much problem with in-store stuff, but the corner guys - it's really caveat emptor. And if you luck out and get the good ones, use them very quickly.

[weinoo]

OK, so considering I totally screwed up my food delivery orders this past week, by both not submitting my Fresh Direct order in time (meaning I got nothing), and also not updating my Imperfect box in time (meaning there are items in there I wasn't going to order), things aren't all that bad.  Imperfect came last evening, in its time slot...

 

 

@Chris Hennes shall note - the proteins came in the same box, in a paper bag, on top of this...

 

 

So they were nice and cold; whether that would be the case on a 95℉ day in August is another story.

 

Carrots are friggin' weird. Citrus, apples, pears, broccoli, peppers, onions, potatoes (this time) all fine. Some of this must just be excess inventory (which I think they note on the website?). One pear had a slight blemish - no big deal. And the peppers are not a gorgeous shape, otherwise they're fine and since I use them chopped up or roasted and chopped, not a problem.

 

With 2 packages of chicken thighs, a pound of heritage ground pork, the produce - I'd say about 33% less expensive than FD or going shopping. And I get Cooks Venture chicken to boot.

[gfweb]

Anybody ever use chopbox? Looks like decent selection and prices

 

https://chopbox.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAxeX_BRASEiwAc1QdkbKmj0URpOppCot1lYeIQgPcKQ27bi1a9QeWFdwQ-2cFM4G5G48IJRoCBl0QAvD_BwE

Edited January 9, 2021 by gfweb (log)

[Chris Hennes]

7 hours ago, weinoo said:

@Chris Hennes shall note - the proteins came in the same box, in a paper bag, on top of this...

Thanks, that's good to know. That's a lot less packaging than they used here in Oklahoma during the autumn the one time I tried ordering perishables. I might give it another go now that it's "cold" here.

[weinoo]

I think they were using the carrots as insulation 🙂.  Though more properly, I believe ice should be on top of the proteins.

[Shelby]

I got my first Imperfect Foods order today.   It was shipped from Northlake, Il.  I was surprised that there were two boxes of the same size.....I'll get around to that in a minute.

 

I took pictures so the packaging could be shown.

 

The boxes are good, sturdy boxes.  The inside has a paper ...kind of thick "insulation" box with a flip up lid.

 

 

 

The ice pack (which was still frozen solid) was wrapped up in this foil type "envelope"

 

 

 

The white strip at the top peels off to let you seal it.  I'll definitely be keeping these to reuse.

 

Inside of the first box:

 

 

 

Now, here's were it gets weird.  I opened the second box --mind you the same size as the first --here's a picture so you can see how big they are:

 

 

Here is the just opened second box:

 

 

Five limes and two heads of garlic.  😳 NO question that all would have fit in the first box.  So they wasted a box, the ice, the foil envelope......I don't get it.

 

Here is a picture of all my loot

 

 

 

The pita, cheeses and meats were add-on items.

 

I like that they tell you what exactly is "imperfect" about each item...they tell you if it's a surplus, or wind damage scratches (on pears I think) etc.  The onions are a bit small...the Brussels sprouts are a bit big lol but all is just fine with me.  I have my account set up to deliver once a week but I'll skip this week because Misfits will be here next Saturday.

 

I have a feeling I will be screwing up..it's a lot to remember to order and cancel lol.

[curls]

Did both boxes ship from the same location? If so, definitely weird that they sent it as two boxes! Your haul looks good.

[weinoo]

24 minutes ago, Shelby said:

 

Five limes and two heads of garlic.  😳 NO question that all would have fit in the first box.  So they wasted a box, the ice, the foil envelope......I don't get it.

I think we can expect different packaging, depending on the region we're in.

 

As to the limes and garlic - I have come to the point, no matter how ridiculous something might be, to not let it surprise me.

[weinoo]

4 minutes ago, curls said:

Your haul looks good.

 

And yes, your haul is practically perfect imperfect!

[Shelby]

16 minutes ago, curls said:

Did both boxes ship from the same location? If so, definitely weird that they sent it as two boxes! Your haul looks good.

Yes, same place.  It just seems so very wasteful to me....but hell, what do I know?

[gfweb]

35 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Yes, same place.  It just seems so very wasteful to me....but hell, what do I know?

 

Low level box-packer made a bad decision. Or maybe is pissed off at his boss.

[DesertTinker]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

...Here is the just opened second box:

 

 

 

Five limes and two heads of garlic.  😳 NO question that all would have fit in the first box.  So they wasted a box, the ice, the foil envelope......I don't get it.

...

 

 

 

Reminds me of an Amazon Christmas order I received a few years ago. One large men’s fleece hoodie in an 18” x 24 x 12” box with gobs of air pillows.

on the upside, it wasn’t scratched, dented or broken!🙃🤪

[dtremit]

8 hours ago, Shelby said:

the Brussels sprouts are a bit big lol

 

Are those the *giant* brussels sprouts the size of baseballs? I can't quite see in the picture. We got those a few weeks ago and they were quite good -- I ended up halving them, par cooking them in the microwave, and then searing the cut side in cast iron.

It's interesting — I have never seen that kind of soft paper "inner box" from Imperfect, but I have gotten it from Misfits a few times.

I wonder if the two box issue is actually not capacity but weight? If they stack boxes on top of each other on the truck, they may have to keep them under a certain weight so that a stack of X boxes never crushes the one on the bottom. They may have hit that weight when just the limes and garlic were left. (Why they then *refrigerated* the limes and garlic, I have no idea; we get those outside the insulated bag all the time.)

[Maison Rustique]

23 hours ago, gfweb said:

Anybody ever use chopbox? Looks like decent selection and prices

 

https://chopbox.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAxeX_BRASEiwAc1QdkbKmj0URpOppCot1lYeIQgPcKQ27bi1a9QeWFdwQ-2cFM4G5G48IJRoCBl0QAvD_BwE

 

Looks nice, but not available in my area.

[Kim Shook]

16 hours ago, DesertTinker said:

Reminds me of an Amazon Christmas order I received a few years ago. One large men’s fleece hoodie in an 18” x 24 x 12” box with gobs of air pillows.

on the upside, it wasn’t scratched, dented or broken!🙃🤪

Us, too.  I just got a 15x12x11 box from Walmart - inside was a calendar.  The rest of the box was air pillows.  🙄

 

The description of what makes them imperfect is a really big plus, I think.  Whatcha gonna do with all those limes?  

[Shelby]

10 hours ago, dtremit said:

 

Are those the *giant* brussels sprouts the size of baseballs? I can't quite see in the picture. We got those a few weeks ago and they were quite good -- I ended up halving them, par cooking them in the microwave, and then searing the cut side in cast iron.

It's interesting — I have never seen that kind of soft paper "inner box" from Imperfect, but I have gotten it from Misfits a few times.

I wonder if the two box issue is actually not capacity but weight? If they stack boxes on top of each other on the truck, they may have to keep them under a certain weight so that a stack of X boxes never crushes the one on the bottom. They may have hit that weight when just the limes and garlic were left. (Why they then *refrigerated* the limes and garlic, I have no idea; we get those outside the insulated bag all the time.)

Yeah, they are BIG (the sprouts) but they look nice and fresh. 

 

I've gotten it from Misfits, too.  I'll post a picture of it next weekend--it's not paper, but it's some kind of mushed together fabric...almost like the lint that comes out of my dryer lol.

 

I wondered about the weight too...but dang it couldn't have added that much to put those in....  and if it did, they could have used a much smaller box....

 

I dunno.  Out here we can just throw cardboard in our burn pile and get rid of it, but I imagine it's much harder for folks in the city and in apartments.

[Chris Hennes]

14 minutes ago, Shelby said:

and if it did, they could have used a much smaller box....

I don't think they have a second box size. Has anyone ever gotten anything from them in a different sized box? My orders always come in perfectly identical boxes, I've never seen any other sizes. And if that's the case then your weird packaging is more understandable. When they hit the weight limit of one box, they switched to the next and finished the order. The packer didn't have to think about it at all. Sure, it might have looked nicer to split the order more evenly between the boxes, but it's not like that would have actually reduced the packaging or made any meaningful difference.

[Shelby]

58 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Us, too.  I just got a 15x12x11 box from Walmart - inside was a calendar.  The rest of the box was air pillows.  🙄

 

The description of what makes them imperfect is a really big plus, I think.  Whatcha gonna do with all those limes?  

I use a lot of lemons and limes--much more so than in the past.  A squirt really brightens certain veggies up.  Ronnie uses half a lime every night in a drink (mostly all soda water with a splash of vodka and lime).

[dscheidt]

There three imperfect vans parked in front of my house the other day when I came home.  I was afraid they were going to get me for saying bad things about them, but I think they were just doing inventory transfer between them. 

[weinoo]

6 hours ago, dscheidt said:

There three imperfect vans parked in front of my house the other day when I came home.  I was afraid they were going to get me for saying bad things about them, but I think they were just doing inventory transfer between them. 

The really scary thing would be if you'd ordered 3 boxes of stuff from them, and they came in 3 different delivery trucks.  (But would it surprise me? Nah.)

Edited January 11, 2021 by weinoo (log)

[Maison Rustique]

20 hours ago, Shelby said:

Yeah, they are BIG (the sprouts) but they look nice and fresh. 

 

I've gotten it from Misfits, too.  I'll post a picture of it next weekend--it's not paper, but it's some kind of mushed together fabric...almost like the lint that comes out of my dryer lol.

 

I wondered about the weight too...but dang it couldn't have added that much to put those in....  and if it did, they could have used a much smaller box....

 

I dunno.  Out here we can just throw cardboard in our burn pile and get rid of it, but I imagine it's much harder for folks in the city and in apartments.

 

That mushed together stuff (I think their website says it is a recycled paper product.) is good for insulating bins to make outdoor shelters for feral cats. I have a couple of people who have asked for mine.

[Shelby]

[rotuts]

@Shelby 

 

you can call it Woody.

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Shelby 

 

you can call it Woody.

It was really good....just huge lol.  

[KennethT]

11 minutes ago, Shelby said:

wow!  At what point does it stop being called a Brussels sprout and instead just called cabbage?