Food Waste Friday: Imperfect Foods

by Jamie Simpher, KC Can Compost Volunteer

No dumpster diving required!

Have you heard about Imperfect Foods? If preventing food waste is important to you, this is a great (and easy) way to make a difference.

Imperfect Foods works to divert foods that used to go to waste and bring them straight to your doorstep! They started with fruits and vegetables that didn’t meet the cosmetic standards of the produce that makes it into the grocery stores—think two-headed carrots, smallish lemons, and overlarge shallots (yes, this is a real reason why shallots would get thrown away).

Since their inception, they’ve expanded their lineup to include foods that normally would have been thrown away for all sorts of reasons—sometimes the food is too near the “best by” date (which, as we all know, is only a rough estimate of peak quality—not a measure of food safety). Sometimes there’s nothing at all wrong with it—it’s just surplus! Sometimes it’s juice or salsa made from ugly-looking produce, or cookies made with Okara flour, which is a byproduct of the soymilk-making process.

And in addition to reducing your food waste, ordering your groceries from Imperfect Foods is actually easier than going to the store. When you sign up, you’re given a shopping window, during which you can go to their website and customize your grocery box. (If you don’t customize your box, they’ll send you an assortment of fresh, seasonal produce tailored to your preferences.) They’ll deliver it straight to your door—and collect the packaging from last week’s box for reuse and recycling.

So if you want to save time and reduce your food waste in one easy step, Imperfect Foods is a great way to do it! To sign up, visit https://www.imperfectfoods.com/join.