Are Ugly Product Boxes Really Cheaper Than Grocery Shopping?
Do ugly subscription boxes really reduce food waste and save you money compared to shopping at a discount grocery store? Not really , it’s mostly marketing, but they’re still relatively cheap, reliable, and convenient for getting vegetables to your door.
What are the boxes for ugly foods?
The big players are Imperfect Foods , Misfit Market, and Hungry Harvest , and they are like subscription food boxes like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron, except as the name suggests, they focus on misshapen or substandard foods that otherwise quite edible. …
As with regular subscription food boxes, the foods you choose (some of these boxes have other foods like meat) are delivered to your door every week, although you can also opt out and skip weeks.
Do these boxes really reduce food waste?
All three boxes claim to use food that would otherwise be wasted. Imperfect Foods promises to “help build a kinder, less wasteful world,” Hungry Harvest says they “eliminate unnecessary and preventable food waste,” and Misfit Markets says they offer “great organic prices due to the inefficiency of the food system.” …
But, as we noted earlier , while it is true that these subscription boxes rely on second-tier products, as do foodservice, grocery banks, and lower-tier grocery stores that can also compete in the same space. as this subscription. boxes. The real “ugly” foods are actually just processed into juice, jam, baked goods, salsa, soups or guacamole.
Food waste is, of course, a serious problem, but it is an overproduction problem, especially when crops create surplus production in a short period of time and are ultimately wasted . Plus, these ugly grocery boxes make up a tiny fraction of the food market, so the impact these companies can have is minimal in terms of scale.
Are these boxes cheaper than the grocery store?
This compares to the prices you find at discount grocery chains (as opposed to, say, Wegmans or Whole Foods). There are several options , but typically these boxes will cost between $ 20 and $ 30 and shipping costs around $ 5.
Most of the reviews suggest that costs about such same as if you buy at the grocery store, but you can get a few breaks on certain things here and there (to a lesser extent, on pre-packaged things). This is confirmed when I compared the prices of Imperfect Foods to those of a chain of discount grocery stores in the same area where the box was delivered:
- Bag of sweet cabbage, chopped: 65 cents more
- Asparagus: $ 2 cheaper
- Green peppers: same price
- One pound of red potatoes: same price
- One avocado: 11 cents cheaper
- Carrots: 50 cents cheaper
- One pound of ground chicken: 50 cents more
- Unpeeled turkey franc : $ 2 more
Of course, the cost will also depend on the quality of the products available in your area, so you’ll have to try these boxes to really find out which is the best option. In addition, you will want to factor in shipping costs and the inability to make your own choices, as this can negate your savings on food prices.
Bottom line
Despite the over-hyped marketing, crates of ugly products can be a good, affordable option if you want products delivered to your door at a reasonable cost. However, two Lifehacker employees subscribe to boxes of ugly groceries and are happy with what they get (one says they eat more food because of this, another says it helps with meal planning for the week), so if you think the cost is reasonable it is definitely worth a try. However, this is likely to have little impact on food waste prevention. Or save tons of money.