(no subject)

[lakeeffectgirl]

While bored one day I decided to add up how much money I spent at the grocery store every month (vs. how good/bad I was eating most of the time), and came to the conclusion that perhaps I would spend less money if I stopped buying every random thing that looked new/exciting at the grocery store. And maybe I would eat more fruits and vegetables if they were dropped off at my front door.

The idea behind Imperfect is that the produce they sell is usually overstock or too large/small/oddly shaped for the grocery store. I don't care what my sweet potatoes look like, so this was fine by me. They pre-fill your cart on the website, and then during a set window you can remove/add things from what's offered that shopping window. For the first box I didn't remove much, but added a few things to get to the free shipping $60 minimum.

First box produce: lemons, apples, carrots, pears, bell peppers, broccoli crowns, oranges, an English cucumber, roma tomatoes, shallots, sweet potatoes, and limes. There was also a punnet of white mushrooms that I had not ordered, but I like mushrooms, so this was cool. (In the medium size box I get, there are usually 2 or 3 of an item.)

First box other things: Spudsy sweet potato puffs in spicy vegan buffalo ranch flavor, a package of Impossible meat, FitJoy grain free pretzels in tangy dijon mustard flavor, Misfit Foods sweet potato & chicken sausage in andouille flavor, Hodo organic firm tofu, a can of La Colombe Peppermint Mocha Latte, a pack of pita bread, a jar of coconut oil since I was almost out of my open jar, and a bag of medjool dates.

THOUGHTS: The roma tomatoes were very sad (it was February, after all) and I squished one getting the box into my house, so I quartered the two that weren't squished and roasted the wedges in the oven. Then I pureed them and froze the puree. I also froze the Impossible meat and the sausages since I wasn't planning to use them right away. I roasted one of the broccoli crowns and put that along w/ roasted cauliflower (already in the fridge that I needed to use up), previously-made hummus, and some shredded cheese onto one of the pitas. This was delicious but the next day my stomach was very mad about the amount of cruciferous vegetables I'd fed it. A lesson learned, I suppose.

The apples were small, perfect to throw in my lunch bag or as an "I should probably eat some fruit" snack.

The Spudsy sweet potato puffs and the FitJoy pretzels were both delicious: would recommend.

I ended up making various pita sandwiches the first week - the Atoria's Family Bakery traditional pitas are the perfect size for using a whole one as a flatbread but they also have a nice pocket when split, and I've ordered them every time now since. I made a frittata w/ mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and shallots that ended up being the pita sandwich filling a few times, then a mushroom stroganoff sort of thing with the rest of the mushrooms and 1/4 of the Impossible meat, which went over rice for lunches a few days. Since I was out of bread-items by this point, I bought some cheap hamburger buns at Target, and made a burger with another 1/4 of the Impossible meat, which was pretty good at the time, but I have since come to understand that my stomach doesn't love an entire serving of Impossible at a time. And I still had half a package to use! Since I had buns and a sauce mix, I made up sloppy joes (added diced sweet potato as well) - I honestly had not eaten a sloppy joe since I lived with my parents, and it was delicious. The final bit of joe filling I actually made nachos with: also delicious.

Overall, the Impossible meat was fun to experiment with but if I want fake meat grounds in the future, I will just stick with the Boca or Morningstar ones.

I air-fried the tofu in cubes and some went in the pita sandwich wraps and some went in chopped salads stuffed into pita pockets. (See: box two items below.) The lemons and limes I sort of struggled to use in things, but the limes have so far been possibly the best limes I've ever gotten - very thin skins, very juicy. I don't remember what I did with the bell peppers other than I know they got cooked, since they were looking a bit wrinkled by the time I got to them.

After a few weeks I finally got around to the pears: they were good.

Second box produce: brussels sprouts, more sweet potatoes, cauliflower, more shallots, a head of romaine, more apples, another English cucumber, lacinato kale, russet potatoes.

Non-produce items: Hodo spicy harissa tofu cubes, Imperfect brand yellow corn tortilla chips, Nature's Bakery double chocolate brownies, another pack of pita bread, Mi Rancho corn tortillas, and a little bottle of Elmhurst Milked Oats in chocolate just to try it. I did not order the FitJoy pretzels in just plain sea salt flavor, but I think they were substituted for the chocolate I did order (which was probably out of stock).

The tofu cubes went in the freezer, and most of the oat milk went into coffees.

I bought a salad spinner to deal with the greens, and had to really wail on it to get the romaine all dry, but I ended up getting quite a few meals out of the romaine and kale, so it was worth the time spent spinning them, I guess. The romaine went on the sloppy joe nachos, into several salad-stuffed pita pockets, etc.

The brussels sprouts were huge - I had to quarter most of them to cook, which I did in the air fryer, then tossed them in a tahini sauce (delicious!). The cauliflower also got air-fried and eaten as a side with other things. I had frozen falafel that I was trying to eat up, so there were several wraps and rice bowls involving the falafel and the brussels sprouts, and I think I got a few lunches out of the sprouts + rice (delicious!!). The russets got made into air-fryer fries, and were in the mix with the falafel bowls.

I'm still hitting up the regular grocery store but at least not as much as I was before - I don't really trust eggs not to get squished in the Imperfect box and it's already heavy enough that I have to open it at the bottom of my steps and carry things up in batches, so I don't get almond milk from them - so I had egg roll wrappers and made knockoff samosas w/ a sweet potato, carrot, and onion filling in the air fryer.

The corn tortillas were not a hit: I made miscellaneous veggie tacos one night and while tasty, these tortillas were very thick and even warmed up, not very flexible. I tried a breakfast quesadilla sort of thing one weekend with them and they didn't do well in that, either. Lesson learned!

Third box produce: English cucumber, creamer potatoes, yellow onion, sweet potatoes again, garlic, apples, avocados, jalapenos, ginger, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and cilantro.

Non-produce items: Lightlife tempeh, Belgioso ricotta, Dave's Killer Bread everything bagels, Organic Valley sour cream.

This time I specifically chose things to make specific meals with (and no snack-type items since I still have the plain pretzels left) - made chili with most of the veg & half of the tempeh and it turned out very tasty except for how the jalapenos had no spice at all! The last round of grocery store jalapenos I got also had no spice, so maybe it's just the time of year? The Dave's bagels were DELICIOUS and I will definitely get them again - I ate them with both avocado and Tofutti's new "whipped" faux cream cheese, as well as one as a green pepper & onion omelet sandwich.

The tomatoes I roasted and froze from the first box went into the chili, so check using those up finally!

Due to having the very large container of sour cream (plus the "whoops, didn't plan that well" of using a large portion of the vegetables in the chili), I decided I wanted to eat a lot of taco salad, so I did end up back at the grocery store for zucchini, salad kits that were on sale, and tortilla chips (and booze). Mmm, I love taco salad so much.

Fourth box produce: English cucumber again (I usually eat most of it & it's only $1 so if a bit is mushy I don't feel bad about tossing the mushy part), romaine, russet potatoes, crimini mushrooms, yellow onion, apples, lemons, limes, avocados, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, red bell peppers, arugula, green onions.

Non-produce: 1 can San Marzano tomatoes, 1 can chickpeas, olive oil, popcorn kernels, pita bread, Dave's Killer English muffins, Olipop Sparkling Tonic in strawberry vanilla, Miyoko's vegan pepperjack shreds, a little cup of Good Culture whole milk cottage cheese, a strawberry-almond flavor Yes bar, and Daring breaded faux-chicken pieces.

SADLY I ruined the romaine for myself by not dealing with it immediately and then letting it wilt into complete sadness in the fridge, so $1.75 goodbye. The mushrooms, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and a jalapeno (again not spicy!) got baked in a caramelized onion and tomato paste sauce, and then I mixed some of the ricotta w/ lemon zest and dolloped that on top to bake a bit longer. So for lunch I've been smushing the ricotta onto a toasted English muffin, then piling the vegetables on top. Again: delicious other than how I never salt things enough when cooking so have to sprinkle some on when I assemble it.

Two of the avocados ripened within a day of each other, so I had avocado on English muffin one day and an avocado-heavy taco salad yesterday for lunch. The Miyokos shreds have been going in taco salads and are good. (As of lunch today, I am finally out of the taco-spiced corn & zucchini mix that goes warm on top of the salad in place of taco meat.) I haven't tried melting the shreds on anything yet but they might join the English muffin vegetable party for lunch tomorrow, or go on a pita-pizza. Last night for dinner I spread ricotta mixed w/ lemon zest over a pita, topped it with thinly sliced russet potato, and baked it until the potatoes were just starting the brown at the edges (any longer and the pita edges would have gotten too dark) and it was delicious. I have just enough ricotta left to make this once more so I think I will add arugula on top once it's baked.

Overall thoughts: Am I saving any money? Not sure yet. (I would be saving money if I didn't go to the grocery store at all.) Am I eating more vegetables? For sure. Am I eating more fruit? Well, I guess the few apples I eat a week now is better than the almost zero fruit I was eating before. I guess if I'm not a fruit person then it's good I am a vegetable person.

Comments

[viggorlijah]

i wish you lived in my house so i could share all your meals, that sounds so so delicious