(no subject)

[lakeeffectgirl]

I've continued to use Imperfect for the majority of my grocery shopping - overall, I spend slightly less vs. when I would go to the grocery store at least twice a week, and my impulse snack item purchases are less frequent. There are usually a few snack options available so if I really want potato chips (adding chips to sandwiches or wraps: always good in my book) I can order a bag. I also customize my boxes a lot more than I did in the beginning - even though technically I'm subscribed to their plant-based options, I usually jettison most of the meat replacement things now that I've tried a number of them and know what I like and what I don't. My stomach does not care for too much of the Impossible fake meat at a time, so I don't order it, and the plain Hodo tofu isn't my favorite. There's usually a flavored tofu option but I'd rather do my own flavorings, so I usually don't get that unless I have a specific thing in mind that I want to do with it.

I've tried a few meats but not many - the ground turkey and ground chicken were both good. The turkey hot dogs weren't my favorite (tbh, I'd rather eat a veggie dog, or save my hot dog eating for the occasional ballpark dog in the summer), nor was the deli-sliced turkey. I don't eat much meat as it is because I have issues about food textures - at least with the ground meats it's all uniform. They do usually have an odds and ends package of uncooked bacon, which works well if you need bacon crumbles for on top of a salad or whatever. I have a pack in the fridge right now that I'm planning to make Neiman Marcus dip with on Sunday to bring to work. I've ordered the uncured beef hot dogs a few times for my dad, and he reports back that they're delicious.

Veggies: I have definitely managed to eat more vegetables this way! And for the most part I've gotten through what's in the fridge, and haven't tossed too much because I forgot about it. I went on a spree for a while of roasting whatever vegetables I had around with this Penzey's seasoning, and tossing some kale in at the very end to wilt it down just a bit - delicious. (That seasoning is also delicious on buttered pasta with a splash of balsamic for those times when you just can't be bothered to do more than boil water.) The green beans have been good - I roasted some with this Fly By Jing spice mix just this week and: delicious. (I have been throwing that spice mix in everything lately - no regrets.)

Breads: The Dave's Killer Bread everything bagels were delicious and I ordered them several boxes in a row before I needed a break from bagels. My dad thought they were too bread-y for him but I didn't mind it with these, and they're good with either cream cheese or peanut butter. The house brand whole grain breads have been good - the slices are very large and make a great grilled cheese (last GC: a truffle white cheddar that Imperfect was randomly offering one week and colby jack slices I just grabbed from Target - very good combo). I also tried the croissant bread when the pumpkin spice flavor was in stock - brought it to work and we had a nice breakfast of that toasted up with maple brown sugar butter. It's expensive ($6 for only ten slices) but it was definitely worth trying. Would not recommend the Stone & Skillet English muffins that are often available - way too dense, not enough English muffin nooks and crannies. The Essential Baking Co. thin crust pizza crusts were also pretty good; we made pizzas one night at my dad's in his pizza oven with those, the Sonoma pizza sauce, and Tillamook mozzarella (and grocery store pepperoni, lol) and they were a hit.

Speaking of cheese, the house brand organic five-year aged cheddar is fantastic, and their multigrain crackers along with it. All the dairy and faux-dairy things I've tried have been good (sour cream, cottage cheese, Miyoko's cheddar slices)

Other odds and ends: I usually skip the candy options, but have gotten some good chocolates. The only baked good items I've tried were the Noir Daisy (chocolate) cupcakes and the maple walnut cheesecake bites. The cupcakes were great and the cheesecake bites I ordered for Thanksgiving; we had so much other food that my dad and I only ate one each, but they were pretty good. There's a lychee flavored sparkling water that I'm obsessed with, and I can't find it anywhere else, so I usually get a couple cans of that in every order.

My main complaint remains that I don't always feel like dealing with vegetables or herbs on a Tuesday night, so a few things have been sacrificed here and there. I also have to unpack the box at the bottom of my stairs and carry things up in batches because it's too heavy as-is, so I do sometimes wish they'd deliver it in two smaller boxes instead of one large one.

I feel like it's worked out well overall for me - I'm usually forced to figure out what I want to make for a week or two ahead of time, which means I tend to eat better for lunch (unless I'm eating a bunch of cheese, lol), plus I have a goal to eat some sort of fruit or vegetable with both lunch and dinner so I usually make something fairly vegetable-forward for lunches. I don't always succeed at sticking to my plans - this week I haven't been much in the mood for cooking - but at least I'm winging it a little less.