The Good AND the Ugly

Subscription services offer consumers discounted prices on the quality produce that doesn't make the cut for grocery store shelves.

When buying produce, whether it be at the grocery store or at a local stand, it’s inevitable that we almost always reach for the prettiest fruits and vegetables available for purchase. They catch shoppers’ eyes, but in their wake they leave the less than perfect produce behind to sit and wait to be bought. But what happens when these leftovers aren’t bought?

Companies like Misfits Market and Imperfect Foods have boomed in popularity in recent years. Their mission: to rescue and bring reject food to shoppers for a lower price. The benefit: save some money while also reducing global food waste. These companies operate on a subscription basis, where consumers can sign up to receive a certain amount of produce at a certain frequency to fit their eating habits. Misfits Market focuses solely on produce, citing that half of the food grown by farmers in the United States is never sold, sometimes because of the imperfections. Imperfect Foods on the other hand offers produce for customers but also offers the chance to shop pantry items, eggs and dairy products. Both of these brands offer customers discounted prices than what they would see in the grocery store, with Misfits Market advertising 40 percent lower prices and Imperfect Foods advertising 30 percent lower.

A pillar of these companies’ missions are to reduce global food waste. Edible food wastage is estimated to be 1.3 billion tons, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Products sold by companies like Misfit Markets and Imperfect Foods may not be the ones you would gravitate toward in the grocery store, these companies advertise that they are still high quality and that buying them helps reduce this global waste number.

While this phenomenon is sweeping the nation, it’s found a local stage to thrive on in Ithaca. Indian Creek Farm, located on Trumansburg Road, has their own version of a rejected produce market located at their farm stand. Here shoppers can offer a price for any of the produce located in their designated bin and if accepted can purchase the produce right there at the stand.

Maybe before we know it, buying misfits will be the next big thing.