What is Hungry Harvest?
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Sometimes when I write my menu posts, readers email me and ask, "What is Hungry Harvest?"
So I thought I should write a little Hungry Harvest FAQ post that I can link to each week!
Hungry Harvest is a company that rescues fruits and veggies.
They deliver this rescued produce to local doorsteps so that it can be used instead of thrown away. Each Hungry Harvest customer is helping to prevent food waste.
What's up with this food? Is it tasty?
This food is perfectly edible; it just wouldn't have been sold in stores.
Sometimes the items are
- too big
- too small
- oddly shaped
- scarred
And sometimes, a grower just had too much produce to sell and couldn't find a buyer.
Or perhaps they had a buyer, but the purchase fell through and now the producer is left with a bunch of unsold produce.
Hungry Harvest bridges the gap between these items and consumers by rescuing and then delivering them.
And I for one am delighted to help make sure these fruits and veggies get eaten instead of being thrown away.
Why doesn't this food just get donated?
A lot of producers don't have the infrastructure or the funds to get the extra food to a donation site. Hungry Harvest makes sure the food doesn't go to waste, AND they donate produce as well (over 650,000 pounds as of this writing!)
So. The producer makes money on food they wouldn't have been able to sell otherwise, and some of this food does indeed get donated to people who need it.
This seems like a win-win to me!
Is this produce a good deal?
That depends. If you compare it to shopping the cheapest items each week at Aldi, then it's not cheaper.
But compared to regular grocery store prices, it's a good deal!
Aside from the pricing, I like getting a Hungry Harvest box because it gently forces me to prepare and eat more produce. I know for sure that we eat more produce because of having this box delivered.
I get the full harvest each week, which costs $25 and comes with 1 type of green, 2-4 types of veggies, and 2-4 types of fruit.
The photos of harvests in this post are the full harvest size.
What if Hungry Harvest wants to send you terrible produce that you hate?
NEVER FEAR, FRIENDS!
Hungry Harvest lets you opt out of produce that gives you the shivers.
If there's something you know you will never, ever want to eat, just put it on your "never" list, and Hungry Harvest will substitute something else for you.
What if I want all veggies? All fruit? A small harvest? A big harvest?
Hungry Harvest has lots of options for you! And you can switch back and forth between sizes/options each week if you like.
What if I don't want a delivery one week?
Hungry Harvest lets you skip deliveries as often as you want. Totally handy if you end up with more produce than you can eat, or if you are on vacation.
Just log on to your account and click on Skip Deliveries.
Can I get Hungry Harvest in my area?
Hungry Harvest delivers in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, Greater Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey, Northern Delaware, South Florida, The Triangle Area in North Carolina & the Detroit Metro Area.
Check out Hungry Harvest's current delivery areas right here.
Is there is a discount for signing up?
Yup, yup! Use my referral link or the button below for a $10 discount on your first harvest.
If I missed anything, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer your question.
P.S. If Hungry Harvest isn't in your area, try the similar companies Imperfect Produce or Misfit Market.
For a slightly different (don't worry still respectful) take, I suggest this recent article from The Atlantic: "The Murky Ethics of the Ugly-Produce Business" (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/01/ugly-produce-startups-food-waste/581182/)
As with a lot of things, lots to like, but not likely to address the bigger problem(s).
That's a great article. A similar one is: Does Your Box of “Ugly” Produce Really Help the Planet? Or Hurt it? (https://newrepublic.com/article/152596/hungry-harvest-box-ugly-produce-help-planet-or-hurt-it).
With all the food insecurities, deserts, and waste prevalent today, hopefully the issues being raised and ensuing discussions will help improve the food system for everyone in the long run (including the planet!). In the meanwhile, the ugly-produce initiatives are a good start.
I just read a long thread on Twitter a few days ago about how "ugly" produce is what usually is sold to be turned into processed foods - soups, frozen, canned goods. Which I hadn't really thought about before.
I appreciate (and use!) produce delivery services, but yeah, it's still got flaws.
Yeah, I read that article and a few others like it recently. I kind of feel like the criticism I'm reading is a little bit surprising...I mean, it IS true that some of these companies are making it feasible for farmers to harvest some food they'd have left in the fields otherwise. And I know that Hungry Harvest donates lots of produce to people who are hungry. They've donated 650,000 pounds of produce, and they provide reduced-cost Produce in a Snap markets as well.
The Twitter thread from Taber seemed to completely ignore the fact that sometimes, food DOES just lie in a field, unharvested. Or sometimes deliveries DO get turned away from grocery stores, and that food normally has no place to go. So, I feel like her take is a little too black and white to be completely believable.
This is not directly produce-related, but I work in a hospital foodservice. If food deliveries are made in error, typically the supplier does not want them back (I guess it's not worth their time or resources to pick the items up?). One time, huge blocks of mozzarella cheese were delivered that were not part of the hospital's order - they could not be returned, and they were not charged for it - so it was shared among us employees. Fortunately, we had a chef manager at that time who abhorred food waste!
Another cool thing about Hungry Harvest - you can order additional products in addition to your normal box (at least here in the Philly area) - eggs, bread, yogurt, jelly, etc - as well as additional types of F&V. I have mobility issues, and aside from a 1x month trip to Costco for meat and non-edible products, I never have to go to a grocery store. Awesome!
I started up with Imperfect Produce about a month ago, and so far, so good. We always loved veggies, but I was buying more and more frozen ones and that limits your choices greatly. We are trying things we have never had - bok choy and parsnips, for example. And I like that my grocery list is smaller since I am also using Grove Collaborative for all of the non-food items. I am in the store much less time now, and our quality of foods and supplies have gone up. A win for this full-time work outside of the house mom.
I've been with them for almost 2 years and love them! Also getting back to using Grove Collaborative. I find now that I'm not going to Target or other stores as much, which helps me from mindless shopping for stuff I don't need. 🙂
I just want to start by saying how much a love reading your blog and getting new ideas. You are amazing and inspirational.
That said, I tried Hungry Harvest and was bothered by the amount of packaging. I was getting a cardboard box filled with paper wrapped produce and I think some sort of ice pack to keep the produce cold. It was delivered to me by a driver to my house. So from an environmental point of view, I was using multiple resources to save some fruit. I'm not sure there was a net positive for the environment. I also live within minutes of an Aldi, so I have the option of selecting a wide variety of inexpensive produce while doing my regular shopping. If I lived in an area where I did not have access to a variety of produce or had mobility issues, I could see the benefit.
I tried Hungry Harvest over the summer and also greatly increased my produce intake because of it! I just want to point out a couple of added costs so everyone can get the full picture. Where I lived, I paid the cost for the harvest, plus I had to pay an additional delivery fee. In addition, twice they added items to my harvest that were on my "never" list. The good thing is that I was able to swap them out before the harvest was delivered (YAY), but the negative is that it cost me extra to do this. (You can change the contents of any harvest for an extra fee.). So although I enjoyed some aspects of getting Hungry Harvest, I was not as pleased about the extra fees. Just my two cents. 🙂
Brooke, HH may show a "never" item on your order and invoice, but they then swap the item for something else when packing your box. E.g. I have mangos on my "never" list. My mini-harvest showed mangos last month, but they gave me apples instead. You do not need to customize your box.
Yep, that's how it works for me! I have several things on my "never" list, and so I don't need to customize when those items come up. They just sub them out for me.
If you're not in an area that has Hungry Harvest - see if Imperfect Produce delivers to you. Very similar.
Also, Misfit Market, which I use in Upstate NY. (Way Upstate. Think Orange.). I have received two shipments so far and have been happy with it. It certainly has helped with my New Year's resolution to eat more fruits and vegetables. I also think it's a good value.
I am on the fence regarding Imperfect Produce. I tried it once for a month & stopped it. The fruit & veggies were fine but I’m not sure it fit into my lifestyle. First of all, Imperfect Produce charges a $5 per week shipping fee (In Los Angeles). They also don’t carry all fruits or veggies all the time. My family gets berries, cantaloupe, bananas & manarin oranges every week whether it is in season or not. Since I couldn’t get it through Imperfect Produce, I still had to go to the grocery store to buy it. Since I have to go to the store anyway, I might as well buy all my produce at the local Trader Joes or Ralphs/Kroger.
Thanks for your prospective. I was kind of wondering if I was being a bad consumer for not loving imperfect produce. I like the fruits and vegetables just fine but some of the quantities are weird like you get one sweet potato for s family of four that isn’t going to cut it. I now have a reminder on my phone to check my order and make adjustments. I’m at every other week still trying to decide. Also the avocados I got last time were hard when I got them and two days later rotten. It doesn’t help that I live in the fork to table region in the Central Valley and produce is everywhere. I live in a big city and you can buy strawberries on street corners daily when the season starts
I get avocados on Aldies. If you put them into the refrigerator they seem to last forever. I have some in my refrigerator that have been in there 3 weeks and are still hard! When I want to eat one I take it out and put it on the counter fie a few days and it’s ready!
It's not in my area, but I would like something that makes me stretch my list of veggies. We had to do that some for my AIP elimination diet, and now parsnips are a regular in our rotation. I still can't handle turnip root (always loved the greens, though) or rutabaga, although my husband likes them. Poor guy, he doesn't get them often, because he wants one serving and he's done, and I want none. Even one rutabaga is more than one serving for him, so...
I agree that eating more fruits and vegetables is a good thing, but so is supporting your local purveyors. If we all stop shopping locally, one by one, those options will disappear. Just another aspect of this complex issue to consider.
I've been using it to force me to meal plan! Since I know what I'm getting by Thursday (delivery is Saturday), I can usually search and find a decent number of recipes, and have time to check that I have the rest of the ingredients or Google for substitutes. It eliminates the whole paralyzed-by-too-many-choices conundrum.
If there is only one person can you get a delivery say once three or four weeks?
Enjoyed this post very much. I just signed up for Misfit Market in an effort to eat more organic produce and get more variety than available at my local Aldi (which I also LOVE). One thing I liked is that Misfit Market mentioned that all packaging is recyclable, and the boxes are made from recycled material that can be recycled again.
We are in between seasons with our CSA and would like to try Misfits since they'll fit our needs. Care to share a referral code?
Hi Kathryn,
Here is a referral code: COOKWME-DY7GWL
Enjoy!
Do you get to do some picking with Misfit? Hungry Harvest doesn't deliver to my zipcode but Misfit does. I've been thinking about trying them but not if I'm going to get a bunch of stuff that most of my family doesn't eat.