Hey, Raleigh – Rachel here. Since quarantine still has us stuck at home, I’ve been cooking a lot over the past few months. Instead of risking a trip to the grocery store, I frequently get my groceries delivered. And to mix more produce into my meals, I recently decided to try a new produce subscription box, Hungry Harvest. 🍍

Hungry Harvest, which has a distribution facility in Raleigh, works directly with farmers to rescue produce that doesn’t meet grocery store standards of size and appearance (read: they save “ugly” – but still edible – fruits and veggies). Every delivery helps to eliminate at least 10 lbs. of food from going to waste, along with all the resources (water, oil, Greenhouse Gas emissions) used to grow it.

My personalized box came with a mix of lettuce, carrots, pineapples, avocados, various citrus fruits, potatoes, mushrooms + broccoli. Along with produce, you can add also pantry staples, like eggs, bread and pasta sauces, to your weekly order.

See what I learned from my first experience with Hungry Harvest (with pics), and how you can #TryThis.

Experience:

Order a Hungry Harvest produce box and cook with its fresh ingredients

What we tried (with pricing):

For a household of two people (my fiancé and I), I chose the “Mini Harvest” box which is $15/week. For larger households, there is a “Full Harvest” box ($25/week) and a “Super Harvest” box for $33/week. Organic options are available in each size for an additional cost.

Customization is available for each box delivery. So, you can change your order each week if you want. Inputting preferences on your profile also helps ensure you’ll get the best box each week. So, if you always want avocados add them to your “Love It List.”. Whereas if you can’t stand Brussels sprouts, add them to your “Never List” – and they will be replaced with produce of equal value, so you always get what you pay for.

You can also change the frequency of your deliveries if you find you only need 2 boxes per month instead of 1 per week. Going on vacation? You can also skip deliveries if you know you’ll be out of town.

Once my box arrived I decided to look up a few recipes that would allow me to try new ingredients and work new meals into my menu lineup. Hungry Harvest Recipe Ideas site allows users to search by ingredient. I chose to make the following: Good Morning Sunshine Muffins and Crispy Potatoes with Garlic Lemon Avocado Aioli with Pineapple Fried Rice on the menu for later this week.

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For someone who isn’t familiar with how certain ingredients should be stored (i.e. what do I do with a whole head of lettuce), Hungry Harvest provides a storage guide with tips and tricks to get the most out of each veggie.

I found that cooking with these ingredients was basically the same as their “prettier” grocery store counterparts – I just had to put a little more elbow grease into prep work to get some dirt off the farm-fresh carrots. Hint: The imperfect produce tasted just as good.

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See behind the scenes of my cooking experience on our #TryThis Instagram Story Highlight.

Don't miss:

Utilizing the Marketplace to add specialty items like pesto, raw honey + quinoa to your order. Plus, if you forgot something that you need for that lemon pepper chicken recipe – like a lemon – you can add it to your order without having to make another trip to the store.

What we’re still talking about:

The variety of ingredients and recipes to try available right on their website. We can all get stuck in a rut when we cook. So it was refreshing to search by ingredient for a new recipe to try. A lot of the recipes featured 2 or more ingredients that I received in my box, so I didn’t have to worry about things going to waste.

How you can experience this:

Subscribe to get your Hungry Harvest box + start cooking. Bonus: Use HARVEST30 for 30% off your first order.

Things to know if you go:

Experience: Hungry Harvest direct-delivery produce box
Price: Boxes start at $15/week
Website: http://hungryharvest.net/raltoday
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