How Weird Is Odd Bunch? A Review of my First Month
Imperfect produce, smaller grocery bills, marathon fuel, accidental margaritas, and one ongoing dispute about green beans
“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
I know that quote has been used so often it almost belongs in a museum of motivational clichés by now, but every once in a while it still fits. In my case, it applies to a cardboard box of allegedly “imperfect” produce.
After much consideration, I signed up for Odd Bunch a few weeks ago because groceries have become ridiculous. I’ve been walking out of the supermarket lately with a small bag of stuff, wondering if I had accidentally bought a small appliance. Grocery shopping appears to have become another high-stakes financial decision.
Odd Bunch promises imperfect or surplus produce at a lower price, delivered as a box of fruits and vegetables. The idea is simple: Some produce is oddly shaped, too small, too big, cosmetically imperfect, or simply surplus inventory that might not fit the polished supermarket standard. Apparently even what you buy in the supermarket needs to be social media worthy. Who knew. So instead of otherwise perfectly good items going to waste, it ends up in a box on your doorstep.
Did you get here just looking for a discount? Here it is: If you’re curious about trying Odd Bunch, click here to order your first box with $10 $15 off.
So how odd are we talking, exactly?
Odd Bunch isn’t glamorous or some elite performance hack. Nobody is going to film a video about me unpacking slightly odd-looking produce in my kitchen.1 But it does deliver: I get some fruits and vegetables into my fridge at a price that is at least half of what the supermarket charges me.2 In my experience so far, that math holds and the value has been good.
More than good actually. I worried whether the produce is actually good, or whether “imperfect” is just a polite word for “sad vegetables near the end of their emotional journey.” Just over a month in, I’ve had zero quality issues. Only a few items looked a little unusual. Think some of the smallest apples you’ve ever seen. But they tasted great.
Supermarkets have subconsciously trained us to expect produce to look a certain way. Shiny apples, straight carrots, perfect peppers. Size matters. Everything displayed as if it is auditioning for a lifestyle magazine, complete with the occasional “mist” for that extra shine.
But flavour doesn’t follow cosmetic standards. Most supermarket blueberries, blackberries, and the like, are half moldy before you can carry them home. Instead, Odd Bunch seems to have a shorter supply chain, allowing produce to stay fresh in my fridge for much longer than I expected.
Life can be beautiful without being perfect. Sometimes the weird ones have more character anyway.
The Green Bean Issue
Full disclosure: there has been an issue. There have been green beans, two weeks in a row. Even worse, someone at Odd Bunch considers green beans a “plus” item. I beg to differ. I hate green beans with a passion. I don’t want them lightly steamed. I don’t want them tossed with garlic. I don’t want them hidden in a stir-fry. I don’t want them described to me as “actually good if you cook them properly.” I don’t want them, period.
Luckily, Odd Bunch allows me one free substitution per week. Out with the green beans, in with something else (of my choosing). This is how peace is maintained. More substitutions are available for a small fee, but so far the one free swap has allowed me to keep my meals green-bean-free.
This is one of the things I actually like: while you have some control, the boxes are “curated” and there is an element of surprise. That matters because a produce box only works if it fits real life. If I’m “rescuing” produce to only throw out items I detest myself, we’ve missed the point.
The Margarita Experiment
There’s no recipe cards (although they’re working on that), so the best part is that you have to get a little creative in the kitchen. If grapefruit shows up, that can become a margarita. Blood orange? Also a margarita. Pomegranate? Absolutely a margarita.
I’m not saying every produce problem can be solved with tequila, but I’m also not ready to rule it out. Almost everything else can be turned into something good with either an air fryer, slow cooker.
A squash can look intimidating if you have never really dealt with one before. Then you figure it out, make a mess, get the seeds out, and suddenly you’re halfway to a meal that feels more interesting than whatever you would have bought pre-made at the store.
The box pushes me to use what is there. Some of it gets roasted. Some of it goes into fried rice. Some of it becomes a smoothie. Some of it becomes a margarita.
The green beans, of course, become someone else’s problem.
Learning to Improvise
One thing I love about travel is that it gets easier when I stop needing everything to go exactly according to plan. The best meal of the trip might come from the place I found by accident because the original plan fell apart. Maybe the restaurant was closed due to a power outage, a schedule change disrupts the plans, or the local grocery store carries things I don’t normally buy. It’s all part of the fun.
Odd Bunch brings a little of that home every week. I’m working with what is actually there instead of what I thought I wanted. Sometimes it leads to a better meal than I would have planned. Other times it leads to margaritas. Either way, for a minute, I stop trying to optimize every little decision and just work with what is in front of me.
I’m not trying to make healthy eating inspirational. I just have to make it easier. A box of fruits and vegetables is not magic. But it helps.
The Verdict: Is Odd Bunch Worth Trying?
In a world where groceries cost too much, food waste is still a problem, and most of us could probably use a few more vegetables in our lives, this felt like a pretty good idea. And I have not been disappointed, especially since I have veto power over green beans.
If you’re curious about trying Odd Bunch, order a box. You’re not locked into any contracts: I’ve found skipping a week to be easy, and you can cancel anytime. Click the button below if you want to give it a try with $10 $15 off your first box.
Further reading
Except many have tried. It’s funny how many Instagram ads I now see with exactly that: people unpacking their Odd Bunch boxes. Can someone teach the algorithm I already signed up? Better spend your marketing dollars on people who haven’t purchased yet.
Compared to buying the same or similar items at a regular grocery store, I’d say it has been at least half off. Depending on where you normally shop, the difference could be even bigger.