If your grocery bill has gone up over the last few years, you’re certainly not alone. Since 2020, food prices have risen at an above-average rate, with a significant spike in the year 2022, when at-home food costs went up by 11.4 percent, compared with a yearly average of 2.7 percent.

In 2025, we will experience rising food costs at an estimated above-average rate of 3.2 percent, with the price of eggs increasing by a mind-blowing 183.3 percent between February 2024 and February 2025.

We’re a family of six, with three of our four kids rapidly approaching the hungry teen years. Feeding everyone while staying on budget has been more challenging than ever since the COVID-19 pandemic. I understand that eating a wide variety of foods like fruits and veggies, whole grains, and lean protein,

is important to growing kids and teens, but it's been harder to check off our nutritional boxes as a family while also trying to save money on groceries each week.

I’ve been in problem-solving mode for months now, pinching pennies, avoiding food waste, and giving up convenience foods and treats, all in an effort to ensure we spend our money where it matters most. In an effort to purchase more healthy foods for my family while also staying on budget, I tried out Misfits Market, a grocery subscription platform that offers less-than-perfect produce, meat, dairy, and more for a reduced rate. Here’s my experience.

How Does Misfits Market Work?

Misfits Market boasts that it sells “ugly” foods. It partners with producers and farms that want to reduce food waste by selling imperfect foods to large retailers at a discounted price. I loved this part of Misfits Market's mission, as between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply in the United States is wasted each year.

I signed up for Misfits Market by completing a short survey that asked about the types of food my family eats each week, my dietary preferences, and the number of people I’m shopping for. After I entered my address, Misfits Market prompted me to choose a delivery day. Delivery options are limited based on your location, but I didn’t mind because I knew this was one way Misfits Market keeps its prices low.

How Much Does Misfits Market Cost?

Misfits Market is a grocery delivery subscription service that automatically delivers boxes of groceries each week. The service offers two different boxes — a smaller box costing around $22 and a larger option that costs about $35. These prices do vary a little based on food availability each week, but never more than a few dollars each way.

Subscribers also have the option to customize their box, instead of receiving exactly what Misfits Market selects each week. This means the price will fluctuate depending on how much you buy each week. There is also the option to sign up as a “flex” customer. These customers have an account with Misfits Market but don’t have a subscription, so they order whenever they want and don’t pay shipping if they meet the $15 order minimum.

Ordering Groceries at Misfits Market

Since Misfits Market automatically creates a box of groceries each week, I had the option to subscribe to the service and do nothing else but wait for my first delivery to arrive. However, I wanted to customize my order and pick items that suited our meal plan for the week.

My shopping window opened the week before my delivery and stayed open for four days. I logged in and started by removing items from my cart. Then, I was able to shop by category, adding items that were already on my weekly grocery list. Misfits Market has a minimum order cost of $15, but as a family of six, we had no problem meeting — and even exceeding — that amount.

While I was shopping, I noticed that Misfits Market offered a wide variety of foods. I found most of the produce we eat regularly, like broccoli, clementines, and bananas, along with a few items I love to grab when they’re on sale. They also sell both meat and vegetarian protein options, as well as pantry staples like flour, sugar, and salt. Additionally, they offer dairy items such as yogurt and milk, along with convenience items like snack food and frozen, prepared foods.

One thing I noted about the availability of foods at Misfits Market is that, although they had a wide variety of foods available each week, many of these items were only available from one or two brands. This meant that, in some cases, the option offered by Misfits Market was a more expensive brand than what is offered locally in discount grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Aldi. In my case, the oat milk sold by Misfits Market was about $0.30 more expensive than the brand I buy locally. The snack foods I chose for my kids were from a more expensive brand, but I usually opt for off-brand items to save money each week.

How the Groceries Arrived

I received a tracking notice early in the morning on the day of delivery, and I was able to track the truck to see how close it was getting to my home. The delivery driver left my groceries right by my front door, and I found that they were packaged well. Misfits Market used padded materials and bubble wrap to prevent breakage and bruising, along with ice packs to keep perishable items cold. The company keeps packaging sustainable by asking customers to leave all packaging items from their previous delivery on the front porch at the time of their next delivery. The company recycles or reuses everything, including the box, bubble wrap, and ice packs.

All the food items in my package arrived in great shape. I took a chance on a dozen eggs, and they were in perfect condition when they arrived. The only issue with my order was that the chicken broth I ordered was swapped out for vegetable broth. But even that was not a big deal and didn’t change our plan for that week.

Meal Planning With Your Groceries

Because I was able to customize my order, I created a meal plan for the week before choosing my grocery items. Meal planning is a habit that can help families save money and help them choose healthy, home-cooked meals on a regular basis, even when life is busy.

I wanted to try a variety of food types from the service while staying within my budget of $75. Because of this, I wasn’t able to get everything I needed for the week from Misfits Market, and had to supplement my menu with items we already had on hand as well as a few things I picked up at our local grocery store. However, when I look at the available items from week to week, I can see that it would be possible to make a meal plan using only items from this service.

Using the items from our grocery box, we made rice bowls with chicken, broccoli, and leeks one night. I made white bean soup to eat for lunch throughout the week, using cannellini beans, veggie broth, and the remaining leek. We also packed lunches for our kids with the snack foods we chose. I especially loved the Minor Figures oat milk in my morning coffee. A family favorite from the week was the fresh ramen noodles we received, which we paired with veggies we already had on hand and jammy eggs.

Something I noticed about the food in my box is how fresh everything was. It may be true that Misfits Market sources some imperfect foods, but I didn’t notice anything that impacted shelf life or quality. We ate up everything that arrived in our box over the course of the week, and nothing went bad before then.

Does This Service Make It Easier to Make Healthy Choices?

Unlike meal delivery services, Misfits Market doesn’t plan meals for you or curate ingredients to fit a weekly menu. It was still up to me to plan to make healthy choices and create a shopping list based on that plan.

However, I found that being able to meal plan and then fill my cart with fresh produce and healthy snacks simplified my grocery shopping experience. Instead of shopping in a store, where I often find myself bogged down by choices or tempted to grab items that aren’t on my list, I could place an order in half the time and have it delivered to my front porch.

Does This Service Make Grocery Shopping More Affordable?

When I ordered groceries from Misfits Market, I found that some of the products were less expensive than what I buy locally. However, many of the items cost the same or more than what I regularly purchase in stores, likely because our family buys conventional groceries and often shops at discount stores like Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. We also often opt for store brands over name-brand grocery items.

If buying organic food items is important to you, you will likely find that Misfits Market is worth it. Many of the products they sell are organic and name-brand items that are less expensive than buying them in-store. However, if you typically don’t buy organic, this might not be the service for you.

How Does Misfits Market Compare to Other Grocery Delivery Services

Misfits Market is a difficult service to compare because it offers a niche service: at-home delivery of foods diverted from landfills. It is most similar to its sister company, Imperfect Foods, and offers many of the same grocery items at a comparable price.

HungryRoot is another grocery delivery service focused on healthy foods. I noticed the company offers many of the same items as Misfits Market, but it doesn’t focus on reducing food waste or discounted food items. One thing HungryRoot offers that Misfits Market doesn’t is a meal planning service. If you sign up for this option, the company plans your meals for the week and sends you everything you need to prepare them.

Hungry Harvest operates on a similar model, but it is only available in select states. Thrive Market, another grocery delivery option, focuses on offering discount prices while emphasizing pantry staples, supplements, and personal care items over fresh produce, meat, and dairy products.

Amongst its competitors, Misfits Market also stands out for its usability. Its website was very user-friendly, and their service was the most flexible, while HungryRoot uses a confusing point system for weekly shopping.