Sustainable eating is a really important part of my personal and professional life. We all lead busy lives and it can be difficult to navigate environmentally friendly food practices. I’m here to help you out and to share some of the tips and tricks I know for a more sustainable lifestyle. As I’ve said before, what goes into our foods goes into our bodies and by taking care to eat clean foods we help take care of the environment and our own health. It’s a win/win.

Two weeks ago my wife, Lynette, signed us up for weekly food deliveries from Imperfect Foods. You may be familiar with Imperfect Foods. They box and send foods that are considered not aesthetically appealing enough to sell in grocery stores and some foods offered are over stock. These foods traditionally are wasted and have a huge negative environmental impact. You can subscribe for conventional or organic foods. As I mentioned before I think it’s important to go as organic as possible. I posted some useful tips for buying organic in my sustainable eating practices post. That being said, we signed up for organic produce. At the beginning of each week you can see your “cart” online and make adjustments to quantities and types of foods that you want for the week.

This is our second week using the service and we really like it. For me, it’s a little bit like a Chopped basket. You see what’s inside and it inspires your meal plan for the week. We’ve been pleased with our produce. Our organic limes were a little weathered on the outside but when we cut into them they were perfectly ripe and full of juice. Having fresh organic produce at the ready has encouraged us to make more fruit and veggie protein smoothies, and to incorporate greens into our sauces.

I do have one major concern that I want to conduct more research on. The box comes with a very large gel ice pack. Every week. I live in Manhattan and even if I didn’t, it would take a lot of space to keep and store these. I cannot store them so I throw them out. I worry about the environmental impact of this. Maybe you can help. Do you buy Imperfect Foods or use a similar company? How do you manage any packaging concerns? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

• UPDATE: After three weeks of using Imperfect Foods I did cancel my account. While I applaud the concept, I had two major issues with the service. First, I did not want to continue receiving the large gel ice packs weekly due to environmental concerns. Second, I kept receiving bad produce (wilted, moldy, black on the inside) that was inedible. I’m cool with imperfect but inedible can be dangerous and I keep a clean kitchen. Back to Farmer’s Markets and local grocers for us.