Melissa's Produce Review

Introduction

Since online food subscription boxes are trendy, I decided to pick some out and review them. Today, let’s talk about Melissa’s Produce. I’ve seen its products a decent amount of times at Hy-Vee. There are some nice mini packets of potatoes that work well for smaller families or people like me who don’t want to make too big of portions for just themselves. They also have a decent amount of exotic fruit, from dragon fruit to rambutan.

This review is about my experience getting okra, papaya, and a fruit/veggie box (similar to what you would get in a weekly produce box) from Melissa’s Produce.

Okra (7/10)

I got two pounds of okra, and it turned out pretty good. All of the okra was fresh, but it was way too much okra for me to use, especially with having almost no freezer space to store it for future reference. I need to learn how to cook it without it being so slimy, so I made this okra blog post to help out with that.

Organic Mixed Vegetable and Fruit 50/50 Box (5/10)

I wasn’t too pleased with Melissa’s fruit and veggie box. Some of the produce wasn’t fresh, like the wilted lettuce and the unripe oranges. Melissa’s did a poor job keeping the produce cold and fresh, but it got bonus points for cushioning everything to protect the produce. It wasn’t completely effective, but it was better than average.

Tai Nung Papaya (3/10)

I was immensely disappointed with the papaya. The order came with two moldy papayas that tasted awful.

Conclusion

Melissa’s Produce was good enough to try again, but I wasn’t too pleased with the products I got this time. If you’re into getting online produce subscription boxes, please check out my experiences with Miami Fruit and Misfits Market.

Before you go, here are some overall comments that you should know before you buy a bunch of things from Melissa’s.

• The shipping is super expensive (equivalent to or more than the amount you spend on your products).
• My produce boxes got separated during transit somehow (one with a fruit and veggie box and another with okra and papaya). At least they came on the same day.
• Order more produce than you think you need for yourself because the portions of each order tend to be small unless you consider two pounds of okra to be not much.
• The products are pricey, but that’s probably because of being specialty produce.
• If you would rather avoid the shipping expenses, try some of the products available in the produce section of Hy-Vee.