Workamping at Vickers Ranch is fun, and the scenery amazing. Remote RV living and workamping isn’t always easy though, like when it comes to finding fresh produce. Until now it’s been a major hassle, until I found Misfits Market. Their weekly delivery is life changing up here in Lake City!
Pandemic revolutionizes remote RV living
The pandemic sucked sucks. But one good thing happened because of it. Getting groceries while remote RV living is easier for us. It started last year at Camp Covid in rural Southern Oregon. We hunted and gathered for groceries in a few different ways to minimize trips to the city. The five of us also collaborated to buy weekly restaurant-sized bundles of fresh produce from a nearby distributor. We ate pretty well during a crappy time in history.
Back in Fort Collins, Instacart was spoiling us. I rarely shopped for groceries. Instacart shoppers typically pick out high quality produce as well as I can. And now my time is freed up for other things. Unfortunately, this amazing service just doesn’t exist in beautiful remote RV living locations like Lake City, Colorado.
Misfits Market saves time, food, and the planet (I think!)
I only dreaded one thing about workamping at Vickers. The trip to town for groceries is a hassle. Shopping is not how I enjoy spending our days off. Sadly, Lake City’s natural foods store is history, and although the competitor formerly dubbed “The Food Museum” is under new ownership, their selection is still limited. Thankfully, Misfits Market exists.
Misfits is like Imperfect Foods. They “rescue” organic produce and other items that don’t move fast enough at retail stores. They resell them at incredibly low prices to customers who spend $30 or more each week. Shipping’s free and less food gets wasted in America. It’s a win-win!
After two Misfits shipments, I’ve decided that it’s the way to go. I can minimize our trips to town, and still have weekly produce that’s almost always as good as big city selections.
Like anything, weekly produce delivery has a few downsides
Misfit produce is sometimes wonky. Consume it within the first five days or so and it’s worth the cost. To prevent spoilage, I prep the produce for cooking and eating over the next few days. For instance, I blended these strawberries for breakfast smoothies.
I did ask for a refund when these inedible collards arrived. Misfits quickly obliged.
There’s also the weekly packaging waste. Is it horrible for the planet? I’m not sure about the lesser of two carbon footprint evils: driving for an hour to town, or tossing this into the landfill?
I’m pretty happy with this service overall. Misfits is not compensating me to share this. Their service is not a bad deal, and it sure makes remote RV living a lot easier than it used to be. That is, if you’re in the lower 48. I have no idea if it works in Alaska. That would be amazing if it did!
Their website says that depending on the time of year and availability, most of that packaging is compostable (which is only helpful if you have access to composting, because composting doesn’t happen in a landfill).
How are their prices compared to shopping at Winco?
Hey Maya. Well exactly, that’s what people don’t always get about the biodegradable thing. We have zero access to a landfill like that out here. As for prices, I would say VERY comparable to Winco and even better in most cases. I haven’t paid over $40 for a large box of organic produce, including spendy things like melons. They also make the produce so cheap that you can buy multiples at very little cost. IF something is too aged to eat, like a few leaves of kale, at least you have the extra kale to make up for it. So far so good, I’m happy with it in a situation like this (remote living).
Good to know, thanks! I’ll have to mull this one over. =)
WHAT delivery address did you use when remote, and how did you gap deliveries as you move?
GK, I “think” I get what you’re asking. The address I’m using is the ranch. They don’t have an ‘official’ street address, but delivery drivers here know where they are. If I was somewhere like boondocking in the desert, I’m not sure this could work. But we’ve found that in many remote places you can often use the local hardware store or some other small merchant for an address and they just charge you a nominal fee to hold your package. As for changing addresses when we move, well Misfits makes it easy to do that. However they don’t deliver EVERYWHERE so you do need to check on your next location before you put in an order. They give you the option to skip deliveries too, which is great.
Sometimes if you ask in advance, the local post office will receive packages via General Delivery as well.
I get so disappointed when I read about these grocery delivery places because none of them deliver in NM. And if they did, they probably wouldn’t deliver where we live. Good thing I don’t mind the drive into town and that we have a decent co-op.
Oh my DOG you are right! Wow I just checked that. I wonder why not? I mean Lake City is not any kind of metropolis, we are five hours from Denver and over one from any kind of real highway. I wonder if NM has some kind of ban on these services? The Grocery Store Industrial Complex conspiracy maybe?
I was so excited to read this blog–we live 22 miles from an awful grocery store which I never enter and 55 miles from a decent grocery store. We try to time our grocery shopping for the trips we have to take to Billings (100 miles away) for doctor/dentist/haircut visits and I do Walmart pickup. I do have lots of stuff delivered to home but no fresh produce and that’s what I run out of first, always. Unfortunately Misfits doesn’t do Montana just yet. 🙁 🙁
Whaaaa? Really! Oh wow I’m shocked Janna! I mean like I was telling Kim, we are so far from anywhere that I was stunned they deliver here (because their competition, Imperfect Foods, doesn’t). Dang I’m sorry!