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As grocery bills soar, Australians are embracing food that supermarkets won't ... food that's PERFECTLY GOOD and SERIOUSLY CHEAPER!

FUNKY FOOD

As grocery bills soar, Australians are embracing food that supermarkets won’t … food that’s PERFECTLY GOOD and SERIOUSLY CHEAPER!

 

As food prices keep climbing, Australians are changing the way they fill their trolley — and one food rescue company - FUNKY FOOD - says imperfect could be the new smart - $2 artisan bread, rescued fruit and vegetables and savings of up to 30 per cent are putting perfectly imperfect food on Australian tables

 

Australians feeling the pinch at the supermarket checkout are being urged to embrace a new kind of grocery shopping, one where carrots can be crooked, apples can be odd, sourdough can be three centimetres too long and perfectly good food doesn't need to look perfect to make it onto the dinner table.

 

New Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released show food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 3.2 per cent in the 12 months to July, making food one of the largest contributors to annual inflation. And Australian shoppers are responding - recent Canstar research of more than 3,000 Australians found 80 per cent have changed the way they grocery shop in the past six months to reduce pressure on household budgets.

 

Enter Funky Food, the Australian food rescue company taking the idea of the humble "wonky fruit and veg box" and turning it into an alternative way to shop for everyday groceries. https://funkyfood.com.au/

 

Founded on rescuing perfectly good fruit and vegetables rejected by major retailers largely because of cosmetic imperfections, Funky Food has now expanded beyond produce into everyday staples including bread, milk, eggs, meat, pasta, rice, nuts, grains, canned goods and pantry products.

 

And perhaps nothing demonstrates the madness, and opportunity, of food imperfection better than bread. Through a recent partnership with artisan bakery Sonoma, Funky Food is now rescuing handcrafted sourdoughs, rolls, baguettes and specialty loaves that may not meet traditional retail specifications because of minor variations in shape, size or appearance.

 

The price through Funky Food? Just $2 for rescued artisan bread, compared with an approx stated regular price of, well, much much more. A loaf might be slightly misshapen. A roll might not be perfectly round. A sourdough might simply be a few centimetres longer than specification. It still tastes exactly as bread should.

 

Funky Food CEO Noah Pratt said the combination of rising grocery prices and extraordinary levels of perfectly edible food waste made Australians increasingly willing to reconsider what "perfect" food actually means.

 

"For years we've been conditioned to walk into a supermarket and expect every apple to look the same, every carrot to be straight and every loaf of bread to fit a particular shape or size. But none of those things determine whether food is fresh, nutritious or delicious," he said. "When families are watching every dollar they spend, rejecting perfectly good food because it's the wrong shape or size makes even less sense. If a family can buy great food, save money, support Australian producers and stop perfectly good food going to waste at the same time, that's a pretty powerful reason to shop differently."

 

The numbers behind the movement are already substantial.

 

Since launching, Funky Food has delivered more than 657,000 boxes and rescued close to 7.9 million kilograms of food that otherwise risked going to waste. Its produce boxes offer claimed savings of up to 30 per cent compared with supermarket prices, connecting consumers with food that may have been rejected because it is too big, too small, oddly shaped or simply in oversupply.

 

The expansion into bread and other grocery staples signals something bigger: Funky Food is evolving from a fruit-and-vegetable rescue service into an alternative grocery destination for Australians looking for ways to make their weekly food budget work harder.

 

And with food prices continuing to rise, Funky Food’s Pratt believes the "imperfect" aisle could be about to have its moment. “We're asking Australians to look at incredibly good food and question why appearance has been allowed to determine its value. Maybe the smartest grocery trolley in Australia right now isn't the one filled with perfect food. Maybe it's the funky ones."

 

THE FUNKY FOOD NUMBERS

• 3.2% — annual increase in Australian food and non-alcoholic beverage prices to July 2026
• 80% — Australians who say they have changed their grocery shopping habits in the past six months to reduce pressure on household budgets
• Up to 30% — savings Funky Food says customers can make on its produce compared with supermarket prices
• $2 — price of rescued artisan bread currently available through Funky Food
• 657,000+ — Funky Food boxes delivered
• 7.9 million kg — food Funky Food has rescued

 

Contact details:

[email protected]

Kath Rose - 0416 291 493