How to Make Butcher Box Worth the Cost

Review: Is Butcher Box worth the cost? Pick a plan and options and be intentional with recipes and this monthly meat subscription can SAVE you money!

Have you ever been reluctant to try something, but then ended up loving it? That’s how I feel about Butcher Box.

I hemmed and hawed on trying their service for MONTHS. When I finally did, I actually loved having high-quality meat delivered to my door!

I shared my honest review on Butcher Box, and not too long after wrote a second Butcher Box review after being a customer myself for several months.

What may be a secret though, is how I make Butcher Box work for my family money-wise. I get emails asking me this all the time, so I thought now would be a good time to let the cat out of the bag!

Here’s how to make Butcher Box worth the cost.

First up though…

How much does Butcher Box Cost?

I covered this pretty extensively in my honest review of Butcher Box, but here’s the summary.

• Butcher Box offers two boxes: Classic and Big Box.
• The Classic Box is $149 and comes with 9-14lbs of meat. This comes out to an average of $10.64 to $16.55 per pound.
• The Big Box is $270 and comes with 18-26lbs of meat. This comes out to an average of $10.38 to $15 per pound. Right off the bat, the Big Box is the better deal.
• You can choose to have a box delivered once a month, or every other month.

If you decide on the once a month option, you can “postpone” delivery one month if finances are tight, or if you aren’t ready for another delivery just yet.

Let me inject this note right here too. That price per box might sound like a lot, but consider how much you CURRENTLY spend on meat. Have you ever sat down and tracked your meat expenses? You might be surprised!

Six Ways We Make Butcher Box Affordable

1. We went back to viewing meat “on the side.”

Several years ago when we were actively reducing our grocery budget, we couldn’t afford a lot of meat. That’s just the way it was.

We lived in California at the time, where fresh produce was abundant and quality meat was not. By default, we ate more plants and less animals.

If you can believe it, we’d buy just two whole chickens and one “special” meat (i.e. a package of pork chops or a chuck roast) for one whole month!

I didn’t know it at the time, but we were eating a mostly plant-based diet.

Fast forward and there was a season when we were eating either Whole30 or Paleo. Both of these styles of eating require a lot of produce AND a lot of meat.

After we narrowed down some allergy and food sensitivities, we began re-evaluating our plates again and came to two conclusions:

• We wanted to eat more plants and fewer animals.
• The animals we did eat, we wanted them to be either grass-fed or pastured.

Fortunately, these two go hand in hand – eating less meat means being able to afford better quality.

Keep in mind that this is how MY FAMILY has chosen to eat. You should do what’s best for you and your family and priorities.

2. We buy the “Custom” Classic Box, and I’m intentional with the cuts I choose.

Being intentional with the cuts I put in my “custom” box means being able to save BIG TIME. Let me explain.

All cuts at Butcher Box have a value of “one” and you choose six cuts for a “classic” sized box. Here are some examples of what “one cut” looks like, just to give you an idea:

• (1) 12 oz package of sugar-free and Whole30 compliant bacon
• 2 lbs of ground pork
• 5.5 lbs bone-in pork butt
• 3 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 3 lbs chicken drumsticks
• (1) 3.5 – 4.5 lb whole chicken
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 10 oz ribeyes
• 2.25 lbs chuck roast

I have one goal when I login to change my monthly order: get as many pounds of meat as I possibly can so I can make my Butcher Box subscription worth the cost. Here’s how I do that:

• Choose a whole chicken instead of the chicken breasts.
• Select the center-cut pork loin instead of the pork chops.
• Choose the chuck roast instead of the premium steak tips.

Bear in mind, this isn’t exactly what I order every month. It’s more of my methodology: Choose big roasts or whole pieces instead of individual cuts.

Does this mean more work on my end? Yes.

• I have to butcher the whole chicken.
• Pork chops need to be cut.
• I marinade roasts so a lesser cut of meat tastes just as good as a higher-end cut.

It’s okay though because the savings are HUGE.

Doing the work myself is one of the key points I teach in my course Grocery Budget Bootcamp. If I choose to let Butcher Box do the work, I can order as little as 6 pounds of meat and pay close to $15 per pound.

If I do the work myself, I can order 20+ pounds of grass-fed and pastured meat, delivered to my front door for about $10 per pound. It also means I can make the one box last us all month long.

3. I bought my Butcher Box subscription during a promotion on the meat we eat often.

I bought my subscription when Butcher Box was offering free 2 lbs of ground beef with every box for the life of the subscription.

Not only is that free ground beef (which is a no-brainer), but it’s also meat that I don’t have to add to my box or that I’d have to buy at the store… every single month.

I’ve seen several Butcher Box promotions come through my inbox, but I chose the free ground beef promotion because…

• It’s one of the most versatile meats we cook with – there are TONS of ways to use it!!
• My kids and I really enjoy ground beef!
• It comes EVERY month, not just the first month.
• I can stretch two pounds of ground beef into SEVEN different meals! (Here’s a meal plan on stretching two pounds of ground beef over one week!)

4. I pay attention to the specials.

This used to be a monthly thing, but Butcher Box now has member-only specials that you can add to your order. As of this writing, here are a few of the options:

• 10 lbs of Ground Beef for $49.99 (that’s just $.99 per pound!)
• 2lbs Boneless Country Style ribs for $11.99
• 2 lbs of wild Alaskan sockeye salmon for $25. (That’s just $12.50/lb. Compare that to $17/lb at Whole Foods!)
• 2lbs of breakfast sausage + 2 packs of bacon for $25
• (6) 10oz NY Strip Steaks for $55 (that’s $14.66/lb – think of what would you pay at a restaurant for the same cut?!)
• 3lbs Chicken Drumsticks for $12

These might not be a good deal if you have access to a local butcher shop or find a killer deal on grass-fed beef or pastured chicken, but for those who want to eat better meat and can’t find it locally, this is a great option!

5. I waste NOTHING.

To make it worth the cost, I make sure that I waste absolutely NOTHING from my monthly Butcher Box subscription.

• I save ALL the chicken bones for homemade stock.
• I re-use leftover meat for dishes like pork and potato soup, or southwest chicken salad, or I freeze it for a future meal.
• Bacon grease is saved for cooking with.
• I render beef fat into tallow and cook with that too.

6. I stretch the meat I do buy.

• 2lbs of ground beef can last my family 7 days.
• I can make one whole chicken last a week.
• One pork loin can cover 7 different meals.

And I can do all of this without my family feeling like we’ve been deprived.

Here’s the kicker though – add up all those days and you have 24 meals out of just 3 “cuts” from Butcher Box. That’s nearly a whole month of meals with only HALF of a Classic Custom box. You still have 3 other “cuts” left!

Bonus idea: Don’t buy the cuts you can get locally. If you have a local farm that sells organic chicken at an amazing price, buy local. Just use Butcher Box for grass-fed beef and pastured pork! This way you are buying what you need at the quality you want for the best possible price.

If you’re been wanting to try Butcher Box and you’ve been holding out, here’s your chance.

Crumbs Exclusive Offers: 

A Special Note from Butcher Box:

Due to the sheer volume of orders currently coming in at ButcherBox, all special offers are currently paused (including Crumbs Exclusive Offers).

Custom boxes – Currently users are only able to select from 3 of the curated boxes (Mixed, Beef & Chicken, Beef & Pork), but add-ons are still available for the time being if there’s anything else you’d like to be included.

If you’ve been curious about Butcher Box but have been holding back because you weren’t sure if you could make it work, give it a try and use the same tips that I use! We’re eating better and cleaner than we ever have, and our grocery budget hasn’t suffered!

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