The Butcher Box reviews are in! If you wonder about the prices, quality, and even what comes in a box, keep reading! My family has used ButcherBox for several years, and we love the quality of the meat.
It’s been a few years since I first tried ButcherBox. At the time, I was a huge skeptic about buying grass-fed meat online. I was even more so unsure if it was possible while trying to work within a budget. That’s why it took me nearly four months and two full-size sample boxes to fall in love with the company and their monthly subscription service.
A lot has changed since I first purchased my subscription, so I wanted to provide even more insight for you in this updated Butcher Box review, so you can decide whether or not it’s a good fit for your family!
Before I dig in, I need to share some personal back story on how and why we landed on Butcher Box in the first place.
CAN YOU EAT TOO MUCH CHICKEN?
For the first 8 years of my marriage, 80% of our meat consumption was chicken. This was fine by me because chicken is cheap. I’ve seen whole free-range chickens marked down to as little as $3. This was also because my husband doesn’t like ground beef. Even the Best Burgers Ever.
It’s a texture thing, and it overlaps into fish and pulled meat, too, with Slow Cooker Carnitas being a huge exception; he requests that one often! But as we’ve learned more about our bodies and the role that food and supplements play, I’m starting to wonder if you can eat too much chicken…
My husband and I started taking a B-complex vitamin, primarily for the B12. He took it to help manage his nervousness and I took it to help with cognitive function and focus. It was a light bulb moment for both of us. We felt so much better!!
And then it dawned on me – if we felt relief from a supplement, we probably weren’t getting enough B12 in our diet. But why? We don’t eat processed food and have been consistently preparing whole foods for several years at this point! I did some research and found that the best source of B vitamins is animal protein. Here’s a quick rundown of the top vitamins for the major meat groups:
- Vitamin B1: Pork
- Vitamin B3: Chicken, Beef, Fish/Seafood
- Vitamin B6: Chicken, Beef
- Vitamin B12: Pork, Beef, Fish/Seafood
- Phosphorus: Chicken
- Zinc: Pork
Do you see what I see? Since we ate a balanced diet all around– omitting pork, beef, and fish– it still meant we were completely missing three of the best sources for B12! In the same way that we need a variety of vegetables for all their nutrients, we need a variety of meats!
HOW DOES BUTCHERBOX WORK?
If you’ve never heard of ButcherBox before, let me give you the chips and salsa version:
- ButcherBox is a meat delivery service. They are neither a farm nor an online grocery store. Instead, they work with a group of family farms and cooperatives in order to bring grass-fed beef, heritage breed pasture-raised pork, organic chicken, and wild-caught seafood to your front door every month.
- When you join, you choose the type of box you want to get:
- Mixed Box
- Beef & Pork Box
- Beef & Chicken Box
- All Beef Box
- Custom Box that lets you choose specifically what cuts of meat you want each month.
- Choose between two box sizes: Classic Box (9-14 lbs of meat for about 24 meals) or Big Box (18-26 lbs of meat for about 48 meals).
- You can change your order each month, so you’re never locked into one type of box.
- Throw in any add-ons if you’d like (an add-on would be a one-off item, like a package of uncured sugar-free bacon or 1 pound of boneless pork chops, or even seasonal items like ham for Easter or corned beef for St. Patrick’s Day!).
You choose what package of meat you’d like, the frequency (how often) you want the box delivered (either every month or every other month), and then choose any add-ons if you’d like.
Read more about how Butcher Box works and pricing on their website.
HOW MUCH DOES BUTCHERBOX COST?
If you check out their site, Butcher Box prices their boxes by meals, where 6oz equals one meal. This makes their pricing look a little different than the per pound price I’m sharing here. Some families eat more meat per meal, and some eat less. Keep this in mind as you decide whether or not Butcher Box is right for you!
This is a frugal food blog, and no honest ButcherBox review can get away without discussing the numbers.
- The Classic Box is $149 (9-14lbs of meat with an average of $10.64 to $16.55 per pound.)
- The Big Box is $270 (18-26lbs of meat with an average of $10.38 to $15 per pound.)
Yes, I know this sounds pricey. $11-16 for ONE pound of meat is nothing to scoff at, especially when you’re struggling to pay the bills AND put food on the table. However, it is VERY possible to eat healthy food without going broke. My family and I are living proof, and that’s why I started this blog.
Your own real food priorities might not include organic grass fed beef. Right now, you may be looking for the cheapest cuts of chicken you can possibly find. And that’s okay.
To learn how my family affords Butcher Box on a budget, read this post. I dig into how I can make my meat cost $10 per pound or LESS from ButcherBox. For example, choose larger cuts of meat (like whole chicken over boneless skinless chicken breast). Or join when their sign on offer is something you’ll use most (like free bacon, free ground beef, or free NY Strips).
A few other things to note:
- Butcherbox always offers free shipping.
- You can choose a monthly subscription or every other month.
- If you’re still working through your last box, you can delay your subscription by one month.
- You can cancel your subscription at any time.
- Their customer service is SUPER helpful and happy to address any issues you may have.
If you’re ready to jump in, click this link to claim the current ButcherBox Crumbs exclusive offer!
THE QUALITY OF BUTCHER BOX MEAT
Butcher Box meats fall into three main categories – beef, chicken, and pork – to bring you the very best. The quality of the meat is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself!
- 100% Grass-fed and Grass-finished Beef. The cattle are humanely raised, live their entire life on pasture, and are never given antibiotics or hormones. They eat a natural diet of grass, and they may be given silage or hay if the weather prevents them from grazing.
- Organic and Free-Range Chicken. The free-range birds spend most of their lives foraging in the field with plenty of room to move around and interact with other chickens. Thanks to all this exercise, these birds will naturally be leaner than conventional chicken.
- Heritage Breed Pork. The breeds of pork that Butcher Box sources have been specifically chosen for their rich color and marbled texture. There is no tail docking, and the animals are either on pasture or raised in open barns with bedding and space to engage in natural behaviors as if they were outside.
We think their ground beef, rib-eyes, top sirloin, NY strip, pork loin, and pork chops are absolutely amazing. They have THE BEST pork chops you will ever taste in your entire life. Every time I make them, I think that they’re worth the entire subscription alone! But since we’ve been Butcher Box subscribers for a few years now, I’ve also been able to try a few new cuts of higher quality meat:
- Salmon. Their wild salmon comes in 2-pound bags, with several pre-cut filets inside. Both my son and I LOVE salmon, so the two of us made a simple sheet pan-style dinner. Very tender and flavorful and we both wished we had made more so we could have seconds!
- Lamb Roast. The lamb roast was so, so good…incredibly tender, absolutely delicious, and the one roast was WAY MORE than enough for the four of us. We had so much leftover that I froze it, and we enjoyed lamb tacos for many, many nights!
- Turkey. I was super nervous to cook the Thanksgiving turkey last year, partly because I had never done it before, but also because I didn’t want to screw up cooking a pastured turkey! I followed a tried-and-true recipe and my husband’s entire family raved about how delicious the turkey was. And I admit, it was some of THE BEST turkey I’ve ever had!
- Ribs. My husband was a skeptic about their ribs and thought they couldn’t be better than the ribs we buy from Costco. Butcher Box proved him wrong! I’ve used the ribs from Butcher Box to create my Slow Cooker Ribs recipe, and they turn out perfect every single time.
- Ground Pork. I’ve heard from several people that finding natural, humanely raised ground pork locally is hard, but I don’t have that issue now that Butcher Box offers it in their monthly boxes! Nine times out of ten, we use the ground pork to make Homemade Breakfast Sausage. The 10th time we make Egg Roll in a Bowl and chow down on that!
After our first few boxes, my husband and I both agreed that if were able to make it work with our budget, we’d definitely consider Butcher Box to source our meat. I decided I’d focus on beef and pork since I can get good deals on organic chicken locally. And we figured out how to make it fit into our budget!
DOES BUTCHER BOX MEAT TASTE GOOD?
This is probably the most important question of all the Butcher Box reviews: but does the Butcher Box meat actually taste good?
The beef and pork from ButcherBox are absolutely delicious. I’ve purchased “natural” pork from the grocery store and every time it was tough and chewy. The pork from Butcher Box was nothing like that. Every pork chop was beyond tender, and it made me wonder why we didn’t eat pork more often!
Eating the steaks felt like a huge splurge for us since we don’t eat whole steaks at home often. We split two steaks for dinner to help stretch the meat, but they were so good that both Mr. Crumbs and I wished we had a whole steak to ourselves!
These same thoughts run through my head every time we try their meat…we’ve had their ground beef, rib-eyes, top sirloin, NY strip, pork loin, pork chops, and salmon. Every time, it has been very, very good. The whole chicken was also good, but because we’re committed to buying organic chicken anyway, we didn’t notice much of a difference.
BUTCHER BOX REVIEWS: THINGS I LIKE ABOUT BUTCHERBOX
A few things have changed since I shared my original review, but they’re for the better, making ButcherBox one of the best companies I’ve worked with.
YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR MONTHLY BOX CATEGORY
You now have the option to change your monthly box. I don’t know if I missed this initially, but when I reached out to Butcher Box and asked them to put one month on hold because I had beef coming out of my ears, they told me I could switch my box to something else!
This is perfect for keeping our freezer stocked with grass-fed beef, organic chicken, and heritage breed pork. I can balance our monthly grocery budget AND the need for more or less meat, depending on what’s going on in any given month.
CLASSIC BOX AND CUSTOM BOX COST THE SAME
The Classic Box is the same price as the Custom Box. The Classic Box used to cost $20 less than the Custom Box. At first glance, you might see this as a negative. I see this as a HUGE positive! That means that you can pick and choose the exact cuts of meat you want without having to pay more to do it!
A custom curated box is perfect for picky eaters (like my husband). Or for when you need a specific cut for your meal plan. This is one of the key elements to make ButcherBox worth the cost!
YOU GET AN EMAIL ABOUT YOUR SHIPMENT BEFORE IT’S PROCESSED.
I LOVE getting an email at the end of each month reminding me about my order that’s about to process. This gives me a chance to check my freezer to see what I’m low on, to check my meal plan to see what I need and to check my family calendar to see what upcoming guests or parties we have planned. I can log in on my own, update my order, and then have everything I need when it arrives on my doorstep.
THE PACKAGING HAS CHANGED, AND IT WORKS!
Getting high quality meat from point A to point B WITHOUT sacrificing the quality or integrity of the meat can be a challenge. Butcher Box has stepped up to the plate! While the insulated bags they originally used were cute, they didn’t always get the job done.
Instead, they switched to insulated boxes, so when you open the box, the entire box is insulated with 1” thick material. On top of that, there is a significant amount of dry ice inside that insulation so that your meat arrives cold and safe, according to FDA standards. Even with the old packaging, my meat has never arrived completely thawed.
However, the new packaging means my meat is rock solid frozen, every time!
BUTCHERBOX HAS UPPED THEIR GAME IN EDUCATION
As you can imagine, there are a lot of rumors and misinformation when it comes to meat and temperatures and safety concerns. For example:
- It is perfectly safe to refreeze food that has been thawed in the refrigerator, WITHOUT cooking it first.
- If food is partly frozen, as cold as if it were in a refrigerator (40 °F), and still has ice crystals, it is safe to refreeze or use!
You may have heard otherwise from your grandmother, but it’s simply not true! I love that ButcherBox has taken the initiative to educate their customers on what is considered safe and not safe, according to FDA standards.
They now send a super helpful infographic each month via email after your order processes. There’s also an insert in your actual monthly delivery.
BUTCHERBOX HAS INVESTED IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
I know first-hand how important customer service is, and that’s why I personally brought YOUR concerns to ButcherBox last year. In turn, they hired a new customer service manager and drastically reduced response time.
Your concerns trickled up the chain, too. They’re planning to open two new distribution centers to help reduce transit time for hard-to-reach states.
I know that companies are run by humans and humans make mistakes, but I love that ButcherBox isn’t sweeping them under the rug. They acknowledge them and make plans to fix them in the best interest of the customer. I’m not sure if customer service gets any better than that!
IS BUTCHER BOX A GOOD DEAL?
I’ll be the first to admit that ButcherBox isn’t for everyone. Depending on where you are in this season, you might not be concerned about quality. Or perhaps you’re working on health issues and quality now tops the list of priorities. It’s entirely up to you, but I hope this Butcher Box review helps if you feel on the fence.
BUTCHERBOX IS GOOD FOR THOSE WHO…
- Are concerned about the quality of the meat they’re eating. Quality is extremely important to ButcherBox, so that’s what they’re going to give you.
- Cannot find a local source for grass-fed beef, pastured pork, and/or organic chicken. I have friends who live nowhere near a farm and have very limited grocery store options as it is. For them, ButcherBox is a blessing because they wouldn’t have access to this quality of meat otherwise!
- Enjoy having someone else shop for them. Not everyone enjoys grocery shopping and with a ButcherBox subscription, you can eliminate “meat” from your list every single month.
- Enjoy nicer cuts of meat. Your monthly subscription will by default include cuts of meat you likely wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise – that’s a good thing!
BUTCHERBOX IS NOT GOOD FOR THOSE WHO…
- Can get grass-fed beef, pastured pork, and organic chicken from a local source. I can consistently get grass-fed ground beef from Costco for $4.99/lb. I can even find it marked down to $3.99 at Kroger or Walmart! But I have never seen any other cuts of grass-fed beef in local grocery stores.
- Need to be more focused on the budget rather than the quality of meat. Everyone will be in this season at some point in time and there’s no way around it. If you are not in a place to financially afford ButcherBox, then say no for right now.
- Like to know exactly what they’re getting every month. If you’re particular about the meat you need for your meal plan, this might not be a good fit UNLESS you choose the Custom Box.
IS BUTCHERBOX WORTH IT?
I personally am a VERY happy and satisfied customer and have been for quite some time now. If you’re looking for high quality beef, pork, and chicken, I highly encourage you to give ButcherBox a try!
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Sign up for my FREE Crush Inflation Challenge and learn simple strategies to save money, even with rising food costs!Have you tried ButcherBox before? Leave your own Butcher Box reviews in the comments!
Debbie McWhorter
Some brands at Walmart that says “grass-fed”, well they only have to grass-feed for 20 days to be able to slap on that label. Check that out.
Tiffany
I haven’t heard of this Debbie. Do you have any research links to back up this claim?
Christi
If you look on the back of Walmart’s Marketside grass fed beef, look for the logo for Jones Creek Farm. Most of it is from Jones Creek which is 100% grass fed. In fact, below the logo it specifically states it is grass fed and grass finished. While there is some that doesn’t say that, the majority of it does and you can reach out to Jones Creek Farm specifically to ask them any questions you have.
Kyare - Team Crumbs
This is a great tip thank you Christi!
David Bevill
Outstanding article. Thank you very much for the time and effort. Very helpful and much appreciated!
Tiffany
You’re very welcome David!
Betty McClaugherty
I receive a box from butcher box every 3 months. The meats are always frozen. The meats are delicious and even though I’m not really a good cook, the meat always turns out well. I get the beef/pork mix box. I also like the bacon. My daughter doesn’t eat pork because it makes her sick. However, she is able to eat butcher box bacon. I think it’s because there are no nitrates or nitrites in it. So far I haven’t had any problems with my orders. A few places near me sell grass fed or organic meats but they are not as good as butcher box.
Tiffany
I appreciate you sharing your experience with us Betty!
Jon
Tiffany thanks for your post,
I’m on my second stint with BB. After the first delivery I cancelled right away because it was a day late and half of the meat was thawed out. I write them an email and expressed my dissatisfaction with my order and they refunded half of what I paid, no questions asked. This told me two things, 1- they rather make things right then go back and forth with customers, and 2- this must happen often.
So I decided to give them another shot. The net delivery was on time and exactly what I ordered. (Custom box) The only difference was the brand of bacon which was different from the fist shipment. Everything was frozen when it arrived.
As far as the quality and quantity. I think for what your paying for frozen meat it’s expnsive. My small family of 3 ( wife, myself and 10mo. Old baby) could go through a 149.99 box in 2 weeks if we didn’t eat out a couple times a week. Sure the cuts of meat seem smaller then your typical supermarket but if you consider the waste you have from grocery store cuts it equals out. In the cuts I’ve received from BB there was zero waste. Normally I was trimming fat, paying for the extra weight, and not consuming what we paid for.
One thing I wish was more transparent is where the meat actually comes from. It would be nice if we as consumers could know a little more about the “farms” BB uses and their practices. Anyone can make the claims BB makes, who holds them accountable? They claim to have BB personal check package and put their stamp of approval on it, but I’m a little wiser and know that’s a bunch of bs.
All in all, I don’t plan on continuing my subscription with BB. The taste of the meat is excellent for being frozen, and the customer service was good as well. I personally don’t see the value (even at 150 per month)especially with no concrete proof that the meat comes from where they claim. I’m going to continue look for a local farm where I can visit and see first hand what I’m paying for. I’m sure it will be significantly less as well.
Tiffany
I appreciate you sharing this with us Jon. 🙂
Sandi Phillips
Just received our first butcher box order. Have tried the sirloin steak, chicken , pork chops and ground beef. Have been concerned about additives for sometime now and thought this would be a good way to steer away from them.So far the pork and chicken are my favorites. Eager to try the ribeye but since there are 3 of us I will probably make a steak salad with those as there are only two.Spending $130.00 at the grocery store is a cinch so the cost is fine with me . The insulated bag they sent is great and I added on burgers.
Tiffany
I’m so glad you’ve found a solution to finding high quality meat Sandi!
Brigid de Jong
I just started Butcher Box. I used to get a box through a local farmer but her husband died and she sold the farm. That’s where I first tasted pastured pork, and and you know nothing else compares. My son is sales manager for a local CSA selling produce and they are working on adding meat. When they do I will go with them. One thing that I liked about the one I had before was that we could get chicken feet (the BEST for making broth), livers & other offal and already rendered lard.
We’re going to continue trying Butcher Box but as soon as something is available locally we’re going with that. The company my son works for sources all their products within 150 miles of where we live and I’d prefer to support local farmers. They will also offer duck and lamb.
Tiffany
It sounds like you have a great plan lined up Brigid!
Rebecca
We have used BB for about a year. I have never weighed what I receive in the mixed box to figure cost/lb until this month. I have noticed less and less meat in my box. This month, I received 9.925 pounds, which comes out to about 13$/pound. Yikes. I have stopped my subscription for the moment, as I do have access to at least locally sourced beef and pork at a much better price. Disappointed though.
Tiffany
Hi Rebecca! Several weeks ago I contacted Butcher Box with several of the issues mentioned in the comments in this post (not just yours), and their customer service team specifically reached out to every single person I was able to give them information on. If you haven’t already, please contact Butcher Box with ANY issues you might have. I’ve spoken to their customer service lead and improving their customer relations is one of their top priorities.
They also told me that they are “[improving and tweaking] issues through a multi-pronged approach – adjusting dry ice amounts, which was especially important during the summer, adding line hauls to get product to hard to reach locations faster, and responding to customers faster.”
As you know, they cannot control FedEx and sometimes boxes are at the very end of a long delivery route, but they are working on making customers happy even when these situations arrive.
I personally purchased a subscription to Butcher Box and my last box came still halfway full with dry ice and everything was frozen solid – so much so, that I had to put on my kitchen oven mitts to handle everything because it was so cold!
With all this said, I understand if Butcher Box isn’t right for you, but do know that they are not ignoring customers and are constantly seeking to improve the way they do business so that we as customers can continue to receive incredibly high quality meat! ♥
Brenda Reed
We’ve been BB members for over a year. Overall, we have been very pleased with the quality of meat and the service. However, I agree they could use some work on customer service, especially response time. We have tried just about every meat offered, including wild salmon and lamb at holiday time. We’ve not been disappointed. We did have some communication issues with our box at holiday time, but they gave us a credit on our next order. I agree that I would love more or larger servings, but for our area the price is comparable. We really have been pleased with the quality and taste. We haven’t had any issues with our meat being thawed out. It’s always still been mostly frozen. We order every 3 months so the cost is more manageable. We do a mixed box with only beef and chicken. We don’t eat pork much ever. We always look forward to receiving our box and seeing what we get each time. Thank you for including this review. I hope they will listen to the concerns and work on CR.😊
Tiffany
Thank you for sharing this with us Brenda! ♥
Josef
Hi Brenda,
Regarding the salmon, I know it comes with the skin, but is the skin descaled or do you have to take the scales off yourself? Thank you.
Irene Jarosewich
I think your honest review is spot on. Especially your remarks about the pork. The first time I made their pork chops, my husband and I wondered what the heck we had been eating our entire lives. Although not inexpensive, all things considered, it’s a great deal – the delivery, the quality of the meat (not that easy for me to find the quality meat nearby or quickly), having a month supply on hand. I also agree if you’re going to go with BB – go with the pork chops/pork cuts or better cuts of beef – don’t go for the “ease” – i.e pre-cut chicken breasts labeled as “chicken tenders” or the stew meat. I did order their $10 recipe book and it had lots of good additional information about marinades and rubs and pros and cons of cooking methods for different cuts. We almost never eat out because I can’t eat corn and neither of us can have much salt and I don’t trust the quality of the oils in fats in any restaurant except the most pricey, so having high quality meat several times per week is our treat at home. I actually spent less per month on meat than with BB – but not because of budget reasons – but for the prices I was paying, the taste/quality was rarely worth it. Grass fed and heritage meats are different and worth the money. Have been with them for half a year – so far so good. I live in a building with a doorman and an air conditioned storage room for packages – so box never sits on porch/doorstep. Recently I gathered all the bags and dropped them off at a local montessori day care center and they’re being used to store toys and supplies.
Tiffany
Thank you for sharing your experience Irene, I really appreciate it!! What a great way to re-purpose the bags too. They’re high quality, so I don’t want to toss them. (One is currently holding all of my plastic containers while we adjust to just switching over to glass, lol.)
Kris
Thank you for providing the detailed information to help people make educated decisions.
Tiffany
You’re very welcome Kris!
Stan
The reviews are 2 years old
Any reason for that?
Karen @ Team Crumbs
Stan,
Tiffany originally wrote this post back in 2018 with her initial experience of butcher box. Posts do stay online after the original publishing, and we do add periodic updates to our BB posts if things change in time. We still use butcher box to this date. Thank you for your question. 🙂
Tiffany
Hi Stan… I’m not sure I’m following you. We’ve been using Butcher Box for a couple years and I left my review shortly after we subscribed. Perhaps that explains it?
Tiffany
I’m so sorry you had such trouble with them Judith!! I hope it’s not just me, but I haven’t had any issues with them. I know poor customer service can be frustrating. 🙁
Sheri
Just a heads up but although food labeled “grass fed” doesn’t mean it is grass finished , which is the most important detail when trying to purchase grass fed beef . I too, used to buy the Costco grass fed beef but it doesn’t say grass finished . So 5 dollars vs 9 dollars is probably why is so much cheaper .
Tiffany
Thanks for the tip Sheri! I know that Butcher Box’s meat is grass-fed and grass-finished, but I’ll check the meat from Costco the next time I’m there!
Laurie
How do you know that B.B. beef is grass finished? If it is, it would be written somewhere being that it’s an important selling point? I would like to see grass-finished in writing. Is it on their labels?
Tiffany
It’s on their sourcing page Laurie: https://www.butcherbox.com/sourcing/
Penelope
Curious about the costs. The same Pederson’s bacon is $5.99 at my Wegmans in New York. That’s a big difference from the $9 price BB is charging. Thanks for the review, I really appreciate the details.
Tiffany
I think it all depends Penelope. If you can find more affordable cuts locally, then I’d do that and only include the expensive cuts in your BB. I can get a great deal on organic chicken locally, but not grass-fed beef (beyond ground beef). So for me, a box with all beef would be a much better deal for my family.
Alysa
When I approach a new product, I like read a lot of comments before ordering, so I thought I would give a detailed description of my experience for those who like to get a lot of feedback. I apologize in advance for the length!
I just ordered a custom box of Butcher Box, and here are my thoughts. There was a pretty good lag between when I ordered and when I got delivery, but I ordered right before a holiday (ordered on July 3). I wasn’t really in a hurry, so I was fine with that, but I didn’t like that there was no status update of where I was in the process when I logged in to my account. I had to do an on-line chat with someone for any details.
My box arrived as I was headed out the door, so I dropped it in the house even though they say it will stay frozen for a long time. It’s very hot here in Florida, so not taking any chances. After I got home a few hours later, I opened my box and everything was still frozen. Yay! Everything looked like it was packaged in a high quality vacuum sealed package and the packaging was very done very well.
Like everyone else, it seemed like less meat than I was anticipating, but it was everything I ordered. It all looked really good. I put most in the freezer, but thawed the bacon and two steaks. Having never eaten uncured bacon before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it looked, smelled, and tasted like regular bacon. If you like your bacon thinner, this isn’t your bacon. I realized I am not a fan of thick cut bacon.
The steaks were good and tender. I don’t think they shrank much during cooking, so I probably could have shared one with my mother instead of each of us having one. Although they tasted good, I don’t know that they tasted any better than my typical grocery store steaks. I somehow assumed the flavor would be much better. I have chicken breasts and roasts in the freezer, but haven’t tried them yet.
Overall, I am satisfied with my order, but I am not sure I will order again. What I loved most, was having my meat delivered right to my door and knowing that the meat is healthier and the animals were humanely treated. I might order once or twice a year, but I will probably seek out more local sources of similar products. It’s definitely worth a try at least once.
Tiffany
Hey Jessie – I’ve had a great experience dealing with BB from my end and have even sent them some customer issues that readers have sent me. Have you tried escalating the issue to management? Sometimes that helps when you’re not getting the issues resolved at the customer service level.
Jennifer C.
The free bacon has been icing on the cake for us LOL. It is also really convenient for our busy family, since the meat just shows up on our doorstep. When I go shopping, my focus is primarily on fruits and vegetables now.
As long as they continue to provide a quality product, I’ll continue being a customer 🙂
Tiffany
Agree! So far, we’ve had a really good experience. Glad they are working out for you.
Tarynkay
Have you increased your grocery budget since you are eating so much more meat now?
Generally like you, I can get high quality meat for less than $9/lb. I love the idea of free bacon, though! The other day in the store, my 2 year old asked for bacon. I said, “Oh, you like bacon now?” Because he is incredibly picky and won’t eat meat. He said, “Friends come my house, eat bacon.” I realized we pretty much only buy bacon when we have people over, so he thinks bacon= company!
Tiffany
Hi Tarynkay! I somehow missed this! It has gone up since we did the Whole30 back in February, but it’s starting to settle down now that we’re getting used to eating more Paleo. It’s up for sure compared to before, but it’s not extravagant!
Michelle Lewis
So I have done Butcher Box before. I tot loved the quality. I like you didn’t feel like I got a lot. And the portions are tiny. When I buy a roast I get a large one to have extra for more meals and to save time.
Tiffany
I appreciate you sharing your honest opinion Michelle! I thought the portions were small too, but when I weighed the meat, it matched up with what it should be. I wonder if it’s because we’re using to seeing (and therefore, possibly serving) bigger portions on our plates? I know when I weigh 3-4 oz cooked chicken into my salad, it’s not as much as I’d like, LOL!!
Bonnie Fletcher
I just ordered my first box and would not have if I’d read the comments before. I sent them an email as to how their beef steaks compare with U. s. grade, Prime or Choice and got no reply. I ordered filets. I have a probl m chewing and steak needs to be really tender. Choice steaks are rarely tender enough. Costco prime filets are great but with the pandemic I hesitate to go there with crowds of peopl. I am 87 and need to be very careful.
Jean
I found that the meat is high quality. The chicken and pork, especially, is better than I’ve ever had before. They have a good concept and product that (so far) generally works. My boxes almost always arrive frozen, however, in the hot summer months, I had a box or two arrive thawed, but all of the items were still very much cold. That was my biggest concern, as I’d read similar “thaw” stories online. There are several other services online that offer similar products, so we may give those a try as well. Thanks Tiffany!
Katy
Thanks for the review of Butcher Box. I had heard of it but didn’t know it was a membership or how it worked. I have ordered from Wellness Meats and find the meat to be wonderful, but expensive. I’m going to see if I can figure out a way to compare it with B.B.
Tiffany
You’re very welcome Katy! I’ve heard of Wellness Meats but also thought they were pricey. I’d love to know your thoughts if you give BB a try!
Thomas Sawyers
Just received my first butcher box, received 30 pounds and some change of meat for 288 dollars, came out to around 9.50 a pound. Not bad considering alot of it are steaks.
Norm Sherburne
Thanks for the insight. Living in Northern California, my father is a die hard steak eater and has given up as Japan takes 75% of our beef leaving scraps as per say.
Don’t mind spending the coin if the meat is worth the expense.
Will definitely give them a try and give feed back after.
Thanks,
N. Sherburne
Cathy
It is greasy tough right down to a whole chicken Do not WASTE your money
I don’t usually leave reviews I’m a live and learn person but this was the worse thing I’ve ever tried
Kelly
I was also very displeased!! A few of the cuts were named differently than when ordered and within the same cut and package some were wildly different sizes and shapes and plumped up to unmanageable pieces! I just fed a ranch steak to my dog, as it was horrible. The other ranch steak was edible, but not great at almost $20 a lib, even averaging in the ‘free’ shitty hamburger and the paper thin ‘free’ bacon. And yes, I know how to cook. If I’m going to pay that much a pound across the board, I’ll go to my boutique local butcher shop and eat a properly butchered steak every night! Top Quality at that! This deal is for suckers.
David Smith
I’ve tried two steaks, one a ribeye and the other a strip. Ribeye is my favorite cut and I often get prime. This steak did not come close to the prime that I buy at King Soopers (Kroger) or even Costco. It was not particularly marbled, thinner than I like and was not as tender as I would expect from a ribeye. The flavor was okay but not great (probably not enough fat. The strip was actually about the same but actually had better flavor. My steaks are cook hot on a pellet grill so they’re hit with smoke. It’s a process over my gas grill and I rarely waste time with second string meat. Next I’ll check out the filets. Crossing fingers but I doubt I’ll be a returning customer.
Lynda
Save your money. I raised REAL grass fed and grass finished beef for over 40 years. Owned a custom meat shop (where things aren’t kryovac’s and if you want one of something, you get things in packages of ONE.
Grass fed/finished beef is real light on marbling. This stuff they sell has had at least 30 days of grain, probably mostly corn which is GMO. You can’t get marbling like that on grass fed/finished beef and our’s had better pasture than most. We owned an old dairy farm and half the pastures were knee deep in bright green healthy organic irrigated fields.
Further, at a couple of points over the years Australian beef was banned in the U.S. because they were selling old bull meat as slaughter age, for human consumption beef. They also sold that as the ground meat. VERY lean but tough as shoe leather half the time. And their real special was dumping Kangaroo in to make the meat leaner.
And best of all is that this blog is taken almost word for word out of their advertising. Exact same story about “we were not eating meat, now we feel healthier, we discover a miracle to make the meat last longer. Blah, blah, blah. Wonder how many free boxes she got out of this blog?
I tried their $149 box and ordered among other things, a pork sirloin roast that didn’t show up. Oops, I neglected to mention that I’m about 8 hours from where they ship and there was NO dry ice left in the box. The Kryovac packages were beginning to melt. I got a ‘they’re just fine. Don’t worry.” SERIOUSLY???
AND NO TURKEY. Their answer was I didn’t fill in the e-mail address. So where did they get the e-mail address to tell me my box was on its way?
And now they think they owe me a whole $10. NO! I bought and paid for the pork roast and by buying a subscription I “bought” the turkey. I guess they should have checked my resume because they choose the wrong person. I worked for a law firm in San Francisco and will begin collecting names since I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one they have scammed.
Ppelletier
I two have been scammed by them, they added a $70 dollar Rib Roast to my order and clam that someone on my end place that item and then canceled it and then rendered it the next day, Called Customer service was told ” thats what you ordered and there is nothing we could do” , I heard this from every level and no Manager could call me back, I requested two calls and still nothing, stay away from this company, I refused my order and put a dispute on my credit card, Save your Money and time, Shop else where.