Why I Finally Ordered my First ButcherBox
Life gets busy. I always have good intentions of getting quality grass-fed meat that I can feel good about feeding to my family, however the convenience of grocery store meat usually wins out. I haven’t wanted to spend $1,000+ on a portion of beef from a local rancher, and I do not have a butcher shop near me where I can buy grass-fed beef. Since our local grocery is the place that has the least friction, this is where my family usually gets our meat. I wanted to see if the quality and convenience lived up to the hype.
ButcherBox offers a unique solution to this. They take the friction out of getting quality meat to feed my family. After months of research, I went from being skeptical to being cautiously optimistic and I finally decided to order my first box.
Who This Review Is For
As I mentioned, I started out very skeptical of services like ButcherBox. It seemed like just a bunch of marketing and overpriced meat. After some intense research and scouring online forums, I finally decided it was worth trying it for myself. I had to see if I could actually get quality meat that I could feel confident about feeding my family delivered to my door. If so, this would be even easier than getting meat at the grocery store.
My First Box
For my first box, I chose a variety of cuts my family already eats so I could make a fair comparison between grocery store meat and ButcherBox. Below is what I got in my first box:
- Signature Box (Medium, every 4 weeks)
- Ground Beef (85/15) – 1 pack
- Organic Free-Range Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts – 1 pack
- 100% Grass-Fed, Pasture-Raised Ribeyes – 1 pack
- 100% Grass-Fed, Pasture-Raised Chuck Roast – 1 pack
- Crate-Free Center-Cut Pork Loin Roast – 1 pack
- Crate-Free ButcherBox Bacon (3-pack) – 1 set
- Free Bonus Item
- 100% Grass-Fed, Pasture-Raised New York Strips (free for 1 year, every 4 weeks)
- One-Time Add-On
- 100% Grass-Fed Beef & Crate-Free Pork Meatloaf
Delivery of My First Box
It only took 2 days from ordering my first box to when it was delivered. Everything was still frozen solid upon delivery. Everything was packed tightly in the insulated box with a package of dry ice. The dry ice was completely gone, but since all the food was still rock hard I was not concerned.
First Tastes
At the time of writing this, I have only cooked the chicken and the meatloaf. Both of these exceeded my family’s expectations. We made chicken enchiladas with it. The chicken was very high quality and was eaten up very fast.
The meatloaf was also a big hit. When my wife cooked it, she kept it in the shape of the tube and put it on a cast iron skillet in the oven. She made a simple glaze of ketchup and mustard. Our 4 and 2 year old boys ate this up! Needless to say, there was not much left for leftovers.
I will post updates once we eat more of the cuts.
A Big Problem
We thawed the chuck roast and were ready to cook a roast for a Sunday lunch. When I went to get this out of the refrigerator, I noticed the vacuum sealed bag was leaking. I found a hole in it. I tried to call the customer service number, but it seemed like the line was disconnected as it would never ring. I logged onto the website and was easily able to find the Report an Issue form. I quickly filled this out and described the issue. Within a couple of hours I received back an email that they were going to include a replacement roast in my next box. So they were able to quickly resolve this problem.
Pros of ButcherBox
- Convenient and quick delivery
- Good variety of cuts
- High-quality chicken and meatloaf
- Easy claim process
Cons of ButcherBox
- More expensive than grocery store meat (In depth analysis coming soon)
- Frozen (not fresh)
- Packaging issue with one cut
Is ButcherBox Worth It?
For families who care about meat quality but don’t have easy access to a local butcher or farm, ButcherBox makes a lot of sense. It removes the friction of sourcing better meat and delivers it to your door.
If you’re only focused on getting the cheapest meat possible, this probably isn’t for you. But if you’re already buying higher-quality meat at the grocery store, the convenience and consistency make it worth considering.
Coming Soon
I plan to test more cuts from this box and update this post once we cook the beef. I’ll also be doing a full cost breakdown comparing this to grocery store meat. And I will try other meat delivery services so I can compare them side by side here on DailyButcher.