ve struggled to consistently find high-quality and ethically raised meats locally. At the grocery store or Farmers Market I can’t always trust the quality or the ethics behind the meats I’m buying or, if I can, I sometimes feel like I’m spending a fortune…
I’ve found ButcherBox to be one of the best, most reasonably priced ways to get high-quality, humanely raised meat delivered directly to your door.
Below, we’ll review how the ButcherBox membership works, the pros and cons of the service, the quality and types of meats you can select, and of course, we’ll answer the all-important question…
Is ButcherBox is worth it?
We will also compare ButcherBox to some of the best alternative sustainable meat delivery services we know of.
All this in mind we jumped at the chance to sample out ButcherBox and share our experience with you.
Let’s get into it.
What is ButcherBox?
ButcherBox is a subscription-based sustainable meat delivery service on a mission to make ethically-raised meat more accessible. ButcherBox sources its sustainable meats from the US, Canada, and Australia and delivers them frozen to your door in curated or customized boxes.
Mike Salguero founded ButcherBox back in 2015 on a mission to make higher-quality, humanely raised meats more accessible to everyone. They’ve since expanded to make part of their mission, “rethinking our food system.”
ButcherBox is the largest certified B Corporation meat delivery subscription service. Certified B Corporations are businesses meeting some of the highest standards of social and/or environmental performance. As a certified B Corp, ButcherBox is dedicated to upholding the highest standards for their own environmental impact, animal welfare, and worker’s rights (learn more about BB’s mission & impact below).
They are also part of the Global Animal Partnership and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These organizations offer critical third-party accountability to ButcherBox’s many claims as an ethical and sustainable meat provider.
You can think of ButcherBox them as sustainable meat middlemen, connecting organic and responsible ranchers and companies directly to the consumer. Let’s cover more of how ButcherBox actually works.
How Does ButcherBox Work?
This is how ButcherBox’s meat delivery subscription works:
- First, head over to ButcherBox.com where you’ll be prompted to “Choose Your Plan.” Often times, you’ll be welcomed with some sort of welcome gift if you are a first-time customer. At the time we updated this review, the offer was “FREE GROUND BEEF FOR LIFE,” where you’d receive 2 pounds of 100% grass-fed, grass-finished ground beef with every one of your orders for the duration of your membership (these free offers often change!).
- After your initial sign-up, you choose and customize your box with the amount and kinds of meat you want, set the frequency of your subscription, and place your order. (Check out our guide down below about which plan is best for you!)
- Within 3-7 days, you’ll get a box of freshly frozen, high-quality meat delivered right to your door. Choose which meats you want to try first and get thawing!
- Finally, put on your chef hat and start searing, barbecuing, roasting, browning, broiling…you get the picture.
Each box and how often you get it is completely customizable before the next billing date. Add some wild-caught salmon or any of their other member deals to your next box, or even try a smaller, bigger, or a different box altogether.
Skip a month, push back a week, and change the frequency of your subscription at no extra cost!
Ordering, Shipping, & Delivery: Our Experience
The selections of meat and seafood are laid out in a simple format with pictures, descriptions, weight/quantities, and even some suggestions for cooking. Here you can click to your heart’s content, exploring and picking your options. All of my usual go-to meat selections were available, from steaks to chicken breast to fresh salmon filets.
But because I love a good surprise, I choose the smaller Classic Curated Box for my family of two.
As I’m reviewing the details of my order-BAM! Pop-up! Do I want a free ButcherBox bacon? Aha need you even ask?!
All in all, my first order was a mixed Classic Box, with added on ground beef, and bacon for a total of 129 buckaroos. And FREE delivery. It felt like a good deal from the start, all without having to venture to the grocery store.
After I placed my order, I got two welcome emails, one inviting me to join the exclusive member-only ButcherBox Community and the other confirming my order. I’m told from the time you place your order that your package should arrive between 3-7 days and to be on the lookout for an email with your tracking details.
Sure enough, the next day I get word that my package has shipped, and included is an easy-to-follow tracking link. Along with that email are some extra deets about the delivery, some really great FAQs, and resources about how to handle frozen meats and dry ice.
To my delight, three days after my order was placed, I was alerted my box had been delivered and sure enough, there it was in all its glory on my porch!
I excitedly brought the huge box o’meat into our kitchen and started digging in. I was so psyched to see the cardboard box and cardboard, no-plastic insulation and packaging!
Bravo ButcherBox!
I didn’t have any dry ice in my box which made sense since it was only coming from Dallas, a 5-hour drive away, so no hang-ups there. Still, there are detailed instructions on how to handle this right on the packaging itself if needed.
All the better, all my meat was perfectly frozen and all the vacuum-sealed packaging intact!
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER!
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER!You must be available to retrieve your delivery within 6-8 hours of it being delivered to ensure that all your meat and seafood remains at safe temperatures. What did this mean for me? Putting my email push notifications back on my phone. You could, conversely, monitor your email like a hawk on the hunt.
Let’s get more specific and talk about the various ButcherBox plans you can choose from.
Try ButcherBox Here
The ButcherBox Plans: Which One is For You?
There are two overall plan options at ButcherBox.
Finding the right box for you will depend on a lot of different factors—How many people are you feeding? How often do you eat meat? What is the frequency of your subscription? How much freezer space do you have? How much do you love bacon?
Bacon aside, let’s get into the details of each box to find out which is right for you.
Curated Box
A Curated Box is a mix of pre-selected cuts of meat. While you can always add on other selections, the core of this box is preset, meaning there’s no subbing or way of knowing which cuts of meat you’ll get.
The Curated Box is an excellent way to try new cuts and explore more recipes. (Discovering which meats were sent to me was one of my favorite parts about the ButcherBox experience!)
There are four options within the Curated Box. You can choose from:
- Mixed Box (which include Beef, Pork, and Chicken)
- Beef & Chicken
- Beef & Pork
- All Beef
The Curated Box can come in two sizes:
Classic Curated Box ($137 / month) – 8-11 lbs. of meat, or roughly 24 servings. This is recommended for individuals, small families, or those with limited freezer space.
Big Curated Box ($253 /month) – 16-22 lbs. of meat, or roughly 48 servings. This is the box for you if you’re a meat-three-times-a-day kind of person, have a deep freezer, or have more mouths to feed.
*You are free to add in additional “Add-Ons” of your choosing for additional cost.
Custom Box
Their Custom Box runs slightly larger (20% more meat than their Curated Boxes) and a bit more expensive. With this option, you completely hand-select what is included.
Create your perfect box by choosing from more than 25 high-quality cuts of 100% grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, heritage-breed pork, and wild-caught seafood. They’ve got the classics like ground beef, chicken breast, filet mignon, and bacon, and cuts for the more experienced chef like sirloin cap or bone-in pork butt.