The ins and outs of meat box deliveries
How to order grass-fed beef in bulk or by subscription
Since embarking on our food-is-health journey a decade ago, the Senza team has explored many ways of sourcing animal-based foods. We’ve joined CSA programs, shopped co-ops and farmers markets, visited farm stores, bartered with neighbors, and subscribed to beef box services. You might say we’ve tried everything short of raising our own animals!
Across Senza’s growing community, we’ve watched with interest as buying meat in bulk or by subscription has become an increasingly popular alternative to the supermarket. Larger companies like ButcherBox and US Wellness Meats have gone to great lengths to get the word out about their services, and in doing so, they’ve opened the door for many smaller farms and creative startups to follow the model.
Beef Box Advantages
The option to have boxes of beef and other meats shipped to your door provides several advantages for carnivore, paleo, ancestral, and keto eaters:
Quality: When you buy direct from a farm, you can opt for well raised animals that graze on pesticide-free pasture, avoiding the corn, soy, and residual glyphosate that are inherent in conventional feed.
Flexibility: Unlike CSAs, meat subscriptions can be customized to match your preferred cuts, amounts, and frequency of deliveries.
Connection: Food tastes that much better when you get to know your farmers, the land they farm, and the animals they raise. Beef box subscriptions often come with insightful stories about the ranch’s history and farming practices, as well as recipes for cooking their particular style of meat.
Consistency: When you order regularly or in bulk, you can plan meals with ease because there’s always some nutrient-dense protein in the freezer.
Budget-friendly: Buying in bulk can be more economical if you shop for deals and select less expensive cuts of meat. Skip the Wagyu ribeye in favor of slow-cooking cuts like roasts, bones, organs, and ground meat.
Convenience: Having boxes delivered to your door saves time and hassle versus walking the cluttered aisles at a big box store and then carting it all home.
Compliance: You don’t want most of the ultra-processed junk they sell at the supermarket, so ordering online will help you avoid temptation and stick with your new way of eating.
Beef Box Challenges
We know from personal experience and chatting with our Senza app users that there is a learning curve to shopping for meat this way. Here is some of the collective wisdom we’ve gathered from the crowd:
Get an extra freezer: If you currently buy meat for one meal at a time, you are almost certainly going to need more freezer space when switching to an online ordering process. For most people, this means buying a small, energy-efficient chest freezer. If you are thinking of buying meat in bulk, a typical quarter share of beef (80-100 lbs) will require about 5 cubic feet of cold storage. Or, if you have the space, an upright compact freezer that holds at least 5 cubic feet allows for better visibility and more convenient access to your meat.
Shop for deals: Many companies offer a discount for your first order, so take the time to compare options and plans before you make a purchase. Research the cost of shipping, carefully. It will vary based on the size of your order and how near or far you live from where the meat is shipped.
Read the fine print: Understand whether you are committing to a certain number of orders, amount of spend, or length of time for the subscription. There is a lot of variety in products, packaging, shipping methods, etc. - so you may want to try a few different options before settling into a regular routine of ordering from one place.
Plan ahead: Make sure you are home when the box arrives so you can unpack it right away, especially if it’s a warm time of year. You may also have to get used to defrosting meat a day ahead of when you plan to cook it - extra motivation for getting into the habit of meal planning!
Beef Box Profiles
Based on logging patterns and insight across the Senza coaching team, we selected several popular beef box options to compare across five criteria:
Farming practices: Is the operation grass-fed/grass-finished, pastured, organic, regenerative, family-owned, etc. and what else makes it special?
Variety: Is beef the only product, or are there other options?
Value: How does the cost compare to similar services, given the quality of meat?
Flexibility: Can you/must you buy in bulk, and is a membership or subscription available/required? Can you specify which cuts you want, or are there standard packages?
Shipping: What is the standard shipping cost, time, and packaging materials?
Top Pick: US Wellness Meats
US Wellness Meats offers the largest variety of products compared to most brands in this space - including prepared products as well as raw meat. The company has been sourcing from family farms for over 20 years. The online shopping experience allows you to filter by dietary preference, which is helpful when you’re following a keto, paleo, or ancestral, or sugar-free way of eating.
Farming practices: Sourced from local family-run farms, all of the products here are certified organic, grass-fed and pasture-raised.
Variety: US wellness offers quite a selection of meats including: poultry, red meat, seafood, prepared/processed meats, pork, rabbit, broths, and more.
Value: Depending on the cut and quantity, prices are about average. Take advantage of discounts on bulk purchases and frequent discounts on specific items in the store.
Flexibility: With US Wellness, you can either completely customize your purchase and buy in the quantity you prefer, or try one of the bundles.
Shipping: Order more than 15 lbs to get free shipping; the company ships to all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico. Your meat will arrive in environmentally- friendly boxes, which can be reused or recycled.
Variety and prepared foods stand out the most with this popular beef box option.
Runner Up: Wild Pastures
Wild Pastures partners with family businesses in the U.S. to provide 100% grass-fed and pasture-raised animals, as well as wild-caught seafood. This company offers some of the most competitive prices we found on good-quality protein.
Farming practices: Wild Pastures sources meat from local family farmers who raise animals according to regenerative methods (grass-fed, pasture-raised). The company’s seafood is wild-caught from Alaska.
Variety: Apart from beef, Wild Pastures has pork, chicken and wild-caught seafood on the menu.
Value: Affordable prices without sacrificing quality is the theme here. Watch for frequent promotions on the subscription service, and save even more.
Flexibility: Although Wild Pastures only offers meat boxes, you can customize these to your liking. You can also continue your box subscription and customize it every month, or order as a one-time only purchase.
Shipping: Wild Pastures offers free shipping on subscription boxes and ships to 48 states.
You can reuse or recycle the packaging, too.
Wild Pastures offers low prices, variety, and flexibility in ordering - what’s not to love?
Ethically Sourced: Crowd Cow
Crowd Cow’s driving force is the ability to deliver quality meat from local farmers to everyone, everywhere in the continental U.S. Since it was founded in 2015, Crowd Cow has remained transparent about its mission to provide ethically sourced high-quality meat and seafood. Some reviewers cite higher than average prices as a downside, but in meat and health, you get what you pay for. We think Crowd Cow’s approach benefits not only consumers, but also farmers, animals and even the land. Watch for weekly sales and give them a try!
Farming practices: Crowd Cow offers grass-fed beef, with options to filter by 100% grass-fed/grass-finished, pasture-raised, and organic when searching through its large variety of products. Crowd Cow sources beef from over 55 small-scale farms in the U.S. and around the world.
Variety: Crowd Cow is a one-stop shop where you can order meat, poultry, seafood, and even prepared dishes. The company offers most animal products except for organ meats.
There are many different preselected boxes, which can also be customized and set up as a gift box.
Value: Due to its emphasis on quality and animal husbandry standards, prices here are higher than average; however they do offer discounts on many of their products each week.
Flexibility: Crowd Cow offers preselected boxes, which can be a one-time purchase or a recurring membership. You can also customize your own recurring or one-time only box from a variety of options.
Shipping: Crowd Cow offers free shipping on orders over $150; under that price, the shipping fee is $24 to most locations. Shipping range extends to the continental 48 (but not Alaska or Hawaii), and your box can arrive in as soon as two days. Crowd Cow uses recyclable packaging and compostable insulation, for which it receives high praise from customers.
Searching for high-quality cuts and a large variety while supporting small farms? Crowd Cow may be the one for you!
Regenerative Ranching: The Beef Initiative
The Beef Initiative (TBI) supports local, family-owned businesses, giving them the opportunity to market their products all across the U.S.
Farming practices: TBI sources all of its meats from local regenerative ranchers, who raise grass-fed and grass-finished animals. Its website offers a map of all of its producers across the U.S., so you can choose locally as well.
Variety: The Beef Initiative mainly offers beef; however, a few of the preset boxes contain chicken and a variety of different sausages.
Value: Although TBI products are high quality, their prices are relatively low. Therefore you get a good deal for good quality meat.
Flexibility: TBI offers preselected boxes which can be ordered as a subscription or a one time only purchase. You can also order different prime cuts alone as well as sausages and tallow.
Shipping: The cost of shipping is additional to the price of your purchase, and most products arrive within 1-3 days. Next-day shipping may be an option in some locations.
Looking to support ranchers who follow regenerative practices? Definitely check out The Beef Initiative.
Restaurant Quality: Snake River Farms
Snake River Farms specializes in restaurant-quality American Wagyu beef, as well as pork and seafood. This company focuses on high-end cuts of meat like ribeye and tenderloin that are difficult to find in grocery stores, albeit more expensive, too. Most of the beef is grain-fed, and not 100% grass-fed. So if you are strictly avoiding grain, this may not be the best option; however all of the seafood is wild-caught and minimally processed.
Free shipping is not offered, but Snake River does ship to most states, and you can pay for overnight shipping in a pinch. Choose from a variety of boxes, including a “Surf and Turf” combo of both seafood and steaks.
Farming practices: SRF started out by crossbreeding both Wagyu and high-quality cattle to create a unique blend of marbling and flavor. Founded in American Falls, Idaho, in 1968, SRF takes pride in its free-range beef and pork. Its cattle are initially grass-fed for one year, then placed on a sustainable diet of hay, minerals, soft wheat, and barley. SRF hogs are raised on small family-owned farms, but they are fed a combination of corn, soybean meal, and oats - which is not the same as grazing and foraging on natural pasture.
Variety: SRF offers prime cuts of beef and Wagyu, as well as pork, wild-caught seafood, and precooked meats such as sausages and smoked brisket - but no organ meats.
Value: Prices here are at the high end, given the type of cuts.
Flexibility: SRF offers a few preselected boxes for one-time purchase only; or you can build your own custom box a la carte. SRF does not offer a subscription service.
Shipping: SRF has standard 2-day shipping, which can be upgraded in some locations to arrive overnight. As of now, SRF ships to all 50 states, except for a few parts of Alaska. Your meat will arrive in a reusable thermal bag inside of a thermal cooler made from plant matter.
If you are looking for restaurant-quality cuts of American Wagyu beef for a special occasion, head on over to Snake River Farms to shop online.
There are many other beef boxes to try, from single-source farms as well bigger brands selling conventional meat. We hope this article inspires you to change how and where you source protein and supports the journey to becoming a healthier, happier version of you!
Special thanks to Fix the Food contributor Olyveya @carnivoreballerina, for having the inspiration to research and write about this topic.
Yet another impressive article truly covering the ins and outs of ordering meat deliveries! I love the concise style of writing that is full of information and cuts to the chase unlike most articles out there. Thank you and I dream of only getting pasture raised meats...