ButcherBox Meal Delivery Review

ButcherBox Subscription: How It Works

Unlike meal delivery subscription services, ButcherBox focuses on the centerpiece of the meal: The protein. While companies such as HelloFresh focus on predetermined meal kits, ButcherBox gives you the protein only so you can create your own meals around it. You can choose between five different types of curated boxes that surprise you each delivery, or you can elect to customize each box you order. Either way, ethically sourced meats show up at your door, allowing you to build your own meals around high-quality proteins.

ButcherBox Plans

ButcherBox is a subscription delivery service and you can choose from one of five curated boxes or customize your own box. Boxes come in two sizes with standardized, simple pricing that makes it easy to understand what you’re getting. The Classic Box is $146 and comes with eight to 11 pounds of meat while the Big Box costs $306 and offers a better value, giving you 16 to 22 pounds of meat. Custom boxes come in either size as well and let you choose from more than 30 different options of cuts of beef, chicken, pork and seafood. The Custom options cost a bit more than the Curated ones but also give you more pounds of meat per order.

Once you choose a plan, you’ll select your shipping frequency—you can elect to receive a box every two, four, six or eight weeks, depending on your needs. The frequency doesn’t affect the price per box. Shipping is free on all orders as well, so there’s no penalty for ordering more frequently. 

You also can easily pause or cancel subscriptions anytime via the website if you are going to be out of town or just want to take a break. If you aren’t sure you want to sign up for a membership right away but are interested in trying their products, they have a la carte gift boxes that are a great way to sample their offerings.

ButcherBox Meats

There are many different types of meat available to add to your boxes, from beef to pork to chicken and seafood and even bison. Beef is one of the most popular options, with cuts ranging from chuck to rib to loin, round, flank, brisket and burger. Pork is another popular choice, with options such as chops, ribs and roasts. For those who prefer leaner meats, chicken can be purchased in various forms such as breasts, wings, tenders or thighs. Seafood is another great source of lean protein and can be found in several varieties including salmon, cod, scallops and shrimp.

While the focus is on raw ingredients, they do have some pre-cooked and pre-seasoned options you can add to your orders such as fajita meats, corned beef, bacon and sausages. You’ll still need to build a meal around these options, but they are often simpler to season and prepare, especially for meats like corned beef that can require days of waiting.

For those who want the convenience of pre-selected boxes of meat delivered right to their door, but prefer finding their own recipes and sides, ButcherBox is a great option. They don’t include recipes in the box, but their Just Cook website offers hundreds of recipes and meal ideas based around the proteins that come in their boxes.

Serving Sizes

While the portions vary between meat cuts and types, ButcherBox’s Help Center states that they aim for a six-ounce portion size per person. Many of the cuts in their boxes are portioned to be small enough for two people and can be doubled up for larger groups, but if you’re a single-person household, most packages will be more than what you need for a meal and you’ll need to divide cuts or expect leftovers. 

Also, certain cuts such as roasts and steaks may need to be divided for smaller groups. Basically, you’ll need to be flexible and creative with how you make use of the meats you receive, as these aren’t perfectly portioned meals like some other heat-and-eat meal services. The ButcherBox site explains the variable portioning, saying, “a box with 24 meals might be 10 to 12 dinners for two people or five to six dinners for a family of four.”

ButcherBox Nutrition Information 

The different cuts of meat that come in your ButcherBox order all have the standard Nutrition Facts labels just like any other food you’d buy in the grocery store. ButcherBox also includes nutrition facts labels for most of their processed food products such as sausages and chicken nuggets on their website.

We weren’t able to find nutrition information for their raw meat products in advance on the website, however, so if you’re trying to plan ahead and need detailed nutritional information for certain diets, you may need to consult nutritional databases such as the USDA food database to get estimates. Because most of the ButcherBox products are unprocessed, the nutritional info for, say, six ounces of ground beef will not vary much between brands. My Fitness Pal’s database also includes lots of user-generated entries, and there are plenty of ButcherBox products already in there.

Sustainability and Animal Welfare Information

As mentioned, all ButcherBox meats and seafoods meet certain sourcing standards depending on the species. All of their beef is grass-fed and grass-finished, chicken is free-range and organic and seafood is wild-caught. Many of the seafood products are fully traceable thanks to Legit Fish technology, which lets you scan a QR code to see detailed origin information.

You can read more detailed information about ButcherBox’s meat sourcing on their website here.

Delivery Options 

ButcherBox delivers to all 48 contiguous states in the U.S. and offers flexible shipping options. You can choose from four different delivery frequencies: Every two, four, six or eight weeks. This means you’ll need to be able to freeze at least some of the items you receive, even if you opt for the most frequent option, so keep in mind your space requirements when considering a subscription.

The meat arrives frozen and vacuum-sealed in an insulated box (sometimes with dry ice) to ensure freshness. ButcherBox also uses recyclable packaging materials to reduce their environmental impact. All orders are tracked and you receive an email with tracking info when your order goes out so you can follow your shipment from the time it leaves the warehouse until it reaches your doorstep.

You can shuffle items for your custom order each month via the website or choose one of their curated boxes, which may change from order to order. You can also pause or cancel your subscription via the website anytime.

ButcherBox Prices

The cost of ButcherBox meat can vary depending on the type and size of the box you choose.

The most popular option is the Classic Box, which costs $146 and contains 8.5 to 11 pounds of meat. 

Overall, the cost averages out to around $12 to $16 per pound or about $5 to $6 per meal, making it a reasonable option for those looking for high-quality meats without breaking the bank. Additionally, ButcherBox offers discounts for members who sign up for recurring orders, as well as special deals on certain boxes from time to time.

When compared to grocery store prices, ButcherBox is more expensive than conventionally raised cuts of meat, but fairly comparable to sustainably sourced meats from natural foods stores that are on par with the ButcherBox products. 

It’s hard to compare exactly since ButcherBox doesn’t list cost per pound for individual items, but you can infer those prices from the incremental cost to add each to a custom box. Below are some estimated prices per pound for the ButcherBox meats so you can compare them to your local supermarket prices.

Overall, the prices are a bit higher than what you’d pay if you shopped around at your local grocery stores for similar high-quality grades of meat with a sustainable pedigree, but not by much considering the convenience of being able to shop from home in one place and receive the items at your door.

ButcherBox Discount Code, Promotions & Deals

If you like shopping sales at your local grocery store, ButcherBox offers their own version of weekly supermarket deals with rotating discounts that you can add to your orders on items such as chicken nuggets, tomahawk steaks and charcuterie. These deals are a great way to not only save, but to mix up what arrives in your box each month.

At the time of this writing, ButcherBox is offering free chicken thighs with every order for new members that sign up for a subscription. These promotions change often but tend to follow the same “for life” add-on format.

About ButcherBox

ButcherBox was founded in 2015 with the mission to make high-quality meat more accessible to all. By delivering 100 percent grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, heritage breed pork and wild-caught seafood directly to customers’ doors, ButcherBox has become a leader in the growing industry of meat delivery subscriptions.

In addition to providing its customers with quality products, ButcherBox is also dedicated to supporting its farmers and partners who believe in their mission. In 2020, ButcherBox became a Certified B Corporation that is committed to using business as a force for good and which meets established standards for social and environmental responsibility.

ButcherBox Customer Service

For customer service and support, customers can contact ButcherBox at 1 (844) 925-5497 or by emailing [email protected]. Customers can also find helpful information on their website’s Help Center such as sourcing details and delivery options.

ButcherBox vs. Other Top Brands

When it comes to meat delivery services, ButcherBox is better-known than most of its competition and stands out for its commitment to quality and sustainability. But how does it compare to the other popular meat delivery services? Let’s take a look at ButcherBox compared to Good Chop, Good Ranchers, Cooks Venture and Moink.

Good Chop vs. ButcherBox

ButcherBox and Good Chop both offer high-quality meats with a focus on humane and sustainable rearing practices, but there are some key differences between the two that should be taken into consideration when deciding which one is right for you.

When it comes to the humane practices of their suppliers, both have high standards but ButcherBox has a slight edge here. ButcherBox has all grass-fed and grass-finished beef from Australia, while Good Chop has all USDA, U.S.-raised beef with some grass-fed options. ButcherBox only sells organic, free-range chicken while Good Chop offers cage-free but not necessarily organic chicken. Good Chop sells a mix of farm-raised and wild-caught seafood, while ButcherBox only sells wild-caught.

In terms of delivery options, both services offer convenient online portals to put your orders together from about 25 different cuts each with additional rotating options. With ButcherBox, you can choose from curated boxes or build your own box with a variety of cuts like steaks and burgers as well as specialty items like corned beef or chicken sausage. With GoodChop, you choose between a medium or large box and you always customize your own box with a variety of cuts including steak, ribs and ground beef.

Prices for the boxes from each company are very similar, though the amount of meats vary more with Good Chop since you choose the cuts. The cost of ButcherBox is a bit lower and you generally get a higher grade of meat for the money.

Good Ranchers vs. Butcher Box

ButcherBox and Good Ranchers both offer high-quality meats with sustainable sourcing practices, but there are a few differences that might sway you to one or the other depending on your preferences.

If price is most important, Good Ranchers may be a better value as they offer discounted memberships and guarantee your price won’t go up for two years. That said, the quality of meats from ButcherBox seems to be a bit higher so the higher price may be justified.

ButcherBox sells only 100 percent grass-fed beef, while Good Ranchers’ beef is grass-fed and grain-finished. Similarly, the ButcherBox chicken is organic and free-range, while Good Ranchers skips the organic certification for what they call “better than organic.” The standards for Good Ranchers’ seafood aren’t entirely clear but they state that they are “green-rated for sustainability.”

Delivery is similar with both brands offering free shipping on all orders and serving only the 48 continental U.S. states. Both companies ship frozen and give you tracking info, though ButcherBox emphasizes recyclable packaging.

Cooks Venture vs. Butcher Box

Both ButcherBox and Cooks Venture offer high-quality meats delivered to your house. The biggest difference is that Cooks Venture sells mail-order boxes similar to ButcherBox, but isn’t a subscription service.

Cooks Venture focuses on 100 percent grass-fed and -finished beef (like ButcherBox) and pasture-raised, heritage chicken. It’s hard to compare the quality of meats because there are lots of competing standards and terminology for sustainable meat sourcing, but Cooks Venture emphasizes that it follows the Better Chicken Commitment, which details a range of improvements for chicken breed types and welfare practices. They also emphasize that their farms use regenerative agriculture practices. 

ButcherBox focuses on more familiar standards, emphasizing organic, free-range chicken, wild-caught seafood and heritage pork in addition to the 100 percent grass-fed and -finished beef. ButcherBox has a wider selection of products than Cooks Venture. At the time of this writing, Cooks Venture had only 12 products to choose from for their boxes while ButcherBox had 34. Prices for each company’s boxes are similar.

Moink vs. Butcher Box

Like ButcherBox, Moink offers home delivery of ethically sourced meats through a subscription service. The pricing for both is also fairly comparable. However, while there are plenty of similarities in their subscription model, there are some key differences in the offerings.

The selection with ButcherBox is wider —Moink only offers chicken, pork, beef and salmon. ButcherBox has more cuts and a greater variety of seafood with 34 total options for customizing your box, while Moink has 24 at the time of this writing.

There’s a bit more flexibility in ButcherBox’s plans as well. They offer five curated box options and the ability to create a fully customized box, while Moink offers two standard curated boxes (one with pork, one without) though they do permit swaps of items you don’t want. They also rotate the offerings in each box weekly. 

While ButcherBox has specific standards for animal welfare and sourcing they stick to for all their items, the emphasis with Moink is on sourcing from family farms though it’s less specific about the standards for each type of meat they offer. They note that their meat isn’t certified organic but they require their suppliers to follow ethical husbandry practices.

Bottom Line: Why We Love It

If you’re looking for a convenient and reliable way to get high-quality meat delivered to your door, ButcherBox is an established option with a wide selection that you can customize, if desired. They offer 100 percent grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, heritage breed pork, wild-caught Alaskan salmon and other seafoods. Compared to other meat delivery subscription plans, ButcherBox offers the best variety and some of the highest standards for ethically raised meats so you can get quality and convenience from one supplier.