ButcherBox Review: 2 Years as Subscribers (Costs, Cuts, Verdict)

We tried ButcherBox. Its beef is grass-fed and grass-finished, with no hormones or antibiotics. It ships free, on a schedule you choose, anywhere from every 2 to 8 weeks.

We're a team of carnivore lifestyle enthusiasts, chefs and nutritionists with over a decade in the meat business. We worked through every cut ButcherBox offered to write this honest, unbiased review.

Here, we cover their plans, quality, sourcing, price and how ButcherBox stacks up against other meat delivery services.

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ButcherBox

Rated 4.9/5

5/5

Meat Quality

4.7/5

Menu Options

4.8/5

Shipping

5/5

Price

LIMITED-TIME OFFER FOR NEW BUTCHERBOX MEMBERS:
sign up now and get A BONUS PACKAGE OF MEAT absolutely FREE with your order!

What Is ButcherBox?

ButcherBox is a meat delivery company out of Boston, MA, shipping subscription boxes of beef, pork, chicken and seafood straight to your door.

Their grass-fed and grass-finished beef comes mainly from Australia, where the weather supports grass-finishing year-round. They also run a separate line of pasture-raised, grain-finished beef raised in the US, in states like Iowa, California, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Nebraska.

Beyond beef, they carry free-range and organic chicken, crate-free pork raised on 100% vegetarian feed and wild-caught seafood, all raised or caught without antibiotics or added hormones. ButcherBox is also a certified B Corp.

How Does Butcher Box Meat Delivery Service Work?

ButcherBox ships meat boxes on a schedule you control. You pick a plan and box size, choose your cuts or leave the picks to a preset selection, then set a delivery frequency anywhere from every 2 to 8 weeks. Each box arrives frozen, vacuum-sealed and packed with dry ice to stay cold in transit.

Signature vs. Essentials Plans

ButcherBox has replaced its old box system with two simpler plans, Signature and Essentials. Signature is the more flexible of the two. It gives access to 30+ specialty cuts, including ribeye, filet mignon, salmon and scallops, on top of everyday staples, across three box sizes.

Essentials trades that range for a lower price. One size only, up to 21 lbs with 6 proteins, for $159 a month, picked from 50+ core cuts like chicken breast, ground beef and pork chops. There are no specialty cuts and no seafood upgrades on this plan.

• Signature Medium - up to 21 lbs, choose 6 proteins - $179/month
• Signature Large - up to 31 lbs, choose 9 proteins - $249/month
• Signature Extra-Large - up to 42 lbs, choose 12 proteins - $319/month

If you mostly cook with everyday cuts and don't need ribeye or scallops in the mix, Essentials covers the same sourcing standards for less. If you want range, from steak night one week to salmon the next, Signature is the pick.

Both plans round out the lineup with seafood alongside the beef, pork and chicken, so you're not stuck picking one protein all year.

Types of Meat Box You Can Have Delivered

Both plans let you build the box to fit your household, just with different ceilings. Signature picks from the full catalog: steaks, roasts, ground beef, chicken, pork and seafood, up to your plan's protein count. Nothing is pre-bundled unless you want it to be.

Essentials narrows that down to the core-cuts catalog only, still your pick of 6 proteins, just without the specialty options.

For box size, a rough guide:

• Medium (21 lbs) - couples or small households
• Large (31 lbs) - a family of 4-5 or anyone who cooks meat most nights
• Extra-Large (42 lbs) - larger households or serious freezer stockpiling

You can adjust your protein picks, box size or plan any time before a bill date.

How Much Does ButcherBox Cost?

ButcherBox's Signature plan runs $179 to $319 a month depending on box size, and Essentials is a flat $159. Here's the full breakdown.

ButcherBox Prices

1. Essentials (Medium, 21 lbs) - $159/month, 6 core-cut proteins
2. Signature Medium (21 lbs) - $179/month, 6 proteins including specialty cuts
3. Signature Large (31 lbs) - $249/month, 9 proteins including specialty cuts
4. Signature Extra-Large (42 lbs) - $319/month, 12 proteins including specialty cuts

Per-pound pricing lands close to a well-stocked grocery butcher counter for the same grass-fed and grass-finished quality. The difference is you skip the search, and every cut meets the same sourcing bar.

How to Afford ButcherBox on a Budget?

Choose your subscription plan wisely, and lean on Essentials if you're watching your budget. It's the lower-priced tier, and you'll still eat well for the price. Sign up during sales for extra deals on your favorite cuts.

Once your box arrives, use it fully. Use the bones for homemade broth. Save the hormone-free bacon grease. Reuse leftovers after cooking too. Opt for whole pieces and large roasts, since you'll get more meat cuts for a lower price.

Shipping

ButcherBox ships free to all 48 contiguous US states, with no minimum order and no surprise fee at checkout. It doesn't yet deliver to Alaska, Hawaii or Canada.

Once an order bills, it arrives in about 2 to 5 business days. After your first box, deliveries ship on whatever frequency you set, anywhere from every 2 to 8 weeks. You can move the next bill date earlier or later if your freezer's still full or you're traveling.

How Does ButcherBox Arrive?

When our first box arrived at the office, we got an email from ButcherBox confirming the delivery.

ButcherBox packed the order inside a 100% recyclable cardboard insulated box. Each piece of meat was secured and vacuum-packed in a freezer bag to keep it below 40°F.

Even after waiting an hour at ambient temperature, the packaging kept the cuts of meat partially frozen, so when I opened the box, I immediately placed the meat inside the freezer.

The minimal packaging preserved the meat quite perfectly, so this is another area where ButcherBox does well.

Delivery Frequency

Delivery frequency is adjustable any time between shipments, at no cost, across the same every-2-to-8-weeks range. If a box arrives while your freezer's still full, you can also push the next bill date out instead of skipping entirely.

Chicken and chicken breasts stay fresh for 3 to 5 days in the fridge as long as the vacuum-seal packaging remains intact. Once the seal is broken, that drops to 1 to 2 days.

If the original packaging stays sealed, steaks and roasts can hold in the fridge for almost two weeks. Once thawed and out of the sealed packaging, they're good for 3 to 5 days, and ground beef holds for 1 to 2 days once thawed.

Larger pork cuts in vacuum-sealed packages hold for up to two weeks thawed in the fridge. Smaller individually packed cuts hold for 3 to 5 days sealed and 1 to 2 days once the seal is broken. The bacon stays good for seven days once thawed.

Fish stays fresh for one to two days after thawing in the refrigerator, so pull the seafood out of its packaging before it thaws to limit bacteria growth.

How to Get the Best ButcherBox Deals?

Here are a few strategies to get the most out of your ButcherBox order:

• Pick Your Proteins Wisely - Favor cuts that give you the best price per pound, like chicken breasts, chicken tenders, boneless pork butt, steak and breakfast sausage.
• Check Membership Deals - Watch for special member offers. Deals in your cart stay locked in until your next box bills, even if they're no longer showing as available by then.
• Check Your Email Before Your Bill Date - ButcherBox sends an email a few days before your bill date listing available member deals, so it's worth a look before your box locks in.
• Order Cuts You Can't Find Locally - If grass-fed, grass-finished beef is hard to source near you, ButcherBox is a solid place to start.
• Use Add-Ons for Extra Savings - Add-ons rotate monthly, so pick whatever you use most, whether it's chicken breasts or pork chops, when the price is right.
• Use Discount Codes - ButcherBox runs referral discount codes, and signing up for its email list puts you in line for promotions and perks first.

6 Reasons Why Butcher Box Might Be Worth It

After ordering from ButcherBox and reading countless customer reviews, we’ve boiled down all the benefits of using this meat delivery service.

1. Value For Money

Every plan carries the same grass-fed and grass-finished beef, crate-free pork and antibiotic-free everything. The per-pound cost doesn't creep up just because you picked a bigger box. Essentials and Signature Medium land close together per pound, and moving up to Large or Extra-Large mainly buys more variety while the per-pound rate holds roughly steady.

2. Convenience

Another thing worth mentioning in most Butcher Box reviews is the convenience you get. Our first big-box order came without issues - and we got to enjoy servings of grass-fed ground beef for life and a pack of Butcher Box hormone-free bacon.

We received free packs of burgers, breakfast sausage, and hotdogs from time to time. You'll get an email with a tracking number that contains the approximate delivery time. Butcher Box orders are fulfilled by either FedEx or UPS, depending on where you live.

3. Customer Service

We also wanted to share some information about customer service in our Butcher Box review. We've only had to deal with a customer service representative twice.

The first time we needed to delay the shipments for one day as we were unexpectedly away from home. The second instance was a minor issue with the delivered amount that was immediately rectified. Their customer service reacted promptly and was happy to help.

4. Sourcing

ButcherBox vets its farm partners and inspects them on a regular basis. The bar holds no matter what you order, whether that's a Medium Essentials box or a Signature Extra-Large.

5. Taste

I have tried almost all their hormone-free beef, whole chicken wings, ground pork butt, and seafood options, and every item was of the highest quality.

Although it is hard to pick out my favorites, I admit that the ButcherBox bacon was absolutely to die for. It had just the right salty flavor, fat, and leanness.

The sirloin was also impeccable and almost melted in my mouth. Although it had less fat than a conventionally raised steak, the flavor and juiciness were beyond comparison.

6. Website Experience

When we first clicked on the ButcherBox website, we were met with an offer too good to refuse.

Our favorite words, “get them for free,” stood out in red. Once we clicked the button, we were redirected to a page that made my mouth water.

If we signed up right there and then, we would get a pound of hormone-free ground beef for every order as long as we continue our membership, free of charge. And they even added an extra pack of bacon on our first order.

BUTCHERBOX NUTRITION INFORMATION

ButcherBox sources each protein to a consistent bar, backed by third-party certification:

• Beef - 100% grass-fed and grass-finished from Australia, or pasture-raised and grain-finished from the US. No hormones or antibiotics, humanely raised.
• Pork - crate-free, 100% vegetarian feed, no antibiotics or hormones.
• Chicken - free-range or organic, no antibiotics or hormones, Global Animal Partnership certified.
• Seafood - wild-caught, with species-level certification through MSC, RFM, ASC or BAP.

ButcherBox also holds B Corp certification and, on qualifying products, USDA Organic, Regenerative Organic Bronze, Non-GMO Project Verified and Certified Humane Raised and Handled certifications.

How ButcherBox Compares to Costco, Omaha Steaks and US Wellness Meats

Costco is the obvious low-cost comparison, but its meat isn't consistently 100% grass-fed and grass-finished the way ButcherBox's is. That means more grain-finishing and less of the leaner fat profile grass-finished beef is known for.

Omaha Steaks takes a different angle, with a wider one-step-meal selection, though it charges for shipping and isn't additive-free across the board. US Wellness Meats goes further on one point ButcherBox doesn't cover at all, organ meat, but skips the subscription option entirely and runs pricier overall.

"It is important to me and my community that our animal protein sources are naturally and responsibly raised and grass-fed. For this reason, I trust and recommend ButcherBox."
-Melissa Hartwig, Co-Founder of Whole30

Happy Butcher Box Reviews from Customers

FAQs

Is ButcherBox Worth Trying Out?

After going through their plans, sourcing and pricing, we think ButcherBox is worth trying if you want consistent, well-sourced meat delivered on a schedule you control.

Pick Essentials if you mostly cook everyday cuts and want the lower price. Pick Signature if you want the range, from ribeye to salmon.

The trade-off is the same one every subscription box asks you to make. You pay more upfront and commit real freezer space, but in return you get sourcing and consistency you won't find scanning a supermarket meat case. Give ButcherBox a try and see for yourself.