It has been a real roller coaster of emotions with our ButcherBox subscription, let me fill you in:
The hubz and I decided that with the cost of organic meat continuing to increase at our local Lidl, we should look into ButcherBox as an alternative. This was in January 2023 and ButcherBox happened to be running a really great bundle deal for the new year, so we figured let’s try it out and we can always cancel.
ButcherBox has a custom box option where you pick exactly what you want, or for a reduced rate you pick what kinds of meats you want to receive (options are combinations of beef, chicken, pork) and they send you an assortment of cuts each month. We started off with the beef, chicken, pork box arriving at our doorstep every 6 weeks for $146.
January Box: This first box was definitely the best box, it was clear that they were trying to impress. We received 4 8oz boneless pork chops, 2 lbs ground beef, 4 6oz flat iron steaks, 2 10oz ribeye steaks, 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, and a 2 lb pork loin. We were immediately impressed with the quality of the meat which was noticeably better than the organic meat at Lidl. We decided to keep the next box, but did a fake out on their website like we were trying to cancel and they offered us free bacon for the life of the subscription! Score!
February Box: After such an amazing box in January this next box was a big WOMP WOMP. They gave us some cheaper cuts of meat and a sh*t ton of pork (which led to me planning my entire postpartum freezer prep around pork). We received 6 beef burgers, 2 lbs of stew beef, 2 lbs of ground pork, a 5.5 (!) lb pork butt, 5 lbs of chicken drumsticks, and the bacon. We decided to change our subscription to just beef and chicken to avoid the pork fiasco going forward. Plus, we don’t like pork that much, we were just trying to expand our horizons a bit… But when I was thawing the pork butt in our fridge there was a leak in the bag that made a huge mess. Thanks a LOT, BUTCHERBOX…they found themselves on the chopping block with that maneuver.
March Box: With the move to a beef and chicken box, we felt the quality immediately improved. We received 2 lbs ground beef, 4 6oz top sirloin steaks, 1.5 lbs sirloin cap, 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, and the bacon. Phew, we thought, things are getting better. But then when we were thawing the chicken breasts there was ANOTHER leak in the bag that caused a ANOTHER (albeit smaller) mess in the fridge. Enough was enough (also our freezer was completely full from the above mentioned meal prep and we really couldn’t squeeze in anything else until the baby arrived) so we cancelled the subscription, bacon and all. Side note: we didn’t find the bacon to be better than the nitrate-free bacon sold at Lidl, so this wasn’t a huge loss.
Flash forward, it is now May and we have eaten through our baby meal prep stash. We got to missing the good ole’ days of our ButcherBox subscription, reminiscing about how it was kind of fun opening up the box to see what you get and trying out new recipes for the different cuts of meat. Also, when you actually cancel your subscription ButcherBox emails you all kinds of offers to entice you to come back. We recently got an offer for 1 lb of free sirloin tips in each box for a year. This was enough for us to resume our subscription.
The takeaways: the meat is excellent, the variety is interesting (although I wouldn’t recommend including pork in your box unless you are a huge pork fan), but the packaging can be sketchy. We will be thawing meats in a separate dish from now on and enjoying our one year of sirloin tips.
Sister Hack 