If you’re like me, you try to eat healthy – you really do. You’re also like me if you’ve found yourself in this situation: you find an excellent cut of grass-finished beef at your butcher counter, ask for two pounds, and then you gasp when you look at the price sticker.
Why the heck is grass-finished beef so expensive? And is there an option that doesn’t require half of my paycheck?
I decided to try out Butcher Box, a subscription meat delivery service that brings fresh, grass-fed meats straight to your door.
After breaking down the costs (including the time it usually takes me to grocery shop), Butcher Box doesn’t just offer affordable grass-finished meat–it feels like a steal. I did some quick math, and it costs less than $3.50 per meal.
I’m also all for customer loyalty freebies, and Butcher Box has a doozy of one — free ground beef for life — more on that later.
I didn’t just feel good about the promised quality of the meat, either — knowing that Butcher Box’s beef is grass-fed and grass-finished made me feel confident in starting the service.
What’s grass-finished, you ask?
It means that the cow has been fed grass its entire life, according to Butcher Box’s blog roam. Many companies have “grass-fed, grain-finished,” beef, which just means their cattle ate some grass as calves and then were fattened up with grain.
Several studies have shown that cattle whose diets primary consist of grains or corn do not have as high of a nutritional value as their grass-fed, grass-finished counterparts. So you can understand why I was on the hunt for affordable grass-finished meat.
Grass-fed cattle also boast a lot of other nutrients that lower quality beef does not.
Taco Tuesday got us like 👀#TacoTuesday #butcherbox pic.twitter.com/opeRL8Ou7C
— ButcherBox (@butcherbox) August 20, 2019
We’ve all heard how important getting our Omega-3’s is. This fatty acid has such a wide range of health benefits that it kind of blows my mind. According to Healthline, Omega-3’s can help with everything from anxiety and depression to improving joint and bone health.
And guess what’s chock-full of Omega-3’s? Grass-fed, grass-finished meat.
If you follow the Keto diet, you might already know that grass-fed meats have higher amounts of Omega-3’s. But did you know they have another fatty acid that helps build lean muscle?
It’s called Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), and it’s a powerhouse.
According to an article from the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, CLA is an omega-6 fatty acid helps break down fats in the body.
The study also suggests Conjugated Linoleic Acid has “benefic actions on glycemic profile,” which suggests it could be beneficial for folks with diabetes.
While I don’t have any overarching health ailments, I know that prevention is the best measure — and that eating a diet high in protein and nutritious fatty acids like Omega-3 and -6 can help keep me healthy.
Butcher Box starts at $129 a month. This basic package includes 7-10 pounds of beef, chicken, pork, and bacon on a monthly basis. I did some quick math to see how much that would break down per meal.
The American Heart Association’s suggested weekly servings from poultry, meat, and eggs is 8-9 servings. Meat servings are generally around 3 ounces, or the size of your palm. So, if you are getting the minimum of 7 pounds (or 112 ounces), that is a whopping 37 servings; even at top weekly suggested servings, you would just be eating 36 servings. I divided the price by the number of servings, and each one costs under $3.50. Talk about getting a bang for your buck.
But how do you eat all that meat in a month, then?
That’s the beauty of Butcher Box. Your subscription meat box comes on dry ice, so you just pop them in the freezer once they are delivered. Meat can keep for about four months in the freezer, according to the USDA.
And if you only want certain types of meat — like just beef and chicken or a mixed box of beef, pork, and chicken — you can customize that, too.
This is a part about Butcher Box that I truly enjoy — you can customize it to fit your dietary (and taste!) needs. I opted for the mixed box, mostly because I wanted to be able to test out all the wares.
You can also switch up your size or meat preferences from month to month. Again, the highly customizable aspect of Butcher Box is what makes it a (prime) cut above the rest.
Butcher Box’s Optional Add-Ons make it even more personalized.
This got me good. How could I say no to wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon or grass-fed bacon? You can also choose to add on ground beef or breakfast sausage, if you choose.
Remember that customer loyalty perk I talked about? It’s free ground beef for life.
Yes, you read that correctly. If you sign up for Butcher Box before September 30, 2019, you can get two pounds of free ground beef with every Butcher Box delivery for life.
As long as you are getting a Butcher Box, you get two free pounds of ground beef on the regular.
Imagine all of the tacos, burgers, and flavorful meat casseroles you can make with that!
If you include meat in your diet in any capacity — even just once a week — the Butcher Box is worth it.
You can set up your first Butcher Box delivery (and your free two pounds of beef) here. Make sure to sign up before September 30, though, if you want to get in on this deal!
