How to Save Money on Grass-fed Meat Shipped to Your Door {ButcherBox REVIEW 2026 & More}

Remember back in March 2020 when you could find ZERO ground beef in any stores?

It was pretty clear that people were stocking up for the taco/spaghetti diet! 🙂

And…I was uncharacteristically completely out of grass-fed ground beef!

I had a touch of food insecurity.

I felt so much more relieved (and taco-secure) once I made my ButcherBox order, which I usually do every 3 months to supplement what I can’t find at our favorite local farm.

Grass-Fed, Pastured, Sustainable Meat

ButcherBox has amazingly high standards for sustainability and care of the animals, and especially what they eat.

They only offer humanely raised 100% grass-fed (and grass-finished!) beef, free-range organic chicken, crate-free pork, and wild-caught Alaskan sockeye salmon, all free of antibiotics and added hormones.

ButcherBox Grass-Fed Beef

ButcherBox’s grass-fed beef is raised in Australia to ensure 100% grass all year round. The grasses there are tall, which means the animals have enough fiber in their diet, and the temperate climate means that there’s no need to take the cows off pasture for a moment of their lives.

Australia has very strict cleanliness standards and really knows how to grow and transport quality meat. One Aussie reader told me they’re absolutely spoiled in her country with incredible beef.

Here in America, the “grass-fed” standards have been a moving target the last decade or so, and there have often been loopholes where farms can’t access pasture during the winter. FSIS standards currently allow for haylage, baleage, silage to count as grass, and those options may include leaves of corn plants and other grains (before the grains are evident).

Note that ButcherBox also, as of 2024 or so, provides grass-fed, grain-finished beef and some farmed seafood. This is good and bad — good for the budget for folks who aren’t as scrupulous on quality, but bad for the rest of us because it means we have to read more words and be more heads-up while ordering to make sure we’re getting what we really want.

ButcherBox Certified Organic Chicken

BB chickens get to run around the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia, stress-free so they’re more juicy and flavorful.

In 2019 ButcherBox joined Applegate, Panera, and more as the first e-commerce company to commit to further improving the humane treatment of their birds by 2024 in alignment with ASPCA’s broiler chicken welfare policy.

Prices run consistent (and lower with sales) with Costco, so since I don’t have a good source for chicken others than whole chickens, I rely on BB to help keep us in protein all month long!

ButcherBox Crate-free Pork

When your hogs are treated better, the meat tastes better.

I can attest to this as we’ve recently been eating BB’s pork roasts, and although most pulled pork I have really needs barbecue sauce or smoked flavor, this pork is absolutely succulent with just salt, pepper, and garlic powder, slow-cooked all day.

Their pigs enjoy bedding in open barns, outdoor access, and an all-vegetarian diet of forage and feed.

ButcherBox Ordering Options

ButcherBox is a subscription service, which always has its pros and cons.

I love a subscription sometimes because I can set it and forget it. The company will remind me when I’m low on something, instead of me having to figure out where I got the food and how to replace it.

Some people get nervous about subscriptions because they don’t want to get too much of something. But I will say that ButcherBox is incredibly flexible. You can set your subscription as frequently as every month or as seldom as every six months. It’s easy to cancel anytime without penalty.

Once you decide you’re ready to poke into the subscription, here’s how it works.

You Always Choose What Kind of Meat

No matter what other choices you make at ButcherBox, you can decide whether you get all beef, beef, and pork, beef and chicken, all three, or all three plus seafood. You can always change your order from delivery to delivery.

They Can Choose Your Cuts

ButcherBox offers a sort of “grab bag” box, where you get about 8 to 11 pounds of meat and the cuts are always a surprise. This would be a great choice for a cook who likes a little adventure or someone who’s trying to learn to use new cuts of meat. That’s also a good choice for someone who doesn’t want to make choices. 😉

Or You Can Choose Your Cuts

Personally, I prefer control over adventure. I always create a signature box, where I can choose everything I’m getting. All the boxes come in medium, large and extra-large sizes.

For my family, I go with the medium size, now for a few reasons:

• I get 2 lbs ground beef and a package of bacon in every box, so the more boxes I get, the more free meat I receive.
• Although the per-pound price is a bit more on the smaller box, I tend to get my savings with the member deals.

I used to play the other way with the larger boxes so that each cut in the box costed less per pound, and then I would wait a few months between orders and still rely heavily on the deals.

Recurring Add-Ons & Member Deals

Recurring add-ons are one of the best ways to save money with ButcherBox.

Once you choose an add-on, it’s added to every single box you get. The add-on options change, but typically you will see something like the following image.

You can see that boneless skinless chicken breast comes in at $8 a pound. Bacon is at $7 for 10 ounces or over $11 a pound, a little pricey in my book, and ground beef is $7.50 per pound, while ground pork is only $5.50 per pound. Both of those prices are fairly competitive for what I can find in my area.

Before your box ships, you’ll always have a few days to make changes and can add or remove these add-ons.

Member deals change monthly and range from pre-cooked meat for those quick dinner nights to something as simple as 2 pounds of ground turkey for $7/lb.

I often see emails come in sharing a limited time member deal, and what I LOVE about BB’s deals is that you don’t have to freak out about FOMO and grab them before they expire and perhaps get a box when your freezer isn’t ready.

The member deals are added to your next box, WHENEVER that is, and you can always review and change your mind before it ships if you add some impulse meat rashly.

Many women buy impulse shoes or earrings, me? Meat. Farmer’s market raspberries. It’s a problem. 😉

Just look at this freezer barely closing!

How the Meat Delivery Subscription Works

As I mentioned, ButcherBox’s subscription is so much more flexible than a set-in-stone monthly box. You choose your frequency.

It’s easy to skip a delivery entirely. Or just pause your entire subscription for a while. We did this when we were traveling one summer and had been eating down our freezer to do some remodeling when we would have no electricity. And it was a very painless process.

I just sent a quick email got a confirmation from a real person (a pleasant customer service representative), and started back up once we got home.

How delivery works:

Every box is shipped to your door in recyclable insulated packaging and dry ice, and I’ve never had a problem with anything being partially thawed before I opened it.

I’m proud to have watched ButcherBox improve their sustainability over the years, from a Styrofoam cooler to this innovative packaging that goes right into the paper/cardboard recycling.

You can even get money back for referring a friend, so keep that in mind if you have crunchy natural families in your circle!

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Where to Find High Quality Meat

Having trouble finding good quality meat locally? Would you like to fill your freezer with local and pastured options?

If you’re looking for US-raised, grassfed meat, check out Wild Pastures. 

If you live in any of the 48 contiguous states, I recommend US Wellness Meats and Butcher Box! 

I’m grateful that there’s an online source of incredibly high quality meat that I can always count on. A subscription from Butcher Box includes grass fed, organic, pastured, and free range = all the labels important to your family’s health! And I’ve got a special deal for you!

They almost always have great deals for new customers. Claim your free gifts, and see what bonus they have going on right now. Don’t miss out!

(free shipping too!)

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How to Order ButcherBox Meat on a Budget

If you’ve never subscribed to ButcherBox, or subscribed and canceled in the past, definitely wait for a great new member offer. These rotate frequently, but there’s usually some way to get some savings on your first order of a new subscription.

I choose to create a signature box so I can choose my cuts, 12 of them for $319 shipped (that’s the extra-large box; you choose 6 cuts in the smaller box for $179). Pricing accurate as of March 2026; photos from 2021 with slightly different prices.

There are savvy and less savvy ways to order up your signature box though, so let’s talk about those…

The pic is my last order, and you can see I’ve made some wise choices and some foolish (financially) because I really wanted something specific this month.

The box comes out to $26.50 per cut of meat, and some are 3 pounds ($8.83/pound) but others are 2 pounds ($13.25/lb!! Eek!), and steaks and chops are even smaller sizes.

Although everyone loves ground beef, if you include it in your signature box, you’ll be paying up to $13.25/lb. depending on what else you buy (or how you do your math). Far better to grab ground beef as an add-on for $7.50/lb!

These are the kinds of choices you need to be intentional about when building your signature box. Let’s look at what you actually “pay” when you choose each cut.

I’ll put them in order from my perceived best deal to the worst deal in each meat category, and we can discuss what a “deal” looks like to you!

If you go with the classic box at $179 total, each cut choice costs you $29.83, so adjust prices below accordingly.

Beef Signature Box Options:

• Bottom of the round roast: $11.33/pound
• We don’t usually buy steak, but if a special occasion is coming up, it’s nice to know we can have the option and not compromise on quality.
• Flat iron steaks, Top sirloin steaks, Tri-tip, or Sirloin cap: $17/lb.
• NY strip steaks or Ribeyes (2-10oz steaks): $19/lb.
• Chuck roast: $11.33/lb. I put this one below some of the steaks because although those prices seem high, they’re all lower than my local farm, while I can get a chuck roast for less. Know your price points! 
• Filet mignon (2-6oz. steaks): $34/lb.
• Stew beef: $12.75/lb. Usually stew beef is an economical cut, so I would look for this elsewhere or watch for a special!
• Ground beef: $11.25/lb Go with the $7/lb add-on!
• Burgers: $12.95/lb. Better to make your own burgers with the add-on IMO.

All prices as of September 2025. There are SO many more options now compared to when I wrote this post and it feels like ButcherBox is constantly adding more, especially niche products like ground lamb and bison, and pre-prepared foods like grilled chicken, pulled pork, GF chicken nuggets…in the interest of keeping this post helpful, I’m going to skip the rest of the screenshots and prices and tell you how I really shop now…

The Secret to Getting the Most out of Your ButcherBox

Here’s the real secret — you can go around all day figuring out the unit price of the cuts in the signature box like I used to, but the formula is actually much easier than that:

• Every time you order a ButcherBox delivery, you pay for your signature box (that’s why I switched to the smaller 6-cut box now).
• Order as often as your budget will allow, but every 2-6 months is probably best, BECAUSE you’ll get much better deals than the box on the member deals.
• When you decide what goes IN your box, choose the items that your family eats that are MOST expensive as priced outside of the box!
• For example, just like above, don’t bother with ground beef in your box, since you can buy it as an add-on for $15 for 2 pounds and OFTEN find member deals better than that.
• In your box, get things like salmon that will cost you $32 for a 2-lb bag without a sale, roasts that run $20-28, and chicken that’s often over $25 for 3 pounds outside the box.
• It’s not about unit price really, because you have to pay for the signature box, flat fee, no matter what. It’s about getting the most expensive items (not per pound, per item as BB sells it) inside the box so you can get the best deals outside the box.
• Watch for “blasts” where BB will offer 10 pounds of ground beef for $50 or $60 ($5-6/lb if you’re tracking!), or 5 bags of GF chicken nuggets for $45-50 (regularly $12/bag). See why you wouldn’t get nuggets inside the box when you can put a $28 package of chicken breasts or $24 chuck roast, or even $29 top sirloin steaks, in that position instead?

Chicken Options broken down:

• Drumsticks often go on a GREAT member deal, so watch for that!
• Boneless skinless chicken breast: $8.50/lb. in the big box. Still more than I pay at Costco but certainly raised better. Usually you can get these on member deals too!
• Whole chicken can actually be a little pricey but comparable to a really well-raised chicken locally. Be sure to make a triple batch of broth with those bones to stretch every penny!
• Boneless skinless thighs: $8.50/lb. in the big box. Value starts to go down because this is the same price as breasts, but thighs usually sell in the store for less per pound.
• Bone-in thighs: $8.50/lb. in the big box. And since the bones take up some weight, bone-in is a worse value because it’s the same price. Bummer, because usually, bone-in is a budget saver! I still get these regularly though, because I can’t even find organic bone-in thighs anywhere, and Nom Nom Paleo’s cracklin’ chicken gets my whole family drooling. I always save the bones for broth!

Pork Options broken down:

• Boneless pork butt is still a great deal and very expensive outside the box – takes up slightly less room in the freezer!
• Bone-in pork butt: only $4.63/lb.! This is the best deal in the whole box – I weighed the bone recently and it was only half a pound, and the liquid that came out of the roast in my slow cooker weighed 1.4 pounds. My roast was actually a whopping 6.5 pounds to start with, so I got around 4 1/2 pounds of meat, and boy, was it moist and delicious. Easiest meal and leftovers ever! 
• Center cut pork loin roast, still a great deal if you’ll use it. This is a higher quality roast than the butt, which is really only good for shredded meat. If you want something to roast, then slice, for a special occasion, or you like pork loin chops, get this cut. You can slice your own pork loin chops, very economical compared to buying chops. 
• Pork sirloin roasts for fancy dinners (watch for member deals here too because in the box is a smaller amount)
• Boneless pork chops: $12.75/lb. in the big box Go with the add-on for this cut as it’s only $7.50/lb!
• Pork tenderloin: $25.70/lb Whoops – I’m a little embarrassed that I’ve added this cut to my box before, but at least it made an absolutely delicious Christmas dinner! Watch for tenderloin to show up in the member deals if it’s a cut you love.
• Ground pork: $12.75/lb. My general price point is under $7/lb., so watch for member deals or wait unti you’re stocked up on roasts to add ground pork. Or find this one locally!!
• Breakfast sausage: too expensive! Definitely not worth doubling the price of an already poor value just to have BB add the seasonings. Buy ground pork and make your own homemade sausage.
• Bacon: $36/lb = yikes! Everyone loves bacon, but don’t let the 10-ounce package fool you into putting it in your signature box! Watch for member deals and stock up! 

Seafood Options always increasing

• Wild Alaskan sockeye salmon: $12.75/lb. This sounds pricey BUT it’s usually $32/2lbs at ButcherBox as an add-on, and finding comparable sustainability costs much more in a grocery store, so I feel smart in prioritizing salmon in my box, especially to get Vitamin D and omega-3s. I can get Alaskan caught salmon from Aldi for about $7/lb. and often do, but the deep red color in this salmon (and flavor) really shows off the quality. I want to say that sockeye at Costco is closer to $30/lb!
• ButcherBox is often increasing its offerings in the seafood category, from scallops to lobster tails; just remember to read carefully to know where and how your seafood is grown.

While some cuts are terrible to add to the box, like ground beef and bacon, they’re a deal as an add-on OR the member deals can’t be beaten.

Not long ago I was able to add 10 lbs. ground beef to my order for $4.99/lb (unheard of for this quality!!! 100% grass-fed!!) and drumsticks for only $2/lb, along with bacon for 3 packages for $10!

I also got that pork tenderloin for only $7.50…which is why I said above that the member deals are the BEST way to save money at ButcherBox, but you have to have a subscription to get the deals!

Since you can add the deals to your box without worrying about them expiring, I’d recommend that if you’re really on a budget, get a larger box every 6 months and watch your emails for those deals so you don’t miss the chance to add them.

To clarify, the deals DO expire, especially the best ones, but as long as you click “add to box” during the timeframe, you don’t pay or get a box shipped until your regular subscription, at which time you can always remove the deals if you were overzealous.

How to Start Your ButcherBox Subscription

It’s easy!

Start here, and then:

1. Choose your box (I recommend signature box).
2. Choose your box size (medium, large, or extra large – 6/9/12 cuts).
3. Choose your frequency (start with a few months and see how you like it). BB is very good at reminding you 3 days before your box so you can make sure the cuts you want are the cuts you get.

That’s how easy it is to customize your own healthy meat delivery order!

Other Sustainable Meat Ordering Options

ButcherBox isn’t the only sustainable, pasture-raised meat delivery service out there. There are a few others that have their own star features.

Here are a few other options that take great pains to source well:

• Wild Pastures, US-grown meat only, delivers nationwide, scrupulous standards.
• US Wellness Meats is NOT a subscription, but allows you to buy high-quality meats online.

Bottom Line: Is ButcherBox Worth the Money in 2026?

It’s important to me personally to have a well-stocked freezer and pantry. And I know how to use less meat so that I can spend more on well-sourced, well-fed meat.

If you can buy from a local farmer with whom you can have a conversation about growing standards, that’s always the best bet. But you can’t always get all the cuts or all the kinds of meat you want. ButcherBox is a trustworthy source. And although you can end up spending too much, if you follow my strategies it’s definitely a budget-friendly option.

Plus, it’s wonderful for busy families to have food delivered right to their door. Enjoy your next box from field to freezer.

[question]Do you have any ordering tips for Butcher Box on a budget?[/question]

Need some recipes to use your meat? We’ve got you covered:

• Whole chicken in the Instant Pot
• Garlic maple chicken
• Instant Pot turmeric chicken
• Bone broth
• Instant Pot apple bourbon pork chops
• Cheeseburger soup
• Frozen ground beef in the Instant Pot
• Homemade hamburger helper
• Classic herb marinade
• Pepper steak
• Beef burgundy
• Spicy fish seasoning