Butcher Box – Non-Meal Kit Delivery Subscription Service That is Actually Worth It

Current Deal:

• 2lbs of Free Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon – $39 value

Meal delivery subscriptions are extremely popular. There are countless ones that each offer their own unique deals, niche, value proposition. Most of them seem like repackaged microwavable meals with some new marketing, in which they can help you become a chef or have chef inspired recipes and healthy alternatives delivered to you. Personally, they all seem like a waste when compared to going to the grocery store and picking up the items yourself. The premium for convenience does not seem worth it, similar to third-party delivery companies such as UberEats, Door Dash, Post Mates and Grub Hub, but that is a different story.

The appeal of them, to me, seems to be the lie I will tell myself that I will be able to budget my meals better, reduce waste and start eating healthy. I realized that either I am going to cook meals myself that I like or can easily lookup online, or I am going to grab some food already made for me at a restaurant or for takeout. There is no middle ground when it comes to meal delivery subscriptions.

This is where Butcher Box is unique and I genuinely was excited for it. I tend to mostly eat meat, cheese and sauces, so this is perfect for my diet. The appeal of Butcher Box and the marketing seems to be towards Paleo, Keto, and that type of healthy fats, free-range, grass-fed, organic, heritage breed, low-carbs, carnivore, meat diets.

I signed up last year during a “free bacon for life” promotion, which has been great, as every box I receive has a free package of bacon in it. There are a few different types of boxes you can get, for me, the mixed box was perfect, which comes with beef, pork and chicken. It works out to about $12-$15 a lb. (they say you get 8.5-11 lbs in a box and the cost as of right now is $129). It usually comes with some ground beef, steaks, pork tenderloins and chicken breasts. While $12 for a lb of ground beef is expensive, they do sometimes have filet mignon and other premium cuts, so it seems to even out appropriately, especially considering that it is free-range, grass-fed and all that good stuff. Overall, I never seem to feel like I spent too much for the box.

The best part about this company, and I am really trying to figure out, is how do they actually make a profit with their promotions? Currently, I have three separate “free for life” promotions, which means that for the life of your membership, they will ship you your regular box and these items additional every month. The three that I have currently are:

• Free Ground Beef for Life (2 lbs every box)
• Free Bacon for Life (1 package every box)
• Free Chicken Wings for Life (3 lbs every box)

It seems almost every 6-months they run a promotion for free X for life, in which you pay a one-time fee (generally around $25) and you receive the promotion. For $25 to receive free 2 lbs. of ground beef every month seems way too good as the payback period is like 4 months, assuming $3/lb of beef at the grocery store (even though Butcherbox’s is grass-fed and the grocery store price would probably be closer to $5/lb., but I like to be conservative with my payback period calculations).

Now, I get my regular box, plus 2 lbs of ground beef for life, free package of bacon for life and free 3 lbs. of chicken wings for life, all for the price of $129. I also seem to not really have to buy additional meat every week at the grocery store, which means that in an average four-week month, I spend around $32 a week for butcher box, which is probably the equivalent of what I would spend at the grocery store on meat, depending on what sales they have.

Overall, I highly recommend Butcherbox and believe out of all the other meal delivery subscription box companies, this one is actually worth it and seems to be valuable. Also, with the free for life promotions, it is almost like a game where I am trying to collect them all. It also makes sense to me why they run these because I feel like I can never cancel my membership because I will have a fear of missing out on those amazing deals if I do. Plus, for some reason, it is extremely enjoyable to have a box of meat delivered to your house. A meat box is on the top of lists of things I enjoy, up there with the meat sweats.

If you’re interested and find this review/post helpful, sign up here and get 2lbs of Free Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon (current deal, might vary).