Hi friends! I know that nowadays, many people are turning to online meat delivery options to decrease your time between grocery trips. I also know that for a while there the meat section at the grocery store was touch and go. For today, I thought I’d put together a list of the top organic meat delivery services as well as options for sustainable seafood and even meal kits. If your interested, take a scroll and try out one of these awesome services. BUT FIRST
There are just a couple things I want to go over first, aka, why ordering, regardless of the world situation, is better than the “organic” stuff you get on the shelf at the grocery store or Costco.
100% Grass-Fed Grass-Finished
(Photo: Carne Asada Flank Steak Salad)
Some meat may state it’s 100% grass-fed, but that doesn’t mean it’s grass-finished. All cows are feed grass at some point. It’s the finishing process that fattens up the cows at the end with the feed they would never eat otherwise. Some sneaky purveyors of meat are now even feeding their cows grass in pellet form without them ever having access to pasture. This is sneaky and hard to avoid when just looking at the label at the grocery store.
100% Grass-fed grass-finished meat has more omega-3’s, more antioxidants, and is better for the environment. Using services that are committed to providing these products means they’ve done the work for you when purveying better meat, so you don’t need to worry about what he label says.
That being said, because these cows are grazing and not being supplemented with feed, they are usually not organic. So, the “gold standard” 100% grass-fed grass-finished meat isn’t always organic, in fact, it’s often not (again because they aren’t getting organic feed), that’s fine, it’s still better for you and the environment. Organic meat automatically means they are receiving organic feed, and not 100% grazing on the pasture.
Pasture-Centered Pork
(Photo: Grilled Ranch Pork Chops with Tomato Salad)
I’ve been to an industrial pig farm, and it wasn’t pretty, gestation crates and all. While the nutrition doesn’t change (but some argue flavor does) when you raise the animal differently, my personal opinion is that I don’t believe nature intended pigs to spend their entire life indoors.
Pasture-centered pork means the pigs have access to the outdoors, typically to forage and behave as normal pigs do. They usually don’t need medical intervention, like antibiotics, because there aren’t a thousand of them packed into one indoor box. The supplemental feed may or may not be organic. I prefer that it is. If it is, the pork products will also be organic.
I hardly ever see pasture-centered pork, or even organic pork at the store because it’s typically produced by very small farmers who now work most often with the services below or specialty stores like Whole Foods and Natural Grocers.
Organic Free-Range Chicken
(Photo: Mesquite Marinade for Chicken)
Similar to pasture centered pork, free-range chicken has access to the outdoors to forage and behave like healthy chickens. Again, this does not change the nutrition properties of the meat, but I believe it reduces the stress on the animal, which has to impact the quality of the poultry being consumed.
USDA organic chicken must be fed organic, pesticide-free, non-GMO feed, given access to the outdoors, and not administered antibiotics. That being said, there are a lot of loop-holes here and no real definition for free-range or “access” to outdoors. Chickens in the US, organic or not, are not allowed hormones, it’s added to all the labels to make people feel better.
Again, that’s why I included the companies below that I did. I trust them to vet the farm for me and ensure they provide me the same quality, humanely treated meat I would want if I did the research myself. (As much access to the outdoors as possible, no antibiotics, organic vegetarian feed, etc.)
Sustainable & Wild-Caught Seafood
(Photo: Cedar Plank Salmon & Veggies in the Oven)
The number one misconception I run into is people think that ONLY wild-caught is healthy. That’s like saying that we shouldn’t farm cattle at all. Instead, we should hunt down bison and deer in the woods. An interesting thought, but probably not sustainable to feed an entire population of billions of people around the world. Eating only wild-caught fish can lead to overfishing and depleting the ocean’s resources.
That being said, the reason people think wild-caught is the best is that they’ve heard of the lousy farming processes producing fish with PCBs, high levels of mercury, and other contaminants. So what should you do? Well, unless you have time to hunt down the entire Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list, you probably buy wild-caught and hope that overfishing isn’t real, but it is.
That’s where some of the companies below come in to play. These companies provide wild-caught AND sustainably farmed seafood that you can be sure is good for you and the environment. In general, though, if you are at the store, the rule I use is to buy wild-caught when possible, but avoid farmed fish from third world countries who are known to have terrible farming practices.
General Pros & Cons of Meat Delivery
Whenever I do reviews of delivery services, I find myself writing the same things over and over again.
The pros of these services are high-quality humane certified meat and sustainable seafood, variety, convenience, and quality. In addition to supporting sustainable farming practices for meat and seafood.
The cons of these services are limiting your freezer space, extra packaging to deal with, price, and subscription/membership requirements.
Each has its own unique set up and product offerings, so I’ll share my favorite below!
ButcherBox Organic Meat Delivery & Seafood
ButcherBox was one of the first to market, providing this much-needed service and is my number one go-to for grass-fed and organic meat delivery. I’ve been subscribing for over three years and have loved being a customer while they’re product offerings and companies have grown.
ButcherBox currently offers:
- 100% grass-fed grass-finished meat
- heritage breed pork
- organic free-range chicken
- wild-caught salmon
- wild-caught dry scallops
All the meat is sustainably produced, certified humane, and never given antibiotics or hormones. As I mentioned, it’s a subscription service with various frequencies to chose from 2-8 weeks. There are many box options to chose from as low as $4.50/serving.
If you want to know more about ButcherBox and get an exclusive sign-up discount, check out my most recent in-depth review of Butcher Box.
Thrive Market Organic Meat Delivery & Sustainable Seafood
I’ve been a subscriber to Thrive Market for a long time as well, but Thrive Market is a little bit different than ButcherBox. Thrive Market is an online membership-based market on a mission to make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone. Organic and grass-fed grass-finished meat is just one of their many many many offerings among supplements, beauty, cleaning, pantry staples, and so much more.
If Costco and Whole Foods shacked up and had a baby, it would be Thrive Market. It requires a membership (you can now pay monthly or yearly) to have access to discount pricing on thousands of organic, natural, and healthy living goods. Access to the wild-caught seafood and organic meat delivery is part of your membership, you don’t pay extra for these products and don’t need a subscription.
I like to use Thrive Market as a pinch hitter to get an all chicken box in between ButcherBox deliveries. All chicken boxes are something ButcherBox doesn’t offer (but you can do add-ons of chicken.)
If you want to know more about Thrive Market Organic Meat Delivery Service and get a special discount, check out my most recent in-depth review of Thrive Market Meat Delivery Service.
US Wellness Meats
Be prepared to be IMPRESSED, and just a bit overwhelmed when you check out US Wellness Meats. They’ve been around since 2000, and they have an impressive array of grass-fed beef, lamb, bison, free-range chicken, duck, turkey, wild-caught seafood, dairy, and more. With over 300 products to chose from, you are sure to find something for everyone and something new to try.
In my research, this is one of the few places I’ve found that offer such a wide variety, and a few staples like GROUND free-range chicken, grass-fed butter, bone broth, and raw honey. The nice thing is, there is no subscription required to order from US Wellness Meats, and it’s all sourced from the US.
I’m planning to do a full review of US Wellness Meats soon, but in the meantime, click here for an exclusive discount when you place your first order.
Vital Choice Seafood: Wild-Caught and Sustainable Seafood Delivery
I recently signed up for Vital Choice seafood after realizing that it isn’t all wild-caught salmon I don’t care for, it’s just Sockeye. Sockeye salmon has a strong fishy flavor that I just don’t care for. I was looking for a place that offered wild-caught Alaskan salmon, which they have! Not only do they have that, but they also have over 14 other types of wild-caught and sustainable seafood, including fillets, canned seafood, shellfish, pouches, marine supplements, and pantry staples.
I also saw they offer a small variety of humanely raised beef, chicken, pork, and bison. So if you are a huge fish person, that just wants a little bit of meat, they might be your best option! Everything is Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch certified, sustainably raised or caught.
I’m planning to do a full review on Vital Choice soon, but in the meantime, you can use this link and the code VCAF5 at checkout for a discount!
Meal Kit Delivery Options
You may be wondering about meal kit delivery options that have organic meat and sustainable seafood instead of, or alongside meat delivery services. Two that I’ve tried out are Sun Basket and Greenchef.
They both offer a variety of grass-fed meat, organic chicken, humanely raised pork, and sustainable seafood. Sometimes these services charge an upcharge for more expensive cuts of meat or free-range vs. cage-free etc. but you can check out the full reviews below!
Don’t forget to pin this post for later and follow @hungryhobby on Pinterest for more healthy recipes, quick workouts, and nutrition tips!
Mary says
Hi Kelli:
Thank you for the useful info. I would like to ask you to consider two meat delivery services: Belcampo and Farmfoods.
Their websites are, respectively:
https://belcampo.com/
https://www.farmfoodsmarket.com/
I have used them regularly and found their meat to be awesome.
Thanks again! Have a great and safe weekend.
Ciao,
Mary