Meal delivery services are all the rage, but they aren’t always the best option for curing your carnivorous cravings. Sometimes you really just want a thick, juicy steak or a grass-fed beef burger straight off the grill, without all the fuss of your typical meal delivery. If it’s purely meat that you’re after, Butcher Box (BB) and Moink are by far two of the best options for having the freshest meats delivered directly to your door.
When it comes to the quality and taste of your meat, you don’t want to take any chances on an inferior product. If you’ve been hesitant to try one of these services, we completely understand where you’re coming from. We’ve done the delicious work of trying out both BB and Moink and have compared them head to head.
We’ve looked at the two companies in the categories of variety, quality, taste, pricing, and more. In the end, BB is our top choice. Here’s how they compare.
About Butcher Box Vs. Moink
Butcher Box and Moink are two meat delivery companies known for specializing in quality meats and seafood of many varieties. By this, we mean that you’re not getting complete meals or meal kits with sides and all the ingredients you mean. Each box from BB or Moink is simply packed with nothing but meaty goodness.
When comparing the two, it’s really important to consider what you’re looking for in a meat delivery service. Do you like a ton of variety? Do you want something different each month? How important are their farming practices and ethical treatment of animals to you? Both BB and Moink rank pretty high in their quality and standards, but each has its own strong and weak points.
Butcher Box
Pros
- Large menu of options to choose from
- 5 different meat boxes to choose from
- Build your own box or order one that’s custom-curated
- High-end cuts of meat are available
- Smaller boxes are more affordable and easy to store in the freezer
- Strong commitment to quality and ethics
Cons
- Some find the choices can be a little overwhelming
- More expensive than what you’d pay for typical grocery store meat
Moink
Pros
- Ethically and sustainably sourced
- It’s easy to make substitutions to your meat box
- Meat box is on the larger side, so good for larger families and those with a serious carnivorous appetite
- 100% satisfaction guarantee
Cons
- A large box can be too much for some people
- Only two meat box options to choose from
- Slightly more expensive than other services of its type
- Slightly limited selection of meat to choose from
Variety of Meats and Seafood
Butcher Box
- 35
Moink
- 7
The first category that we compared Moink Vs. Butcher Box was in the variety of meats and seafood that they offer. As meat lovers, we know that everyone has their favorite cuts, but it’s always nice to have the option of variety to mix things up a little.
Let’s start with Butcher Box. They offer about 50 (give or take) different types of meat and seafood. The biggest category to choose from is beef, which offers about two dozen choices of high-quality meat. They also offer a decent selection of pork, chicken, and a category called “Others” that features some seafood and lamb.
To give you an idea of the types of meats you’ll find on the menu at BB, the beef category includes favorites like grass-fed beef burgers, tender filet mignon, New York Strip steak, Bavette, which is the bib of the sirloin, London Broil, Ribeye, and stir-fry meat just as a few examples.
The pork selection from Butcher Box features classic cuts, like baby back pork ribs, pork breakfast sausage, pork loin roast, boneless pork chops, and uncured, all-natural bacon. Chicken is also limited to the basics like wings, drumsticks, tenders, boneless chicken breast, and a whole chicken. These options really cover everything you could want or need in these categories.
For seafood, BB offers up some lobster, scallops, and salmon. There’s also the leg of lamb and a whole turkey, both of which are perfect for special meals and holidays.
Next up is Moink. Moink offers a good selection of meat and seafood. The problem is they make it a little more difficult to see all the good stuff they have. At first glance, it looks like their variety is rather small, but once you dig around a little more, you see they have a lot more to offer.
Like Butcher Box, Moink covers the category of beef, chicken, pork, seafood, and a few “others.” Their selections aren’t grouped into nice, neat categories like BB, but if you choose a box, then click on “sub” to switch out one of the box components, you get a fuller view of their complete menu. On average, Moink Box offers about 25-30 delicious, high-quality meat and seafood selections each week.
For Beef, Moink offers everything from ground beef for a typical weekday dinner to a French Ribeye for those times when you want something a bit more special. The beef menu is rounded out by other popular cuts, like the filet mignon, flank steak, boneless ribeye steak, a 10-oz New York Strip, and a large chuck roast.
For chicken, look for options like chicken drumsticks, chicken wings, ground chicken, and a large whole chicken. Moink does seem to understand that the average family is a big fan of ground meat, so in addition to the ground beef and chicken, they also offer ground pork and ground lamb.
Seafood options with Moink are limited mostly to salmon, but other selections like brats and thick-cut bacon can round out your choices.
Meal Variety Winner
In this category, we have to give the prize to Butcher Box. Honestly, compared to your local grocery store, both offer a good selection of meats to choose from. Butcher Box wins for offering more choices and having a bit more variety, especially in the seafood department.
Ingredients
Butcher Box
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- Non-GMO
grass Organic- Grass Fed
- Wild-Caught
Moink
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We all know that how much you enjoy your meat box subscription comes down to the quality of ingredients at the end of the day. Both companies are similarly committed to sourcing quality meat and focusing on grass-fed or grass-finished beef. They’re equally diligent when it comes to the quality of their chicken, pork, seafood, and other meats.
When comparing the two, it really comes down to the fine details, so let’s take a closer look at each.
The entire foundation of Moink Box is based on providing people with ethical meats that are delivered in boxes right to their doorsteps. When you order a Moink Box, you can expect nothing but grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb, pasture-raised pork and chicken, and wild caught seafood. There’s nothing but pure quality goodness in their meat boxes.
You also won’t find any growth hormones, antibiotics, nitrates, or added sugar in Moink meats.We also like that Moink is operated and owned by farmers who are personally invested in providing nothing but ethically sourced meat.
Like Moink, Butcher Box is committed to quality and ethics, but they’re a bit more transparent about how they follow this through on all levels. BB is all about ethically raised, free-range organic chicken, farmers that support humane cattle raising practices, and choosing beef, chicken, and pork from animals fed a completely natural diet.
Butcher Box also outlines their holistic approach and supports the important relationship between our earth, the animals, the farmers, and the people who enjoy their meat subscription service. They work with farmers who are committed to sustainable and ethical practices. They support family-owned farms and diversity in the farming industry and a supportive work environment for their employees.
Ingredients Winner
Both meat subscription services offer a much higher quality than you’ll find with typical grocery store meat, and it’s hard to argue that both offer quality that is far above average on all counts. This category is super close but Butcher Box squeaks out a win by a narrow margin. This is because of their transparency, the ease of finding information about their process throughout the entire chain, and their notable charitable contributions.
Taste & Sample Meals
Butcher Box
- Seared Steaks & Calabrian Chile Butter with Collard Greens & Cheesy Potatoes
- Mediterranean Farro Bowls
- White Cheddar Cheeseburgers
Moink
- Sweet Chili Chicken Thighs
- Sage Pesto Baked Cod
- Cherry BBQ Pork Meatloves
This category was both the most delicious and most difficult part of this review. The taste of any meat really depends on how you prepare it, and everyone will have their own approach to cooking up these tasty meats. Still, you’re going to get a completely different end product if you grill a steak than searing it or poaching wild-caught salmon instead of baking it.
Honestly, the quality of each of these two meat services is right on par with each other. They both taste great, cook well, and have incredible texture.
Both also offer lots of tasty recipes on their website if you find you’re lacking inspiration for dinner. BB offers recipes like pan-fried mole chicken thighs, honey bacon-wrapped whole pork tenderloin, and lots of recipes for ground beef like cherry tomato bolognese and ground beef kafta.
Moink also offers some bright, flavorful recipes to bring out the best in their meats. A few fan favorites for recipes are the wild-caught salmon nachos with mango blueberry salsa and recipes for side dishes like grilled street corn.
Taste Winner
There is absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to the quality and taste of either company. We give props to Moink in this category because, while they don’t offer as many recipes and tips on their website, the ones they do offer are easy to prepare, unfussy, and really seem to appeal to their customers.
Pricing
Butcher Box
CURATED BOXES | WEIGHT | PRICE PER MONTH |
Custom Box | 9-14 lbs | $169 |
Mixed Box | 8-11 lbs | $146 |
Beef & Chicken Box | 8-11 lbs | $146 |
Beef & Pork Box | 8-11 lbs | $146 |
Basic Box | 7-7.5 lbs | $99 |
Moink
CURATED BOXES | WEIGHT | PRICE PER BOX |
Standard | 10-14 lbs | $159 |
Standard (No Pork) | 12 lbs | $159 |
Nest, let’s talk about how much a delicious meat box will cost you from these two companies.
Starting with Moink, you have the option of two meat boxes. You can choose the standard box or the standard box with no pork. Each box currently costs $159 and includes 6 different meat selections, totaling anywhere from about 10-15 lbs of meat depending on what you choose.
With Moink, you don’t have the option to custom create a box from scratch, but you can make substitutions on any item in the box. For example, say you’re not in the mood for ground beef. You can make an easy substitution from the other meat options available.
You can add items to your Moink box, but you can’t subtract items for a smaller order. Depending on your needs, you might find that you have too much meat, but this isn’t always the worst problem in the world to have.
Butcher Box offers five different options of meat boxes. They offer the Custom Box, where you choose what goes into your box. The custom box costs $159 per month for about 9-14lbs of individually chosen meats.
The other boxes BB offers include the Mixed Box; this is more of a classic box with a little bit of everything, the Beef & Chicken Box, the Beef & Pork Box, or the All Beef Box. The contents of these boxes are preselected, and you’ll receive 8-11 lbs of meat for $137 per month. Shipping is also always free with BB.
Pricing Winner
Pound per pound, BB, and Moink are pretty comparable in terms of price. We give the award to BB in this category for a couple of reasons. First, they offer the option of slightly smaller boxes at a lower price for those that don’t have room in their freezer for a big box of meat every month. Second, shipping is always free, which is a huge bonus.
Packaging & Recycling
Butcher Box
Moink
Packaging is really a big deal when talking about meat delivery services like Moink and Butcher Box. The last thing you want to do is to pay good money for meat that didn’t hold up during shipping, and there’s also an environmental factor to consider with how much packaging is used and whether it can easily be recycled.
Butcher Box freezes their meat to preserve freshness and then safely packages to retain that freshness during shipping. Depending on where they’re shipping to and how long it will take, they do sometimes use dry ice to ensure everything stays at the ideal temperature until you can unpack it at your home.
Butcher Box also uses eco-friendly packaging in the form of an insulated box. The eco-friendly insulation helps protect the quality of your meat. Each meat is also individually vacuum-sealed to preserve freshness.
Moink packages their meat delivery boxes similar to Butcher Box. Their meats are placed in an insulated liner bag and then placed in a box made with eco-friendly insulation.
They also will use dry ice to preserve the temperature of your delivery, which can be important if we’re talking about a cross-country trip in the summertime that has to sit on your porch for several hours before you get home to unpack it. We also like that Moink provides a warning reminder about the dry ice as you open the box to help reduce the potential for injury.
Packaging Winner
It’s difficult to name a real winner in this category because the two are so similar in how they package their meat boxes. Still, we have to give the props to somebody, so we chose Butcher Box because they specifically mention their eco-friendly practices. In contrast, Moink offers very little information about its packaging standards.
Customer Service
Butcher Box
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Moink
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The final category we compared BB and Moink in is customer service. Here, we looked at things like flexibility, responsiveness, and ease of managing your subscription. Both companies are nearly identical in how they handle pausing, modifying, or canceling a subscription. They also both received decent reviews for customer service, which is something that’s not always easy to come by these days.
Customer Service Winner
Honestly, these two are so very close that it’s almost like they’re the same company in terms of customer service. If anything, we could give BB a bonus point for offering more flexibility with their subscription boxes, but it doesn’t really seem fair to penalize Moink on customer service for that.
Winner
Butcher Box
At the end of the day, it’s Butcher Box that rises ahead and comes out the winner in our challenge of Moink Vs. Butcher Box. We love them for their selection, quality, ethics, and flexibility. Still, we’d back up Moink for their quality and deliciousness any day. Both companies have their strong points, so consider this before choosing.
Choose Butcher Box if you:
- You like a large menu and the ability to try new cuts of meat
- Prefer smaller boxes packed with quality meats
- Like to have a few more seafood choices
- Want more flexibility in the box or plan you choose
- Appreciate that BB gives back to charities
Choose Moink Box if you:
- You like consistency with your monthly meat boxes
- Love that they provide simple but insanely flavorful recipes on their website
- Prefer everyday style meats with the occasional special cut
- Have a larger freezer to store all the great meats
how much for 20 ribeyes and 20 t-bones?
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Hi Patty,
The cost will vary depending on the size of the box you order from Butcher Box or Moink. For example, you could get the Custom Box from Butcher Box with 9-14 lbs of the meat of your choice for $159 per month.
All prices are based on weight and box size, not per cut of meat, so there is no flat rate fee per ribeye or t-bone.
To clarify: Butcher Box always has add-ons that you can choose in addition to the box. The custom box options are usually available as add-ons, too. Ex: You can choose to add rib eye steaks (2 x 10oz) most of the time. A lot of the add-ons are not box options for the custom box, such as pulled pork w/BBQ sauce, sausage, egg bites and many more choices. This means you cannot select them to be part of your box, they are only available as additions.
What is really nice with Butcher Box is that there are often sales of the add-ons, such as 20% or 30% off, buy-two get third for free or buy-one get second for free. My only problem is sometimes ordering more than I can use is only a month or two so must delay the next box!
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Thank you for adding this detailed info!
Does BB or Moink meet United States Health-Safety Guidelines?
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
Yes, both companies meet health-safety guidelines, and the meat is processed in facilities that undergo standard food safety inspections.