For carnivorous appetites, there’s no better indulgence than a high-quality steak prepared just how you like it. Unfortunately, grocery stores are often lacking in high-quality cuts of beef, poultry, and seafood. Even when they do have the good stuff in stock, the selection still leaves something to be desired. Meat delivery services, like Butcher Box and Omaha Steaks, solve this problem by being the meat eater’s version of a candy store.
Both Omaha Steaks and Butcher Box offer a good selection of premium meat and seafood delivered right to your door. The real question is how they stack up against each other. Here, we’ve compared them on every point, from the quality of their meats to taste and customer service.
Omaha Steaks has been in business for more than 100 years and is often called America’s original butcher. Their business started small but grew huge thanks to their commitment to quality, especially after opening their first retail location in 1976. They offer their customers premium meats, seafood, sides, appetizers, prepared dishes, and more.
ButcherBox is a little newer on the scene, being founded in 2015. Although they’re still in their infantile stages compared to Omaha Steaks, ButcherBox has had no problem bursting onto the scene and rising to one of the top meat delivery services. Their selection is smaller than Omaha Steaks’, but their focus is strong on ethics, safety, positive relationships with farmers, fair practices, and an eco-friendly, giving mindset.
Butcher Box
Pros
- Offers nothing but grass-fed beef and the highest quality meats, poultry, and seafood
- Free-range, free from antibiotics, and sustainably and ethically sourced meats
- Their selection is entire custom-curated
- Ethical practices across the board
- Affordably priced packages
- Free shipping
Cons
- Limited selection compared to Omaha Steaks
- Subscription model, although you can cancel or change your order at any time
- Limited seafood selections
- No side dishes, appetizers, or accompaniments
Omaha Steaks
Pros
- Incredible selection and variety
- High quality across the board
- Not a subscription service, so you order when you want and how much you want
- More than a century of successful business
Cons
- Charges for shipping below a certain price point
- More expensive than other delivery services that specialize in meat and seafood
- Lack of transparency in their sourcing practices
- Most meats are grain-fed
Menu Variety
Butcher Box
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Omaha Steaks
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The first thing that many people consider when looking for a meat delivery service is variety. They might have some really great steaks, but if you’re ordering regularly, you want some variety and maybe even the occasional specialty steak.
Omaha Steaks offers a massive selection and lots of variety. They may have started as a small neighborhood butcher shop, but their selection puts them in a class all their own. Omaha Steak sells ten different categories of steak by the cut. These include:
- Filet Mignon
- NY Strip Steak
- Top Sirloin
- Ribeyes
- T-Bones & Porterhouses
- Flat Iron Steaks
- Bistro Steaks
- Prime Rib
- Skewers & tips
- Private Reserve steaks, including Wagyu beef
They also sell numerous cuts of chicken, pork, veal, turkey, cured meats, brats, and sausages. You’ll also find prepared dishes like chicken fried steak, stuffed chicken, bacon-wrapped pork chops, meatballs, and more. Their seafood offerings are just as extensive, offering more than a dozen types of fish, plus several types of shellfish for seafood lovers.
In addition to their protein selection, Omaha Steak has a nice selection of starters & sides, desserts, and wines to compliment your meal.
Although not as extensive as Omaha Steak’s selection, Butcher Box doesn’t disappoint with a good variety of high-quality beef, poultry, and seafood. Butcher box offers two dozen different cuts of beef, including grass-fed ground beef, chuck roast, tenderloin, Denver steak, brisket, London broil, and more.
For poultry, Butcher Box offers free-range organic chicken in cuts such as wings, thighs, boneless skinless chicken breast, organic chicken tenders, and a whole chicken. Several types of pork, including bacon and breakfast sausage, are also available. For seafood, enjoy sockeye salmon, lobster, and scallops.
Meal Variety Winner
In terms of variety alone, Omaha Steaks takes the win with pages and pages of selections online in every category. No matter what the occasion, there’s something here that is perfect, including prepared meat dishes. Butcher Box doesn’t lack in the selection, at least in terms of high-quality beef. Their selection and variety are just less than that of Omaha Steak.
Ingredients
Butcher Box
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- Non-GMO
grass Organic- Grass Fed
- Wild-Caught
Omaha Steaks
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Both meal delivery services offer great quality, but there are still some differences in the delicious meat they’re putting on their customer’s tables.
Starting with Omaha Steaks, they claim to source their meats from the finest farmers in the United States, with some of their products coming from Canada and New Zealand. With a century-old legacy and their history of starting out as a small-town butcher, they’ve mastered the art of product selection, trimming, and preparing their high-quality meat.
Most of Omaha Steak’s meats come from grain-fed animals. Some argue that grain-fed meat is more flavorful, but there’s also the downside of the associated mass production. Omaha Steaks also isn’t very forthcoming about the types of farming practices they support.
With Butcher Box, their entire premise is built on making humanely-raised, sustainable, and ethical high-quality meats accessible to everyone. Butcher Box works with trusted partners and makes transparency among their sourcing practices a priority. They specialize in grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, wild salmon, and everything is also completely hormone-free.
Ingredients Winner
Of course, both companies offer great, high quality, flavorful meat, but Butcher Box comes out ahead for their transparency, ethical labor practices, grass-fed and grass-finished beef, and overall commitment to making these types of highest quality meats available to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them.
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 |
Omaha Steaks
PACKAGE | MEALS | PRICE PER ITEM |
Classic Favorites | 25 | $5.20 |
Value Freezer | 21 | $8.57 |
Filet Mignon Grill Pack | 25 | $6.32 |
All Protein Pack | 25 | $6.40 |
Grilling Greats | 29 | $6.59 |
Burgers & Franks Stock-up Pack | 64 | $2.50 |
One of the main differences between Omaha Steaks and Butcher Box is that Butcher Box sells subscription boxes, while Omaha Steaks is aone-stop shop for all your meat needs, much like your local butcher, with no subscription or commitment required. One is a recurring cost, while the other is to buy whenever you want.
Omaha Steaks is known for its pricing to be at the higher end for what you’d expect to pay for a meat delivery service. To give an example of what to expect to pay for Omaha Steaks, a pork tenderloin that weighs a little over 2 lbs will cost just under $40, although there are occasional specials where you get a steep discount for adding more items onto your order.
A prime beef rib from Omaha Steaks will cost nearly $300 for 4 lbs if purchased alone without any discounts. Alaskan Sockeye Salmon costs about $10 per fillet. A platter of their Game Day Starters, which includes lobster tail skewers, lobster grilled cheeses, chicken wings, and artisan flatbreads, is $430 before any additional discounts.
Butcher Box prices are much more economical than Omaha Steaks’, and the price you pay per meal or serving depends on which of their subscription boxes you choose. Your options included a custom box, mixed box, beef, and chicken box, beef and pork box, or an all-beef box.
The custom box includes 9-14lbs of your choice of quality meat and costs $159 per month. This averages out to about $5/30 per meal. The mixed box, which includes selections like sirloin steaks, grass-fed beef, NY Strip steaks, pork tenderloin, and boneless skinless chicken breasts, cost $137 a month for 8.5-11 lbs of meat. All other boxes also cost $137 per month.
Of the two, only Butcher Box always offers free standard shipping on all of their orders. Omaha Steaks frequently runs specials that include free shipping. Normally shipping is $19.99 on orders up to $169. Orders that total more than that are shipped for free. Express shipping options are available for an additional charge.
Pricing Winner
When comparing ButcherBox vs Omaha Steaks, in terms of pricing, Butcher Box comes out as the clear winner. They truly do follow through on their promise to make high-quality meats like grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, and wild-caught seafood available to more people through their affordable pricing structure.
We also give Butcher Box extra points here for never charging a shipping cost on their subscription boxes.
Packaging & Recycling
Butcher Box
Omaha Steaks
Packaging is key to meat delivery because it’s so important that your shipment stays at the right temperature to avoid the risk of your meats being ruined or posing the threat of foodborne illness. If you order frequently or receive a monthly subscription box, you also don’t want shipping boxes and containers stacking up, so recyclability is also a factor.
Butcher Box ships their subscription boxes in eco-friendly, fully recyclable boxes with built-in insulation. Their meats ship vacuum packed and are flash frozen. Expect your delivery to arrive with dry ice to maintain the proper temperature during shipping and while it’s waiting for you to unpack.
Omaha Steaks takes great care in protecting their frozen meat deliveries. Their shipments are packed in a reusable cooler with dry ice. No matter what you order from Omaha Steaks, it’s going to arrive in inner boxes with an appearance that doubles as gift boxes if you’re sharing the love with someone. Recycling is more of an issue with Omaha Steaks, but this isn’t as big of a deal if you order infrequently and reuse the packaging materials.
Packaging Winner
We give Butcher Box the nod here because we like that their packaging materials are recyclable, especially since they offer a recurring monthly subscription service. Both do a good job of protecting your delivery during shipment, but Butcher Box manages to do so in a more eco-friendly way.
Customer Service
Butcher Box
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Omaha Steaks
For customer service, we can start by looking at how easy each company makes it to order from them and how they handle issues that may arise.
Omaha Steaks isn’t a subscription service, so there’s no concern about canceling or pausing a delivery if you don’t need it or will be away when it’s scheduled to arrive. Omaha Steaks offers a complete satisfaction guarantee, either in the form of a refund or replacement, depending on the circumstances.
In contrast, Butcher Box is a subscription service. Still, you can skip, pause, or cancel your order at any time without hassle. If you’re unhappy, Butcher Box will work to make it right, either through a replacement, credit, or refund. You may be asked to provide photographic evidence for some quality issues.
It’s also important to look at a bigger picture when it comes to customer service, so it’s worth taking a look at customer reviews. Both companies take their hits and also earn some accolades, but overall, customers seem to be more satisfied with the level of customer service and quality from Butcher Box.
Customer Service Winner
ButcherBox seems genuinely interested in making their subscription service as user-friendly as possible, and they score better in terms of customer reviews.
Winner
Butcher Box
In the battle of Omaha Steaks vs. ButcherBox, it’s ButcherBox that comes out as the winner. We choose them for their high-quality selection, ethical practices, affordability, taste, and commitment to their customers. Still, both Omaha Steaks and Butcher Box have their strong points, and both have something to offer for their customers.
If you’re still not sure, here’s a little recap to help you decide.
Choose Butcher Box if you:
- You enjoy the rich meaty flavor of grass-fed, free-range meats and wild-caught seafood
- You enjoy the convenience of a subscription service
- You are looking for affordable quality meats
- You appreciate a commitment to ethical and sustainable practices across the board
- You enjoy free shipping
Choose Omaha Steaks if you:
- Variety and speciality steaks are things you enjoy
- You are interested in ordering only when you want to
- You like the freedom of a non-subscription model
- You need something for a special occasion
- You like the option to order complete meals, sides, appetizers, desserts, and wine with your meats