How to Get the Best Deal on a Butcherbox Subscription
Last year I tried out Butcherbox, and while I was extremely happy with the quality of the meat (it's all grass fed and pasture raised meat) I wasn't sure if our budget could afford to continue the subscription.
However, since I was personally trying to stick to a Trim Healthy Mama plan and needed lean meat, I decided that I would keep my subscription just so I could get high quality chicken tenders for myself. Call me a snob, but I just can't bring myself to eat conventionally raised chicken on a regular basis. I do the majority of my shopping at Aldi, and the only decent meat they have available is their grass fed beef. I needed the chicken for THM so I decided to keep my Butcherbox subscription just for that even though it was an extra cost.
Fast forward about 6 months and what I've discovered is that it's much cheaper to buy from Butcherbox than I originally expected; it just takes a little bit of planning and strategy!
So without further adieu, here is the strategy I use to purchase all our Butcherbox meat for around $5/lb. (Just for reference, the grass fed beef at my Aldi is $5.29 per pound, and I don't even have anywhere to purchase any other good meat, so it's been super nice to get all manner of meats for less than what I would pay for boring old ground beef.)
Here is my step by step strategy to get the best deal on a Butcherbox subscription.
1. I purchase the custom box for $169/month. This gets you the most meat for the money because you can choose which cuts
of meat you want in your box. (You get to choose 6 selections to go in your box.) Naturally, since we're trying to cut our costs down as low as possible, I choose the cuts which give me the most meat, which would be chicken tenders or breasts, or boneless pork butt.
This gets you between 18 and 21 pounds of meat – 18 if you buy all chicken, 21 if you buy all pork.
(Tip: if you buy the pork butt you'll want to slow cook it. The ones I have purchased have been a little bit tough, but slow cooking helps a lot. The chicken, however, has been amazing!)
You may be tempted to go with the offer of a bigger box which includes 18-26 pounds, making the price per pound a little bit cheaper; however if you follow my strategy I can get you a better deal, so keep reading!
So far your total cost is somewhere between 7 and 8 dollars a pound, which is not horrible if you're a chicken snob like me, but we can do better!
2. If this is your first time subscribing, you can sign up through my referral link, which will either give you money off your first box or some free product, which will bring the price per pound down even more.
3. You'll be prompted to select add-on products, which may or may not be a good deal. You'll just have to look. I've been able to get sausage and chicken breasts for $6/lb. when I purchase them as an add-on which is pretty good.
4. For your first box, you'll have to be satisfied with the deal you just got. Between the free products or referral credit you get when you go through my link, and any good prices you found in the add-ons section, you should have gotten a decent deal.
Now, once you've got your account set up and you've paid for your first box, we're going to get you some even better deals for your next box. Ready? Keep reading!
5. Set your subscription time to the max allowed between boxes which is 8 weeks.
6. Now, this is where the real magic happens! While you're waiting for your next box to arrive, you'll want to keep a careful eye on your inbox. Every time you get a sale email from Butcherbox, you need to open it!
They'll send you a link to a page full of deals.
7. When you see a deal that you like, go ahead and add it to your cart. You can add multiples of the same deal to your cart. It's kind of like going to the grocery store and finding something on clearance. I don't know about you, but I buy as many as I can as long as I have space in my freezer. Spending extra now will save me a heap of money later.
8. After you add your deals to your cart, they will stay in your cart until your next box is billed, even if the deals are no longer showing as available when your box bills. That is why it is so advantageous to add things to your cart right anytime you see a price you like.
9. Do not delete any of the specials from your cart unless you are 100% certain you do not want them. If you delete them and they are not available on the deals page anymore, there will be no way to put them back into your cart.
10. Keeping your subscription set to 8 weeks between billing periods gives you a good amount of time to watch for deals. However, my experience has been that I find enough hot deals during that time to last our family even more than 8 weeks. If you don't yet need another box and your billing date is approaching, you can go in and delay your shipment until whatever date you choose. Click on “Update” where it shows your next billing date and then choose your new date.
11. This will give you even more time to check for sales before your next box bills too. I just continue to delay my box indefinitely until my freezer tells me it's time to restock. Then I look at my list of deals and double check that I've got all the best prices in my cart and select a billing/shipping date that works for me.
Some weeks the deals will be better than others, for instance if there are holidays they might have some really good specials. Just keep checking and adding anything you think you might want each week. You can always delete the higher priced things later if you find something even cheaper.
12. In the mean time, while I'm waiting for weeks, usually 3-4 months, I set aside extra cash from my grocery budget each month so that when I purchase a big bulk order I will have something to pay for it with.
My most recent order was $380. By the time I juggled the sales around in my cart, I ended up paying a little less than $5 per pound for all of this meat.
Now, I must say that I go for cheaper cuts of meat in order to be as economical as possible. If I were adding filet mignon to my cart every time I obviously wouldn't be able to get my order that low of a price per pound. However, I'm very satisfied with the variety of meats that I'm able to keep in my freezer for my family. We eat ground beef, boneless chicken, bone-in chicken (which gives me broth as well,) pork roasts, bacon, sausage, and turkey.
Between our Butcherbox subscription and my Misfits Market subscription, I always have high-quality meat and produce in the house, which makes up the bulk of my grocery list each week. We're eating lots of protein and vegetables rather than empty carbs, and we all feel more clear headed and energetic when that's the biggest part of our diet. In spite of being a “food snob”, and only purchasing organic produce and high-quality, pasture raised meat, we are able to keep our food costs to $700 per month or less, including toiletries and household items.
I love keeping my freezer full, which saves me trips to the store, and makes it easy for me to always be able to find something to prepare a meal for my family.
If you'd like to try a Butcherbox subscription, you can use this link to get the referral credit and current sign-up offer, then follow the steps I've outlined above to continue getting the best possible price on high quality meat!