Are Meat Subscription Services Worth The $$$? My Investigation & Review

After being a vegetarian for a large portion of my adult life, a few years ago I realized just how much better my body feels when I’m eating high-quality animal protein. I know there are reasons why many people choose not to eat meat, but I can’t ignore the impact it’s had on my energy levels, performance, and hormonal balance.

Of course, the emphasis is on high-quality. My frustration with the lack of options at local grocery stores sent me on a deep investigation into the best meat subscription boxes. That quest led me to Good Chop, a customizable service that delivers responsibly sourced meat and seafood straight to your front door. 

I tested Good Chop to see if the quality, taste, and service lives up to the hype—and you might want to read my honest review before you place your order.

What is Good Chop?

Good Chop is a meat delivery service offering a variety of subscription boxes. The online butcher has over 50 types and cuts of raw meat and seafood to choose from, with a few fully cooked options as well (such as egg bites, meatballs, and crab cakes).

Good Chop sources responsibly raised meat and seafood from domestic family farms and independent ranchers who also value animal welfare and sustainability. This means they are raised without hormones or antibiotics—and many (but not all) are organic and grass-fed. 

The brand offers premium beef options (such as USDA Prime and 100% grass-fed), responsibly raised chicken, and vegetarian-fed pork. In terms of seafood, Good Chop has wild-caught salmon, shrimp, Alaskan halibut, and more.

How does Good Chop work?

When you sign up for Good Chop, you'll first select your box size:

Once you've chosen your box size and how often you want to receive it (every 4, 6, or 8 weeks), it's time to fill that box up with meat! You'll be prompted to select your cuts from a large list of options such as thick-cut uncured bacon, boneless pork chops, 100% grass-fed ground beef, ground bison, chicken wings, and many seafood options. 

Once your box is full, you’ll create your account by entering your email, a password, and your delivery address. Good Chop allows you to select your delivery day (I had the option of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday) along with the date you want your first box to arrive.

You can specify here if you want the delivery to be left at your back or front door and there’s a space to add any additional delivery instructions

The last step is adding in your payment info—and then you’re all set. You will receive an email alert when your box ships, and the boxes typically arrive one to two days from the shipment date (on the arrival date you selected)

All Good Chop meat and seafood is flash-frozen at peak freshness, and it arrives still frozen in an insulated box. Once received, you'll want to put the contents in the freezer right away to preserve the freshness and quality.

Bonus: You can cancel or pause your subscription at any time! Just make sure you remember to do so by the Sunday before your shipment date to avoid being charged.

My experience testing Good Chop

To get the full Good Chop experience, I tested the brand's best-selling cuts of meat and seafood. Here's everything that was in my box:

I've had a few frustrating instances with boxes from other meal delivery services arriving damaged or not at optimal freshness, so I really appreciated Good Chop's efficient delivery. The box arrived completely intact (just one day after my shipment alert), and the contents were still frozen when I opened it.

Fair warning: Even the medium box has a lot of meat. It was definitely a bit of a Tetris game getting it to fit in my tiny New York City apartment freezer—but I was happy with the amount of food you get for the cost.

Most importantly, the meat tasted extremely fresh. While I was a little disappointed that the cuts I received were not organic or grass-fed (the brand does have those options!), I really did notice the difference in freshness and flavor compared to similar cuts from my grocery store.

Burgers are a regular item on my menu rotation, and when I used the Good Chop meat last week my boyfriend immediately asked if I had done something different. Spoiler alert: The Good Chop ground beef was the only change from my typical recipe.

The ribeye steak was very tender and juicy. I'm not personally a steak connoisseur, but I have been eating more recently and I could really taste the freshness in every bite.

My favorite thing in the box was the wild-caught Sockeye salmon (might be biased because I'm a salmon lover). I could tell it was high-quality just by the color, and the taste did not disappoint.

The shrimp and chicken both tasted fairly standard (great, but not much different from what I'd regularly get). And I admit I just do not like bacon, so I didn't try that one—but my boyfriend sang its rich, juicy praises.

What I'd change about Good Chop

While I enjoyed the meat and seafood in my Good Chop box, I was disappointed that the cuts I received were not the brand's highest quality. For example, I received the brand's standard ground beef rather than the 100% grass-fed option and the standard chicken breasts instead of the free-range and organic cut.

I love that Good Chop offers these higher-quality options, but I don't quite understand why they also offer less premium cuts at seemingly the same cost. I'd prefer if all options on the site were the highest quality to fall in line with the brand's overarching standards.

Of course, the easy way around this is to just fill your box with the more premium cuts! I would recommend browsing through and choosing those that are marked as organic, grass-fed, free-range, USDA choice, etc.

Is Good Chop worth it?

At first I was turned off by the cost of meat subscription services, but I was pretty shocked by the amount of food in the Good Chop box—and I got the smallest option! Realistically (when you net out the costs with the amount of food you get), you're likely saving money compared to weekly grocery hauls.

What's more, the quality and freshness are above and beyond most cuts at my local grocery store. And while you could go to a specialty butcher and get similar quality (depending on where you live), I would come back to Good Chop for the convenience factor alone.

Ultimately, I do think Good Chop is worth it for any families, couples, or individuals who eat a good amount of meat and want to keep their freezer stocked with high-quality options. But I'd pay close attention to which cuts you're choosing, because some are better quality than others.

The takeaway

I take my protein quantity goals seriously, but I think it's about time we pay attention to the quality as well. Good Chop makes it easy to stock my freezer with high-quality, sustainably sourced meat and seafood options—and I can truly taste the difference.