Crowd Cow Review: Quality Meat, Fair Prices, Great Selection
Saving money on crowd cow review quality does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.
Key Takeaways
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- High-quality meat from small farms at a decent price delivered to your door. A statement like that sure gets my attention.
High-quality meat from small farms at a decent cost delivered to your door.
A statement like that sure gets my attention.
I’ve tried a fair share of meat delivery services over the years. And while these services have saved me and my family of five a lot of time, they’re not exactly affordable.
A value pack of ground beef at Costo or Walmart is about 50% less expensive than what I pay when ordering meat online.
But as someone who cares about both healthy eating and the environmental impact of the foods I consume, I’m willing to spend more to purchase high-quality meat from farms that raise their animals using healthy, humane, and sustainable methods.
That said, I’m always looking for the service that provides the best balance of quality and cost.
In this Crowd Cow review, I’ll talk about my personal experience with the company, which I’ve now ordered from twice.
4.7/5Crowd Cow is an organic meat delivery service that offers high-quality "craft meat" at excellent prices , from everyday staples like grass fed ground beef to hard-to-find cuts like authentic Japanese A5 Wagyu.
Pros:- Bulk savings starting at just six pounds.
- Sourced from independent farms and ranches (and you can see exactly where your meat comes from).
- Fast and reliable delivery.
- Shipping fees for all orders under $99.
- Smaller selection than some other services, especially if you're looking for prepared meats (like pot roast) and snacks (like beef jerky and beef sticks).
Table of Contents
ToggleWhat Is Crowd Cow?
When I order meat from other popular online meat delivery services, I know the handful of farms that the meat comes from.
In this regard, Crowd Cow is different from its competitors. The meat doesn’t just come from one farm, or even from multiple farms owned by Crowd Cow. Instead, the company sources meat from a relatively large number of very small independent farms and ranches.
As I write this, there are a total of 45 different farms that have partnered with Crowd Cow, which include sources for fish and other sustainable seafood.
This enables the company to offer a very wide variety of products, from your standard cuts of beef to more exotic options like high-end Japanese Wagyu and bison.
As a customer, there are two options for ordering:
- You can shop by individual farm on Crowd Cow à la carte. This way, you’ll know the exact farming practices and location.
- You can become a member, which is free and gets you a 5% discount on your order. You then shop their pre-selected offerings. For most items, you still know the specific farm. Other times, a certain item may come from one of numerous farms. As an example, there are potentially two farms (Raised Rite and True Grit) that the New York Strip Steak shown below could come from.
Founders Joe Heitzeberg and Ethan Lowry , both veterans of the Seattle tech scene, with Lowry having co-founded the popular Urbanspoon app and Joe coming from leading the startup incubator Madrona Venture Group , happened upon this idea because they were each having trouble finding a good source of beef for their personal consumption.
Heitzeberg and Lowry loved the idea of eating beef from a small farm that raised its animals responsibly, but most of the farms they found required them to purchase a quarter or a half of a cow (which can cost over $1,000).
Plus, that large amount of meat requires a lot of storage.
This is very similar to my own experience. To avoid buying factory-farmed meat, I’ve tried local meat CSAs, the farmers market, buying direct from local farms and even asked friends if they wanted to split a quarter of a cow.
All of these options have their pros and cons, with the one common factor being that each takes time , whether that’s the 30-minute drive (with a limited pickup window) to grab the meat CSA or calling around to work out the logistics of sourcing a cow and splitting the costs with friends
It’s for this reason that Lowry suggested they “crowdfund” purchasing a cow, getting 50 people to purchase into a single animal. That way, more people could take part in buying meat from these incredible small farms without having to pay for a half of a cow upfront.
While that was the original idea, Crowd Cow has since expanded beyond cows.
Here’s what they now offer:
- 100% grass fed beef
- Pasture-raised grain fed beef
- American Wagyu beef
- Japanese Wagyu beef
- Free-range, pasture raised chicken
- Bison
- Game meats (like venison and duck)
- Lamb
- Pork (including sausage, bacon, etc.)
- Sustainable seafood
- Turkey
Crowd Cow also sells ground meats, spices, dog treats and a variety of other meat-related items.
All of the company’s meats are sourced from local, independent farmers and co-ops, and are free of artificial hormones. Crowd Cow does not source meat from the mega meat industry or from factory farms.
Note: Crowd Cow exclusively offers meat items. If you’re looking for a good produce and fresh-food delivery option, check out my Imperfect Foods review. If you’re looking for a meal kit delivery service, read our Hungryroot review.
Ordering From Crowd Cow
Part of the reason a middleman like Crowd Cow is helpful in connecting shoppers with small independent farms is that building and maintaining a modern e-commerce website requires a lot of resources and know-how.
So by selling their products through the Crowd Cow platform, farmers can get back to doing what they do best.
Before you order from Crowd Cow, remember that there are two options:
- You can order items à la carte.
- You can sign up for a membership, which saves you 5%.
It’s a no brainer to sign up for a membership. It’s free, simple to cancel, saves you 5% and gives you free shipping on orders over $99.
However, what signing up for a membership also does is make it so that your order will automatically repeat every month until you change or cancel it , so be aware of that if you choose to take advantage of the 5% discount.
Note: You can save
Final Thoughts
The bottom line: a little research on crowd cow review quality goes a long way. Compare your options, watch for seasonal offers, and never pay full price when a better deal is one click away.
Originally published at thewaystowealth.com.
R.J. Weiss
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