This article lists and reviews the 14 best mail order steak services available online, allowing you to choose a company that suits your specific needs and tastes.
The phrase “mail order” makes me think of the cheesy ads I used to see in comics as a kid. remember them? I really wanted to send for x-ray specs, ventriloquism lessons, and plans to make my own robot.
I never did, and I’m sure it’s fine; that was all total bullshit. there was no end of products to waste your money on through mail order, from pills to increase your car’s fuel efficiency to brides abroad. (However, as a writer, I have to admit that some of the best marketing copy ever written was for mail order catalogs.)
But you can order incredibly delicious, high-quality steaks and other cuts of meat right to your door via mail order!
To help you avoid a mail-order disaster (like the infamous cardboard submarine), I’ve reviewed tons of companies that ship steaks by mail or courier, and narrowed them down to the top 14.
Below, you’ll learn what each does best and which one you should try to get the exact steak you’re looking for. from value to premium and some real niche sellers, you don’t want to waste your money if it’s not here.
everything ready? just send $3.95 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope…
best overall: porter highway
We do not lightly grant anyone the honor of ranking 1st for best mail order steaks. Trust me when I say these guys have earned it! I’ll summarize why below, but you can get the full low down in our Porter Road meat delivery review.
We are big fans of buying meat from good local butchers who source from good local farms. Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to live near a reputable store. Porter Road has taken that friendly, personal shopping style and modeled a great online store on it.
porter road began as a butcher shop in the nashville area, hand-cutting meat at its kentucky facility. Online since 2017, today they source meat from select farms in Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania that adhere to humane and sustainable farming processes. it is still processed by hand in kentucky before being shipped to the contiguous 48 states.
From their online store, you can choose to fill your virtual cart with the individual cuts of your choice or choose from a collection of gift packs and boxes. You can also sign up for a subscription service and receive a selection of cured meats every two, four, or eight weeks. shipping is free on subscription boxes.
porter road offers a wide variety of steaks, including some lesser-known cuts like the merlot steak and the modern denver steak. all of their steaks are dry-aged to enhance flavor.
I should mention that you won’t find any ratings here. Porter Road deals with small farms, and for most of them, it’s just not worth the added cost of having a USDA rating on every cut. they state that when their members have opted for rating, the results are usually choice plus or prime.
In addition to steaks, Porter Road offers a variety of cuts and beef products, including hot dogs, roasts, frankfurters, ground beef and even bacon and beef ribs. Plus, they sell enough pork, lamb, and chicken to satisfy all your carnivorous needs.
We rate Porter Road #1 overall for its impressive variety of steaks, both famous and obscure, and its approach to business. you can feel good knowing that you’re not only getting to enjoy delicious meat (at attractive prices, I might add), but you’re also supporting hard-working small farmers.
look them up and see if you don’t end up placing your first order today:
navigate porter road
best premium: snake river farms
Although the name Snake River Farms wouldn’t roll out until a couple of decades later, this company’s roots extend way back to 1968. Based in Boise, Idaho (a state with more cattle than people), SRF carved out a unique market share for itself.
By breeding Japanese Wagyu with American Angus cattle, it could be argued that Snake River Farms created a new breed. and wow, they take their parenting seriously! Today, his exceptional herd roams his 80,000-acre ranch in Washington, grazing grass in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.
If you didn’t already know, Wagyu beef is prized for its incredible flavor, intense marbling, and buttery texture. Unfortunately, true Japanese wagyu is a challenge to get out of Japan; this may be the next best option. (Want to know more about wagyu and why you want to eat it? Read our full article on Japan’s gift for meat lovers here: A Guide to Wagyu Beef.)
Shopping at snake river farms is a piece of cake: you can order a la carte, choose only the cuts you want, select from a variety of select meats (currently including the steak lovers collection, with 11 steaks to enjoy), or subscribe and receive a small or large box of meat delivered monthly or every three months.
Part of what sets SRF apart from other purveyors of American Wagyu is the incredible quality of their meat. much of their catalog is “black grade” wagyu, which exceeds usda prime for marbling. still not good enough? then taste “golden grade,” the highest level of excellence for American wagyu.
snake river farms offers fresh and dry-aged beef, including steaks of all cuts, corned beef, roasts and brisket. They also sell premium pork and all your grill favorites like hamburgers, hotdogs and ribs.
We love srf for many reasons, one of which is its approach to farming. they strive to be as sustainable as possible, including sourcing food locally when needed, selling their composted waste for fertilizer, and treating their livestock humanely.
Snake River Farms may not be your go-to source for daily steaks, unless you’re pretty satisfied. But if you love steak, you should treat yourself to some of the world’s finest cuts. honestly, this is extraordinary.
Snake River Farms ships to all 50 states at the time of this writing, with an additional premium for Hawaii and Alaska. You can find out more in our most detailed and comprehensive review of snake river farms, or view their range here:
explore snake river farms
best organic: multitude of cows
Crowd Cow hasn’t been in the game that long (founded in 2015), but they’ve quickly made a name for themselves in the mail-order steak market. Heck, they even got a shout-out in the Netflix series The Ranch with Ashton Kutcher and Sam Elliott.
All meat is sourced from small to medium-sized ranches across the United States, each vetted for compliance with sustainability and eco-sensitive farming. so yes, if you’re a vegan and somehow made it to this page, it’s possible to eat meat and take care of the environment at the same time.
You can choose from grass-fed, pasture-raised, pasture-raised and Japanese wagyu on the shopping page. For each category, there’s an excellent selection of cuts, including all your favorites and some lesser-known steaks like tri-tip and coulotte.
What’s really cool, though, is what happens after you click on the fillet you want. scroll down and you can read a bio on the exact farm your steak came from. in fact, you can even shop by farm and support specific places that may be near you and boost your local economy or align with your personal values.
then you have the option to follow individual farms to see what others are saying and then spread the word to help farmers and consumers even more.
It’s a pretty good setup that not only provides traceability and consumer confidence, but also helps little boys and girls in an era of mass meat production. Oh, and the steaks are great too!
learn much, much more by clicking through to our detailed review of the mob cows, or click below to see their range for yourself:
navigate crowd of cows
best for japanese wagyu: holy grail steak company
We’re assigning legendary status when we refer to something as “the Holy Grail of…”. Said item is coveted by aficionados and rare to the point of near-unattainability. In the steak world, that’s Japanese A5 wagyu.
holy grail steak company offers ordinary people like you and me the opportunity to purchase the rarest and highest quality steaks in the world. in fact, they’re the only online seller of genuine kobe beef (some say the pinnacle of wagyu) on the planet. that’s dan brown-level stuff.
the holy grail team refer to themselves as “meat nerds” and “meat ninjas”. Based in New York City, they don’t raise meat themselves. however, they ensure access to the world’s most prized beef, working with select farmers and suppliers in japan, including ultra-rare cuts like “snow beef” from hokkaido.
You can also order other premium steaks, such as American and Australian wagyu and premium black angus. additional offerings include carrot-finished beef, 100% grass-fed premium beef, premium lamb, kurobuta pork, burgers, and a selection of dry-cured steaks.
of course, shipping fresh steaks from japan to your home would be next to impossible. Instead, freshly cut steaks are flash frozen at -30°F for perfect preservation. then they are shipped to you packed on dry ice in a combination of recyclable and biodegradable packaging.
holy grail steak company ships to the lower 48 states via ground or air, with free ground shipping on orders over $199, which, based on their prices, would be hard not to do.
They say they can try to accommodate special order requests, so if you’re outside of the contiguous United States and really want to place an order, you can always contact them and arrange whatever they can arrange.
if you’ve ever dreamed of trying the world’s most decadent, expensive and least accessible steaks, without a plane ticket to japan, holy grail steak company is the way to make it happen. It’s a big waste, but what a story you’ll have!
discover the steaks of the rich & famous here:
find holy grail steaks
best for halal: boxed halal
The Arabic word “halal” translates to “permissible” in English. For Muslims, anything designated as halal is deemed acceptable for consumption or use, according to a religious leader and scholar called an Imam.
very specific criteria must be met for something to be declared halal, and many certification bodies do.
Unfortunately, not all organizations are as thorough as they should be, which can confuse Muslim consumers: which companies can they trust?
one of the leading certification bodies in the united states is the halal food standards alliance of america (hfssa), and the halal box prominently displays its hfssa certification label. so buy with confidence!
Access to mail-order halal beef is extraordinarily convenient for consumers, especially those who live outside of big cities. From its base of operations in Chicago, Boxed Halal ships frozen products in insulated boxes anywhere in the United States.
the boxed halal currently offers a limited selection of steaks, but they are true beauties. At the time of writing, options include ribeye, flank, ny strip, and (when you feel like it) Australian wagyu ribeye and ny strip.
Of course, you don’t have to be Muslim to order halal boxed food. This is high-quality, grass-fed, grain-finished beef sourced from sustainable farms without growth hormones or antibiotics. and everything is usda certified.
another interesting fact is that the halal box donates a part of its profits to families in need.
There is currently no subscription service and shipping costs are based on weight and your location. prices seem to line up with other purveyors of meat of similar quality, and customer reviews are overwhelmingly favourable. And if you like steak, you might want to try their other beef products (including bacon; pork is forbidden in Muslim culture) and their wide selection of chicken, seafood, lamb, goat, and deli meats.
I’ve written for a few halal brands in my time and I know how important this is to Muslim consumers. I also know how difficult it can be to find a reputable supplier that sells meat that you like to eat! delicious halal steaks delivered right to your door? I can hear some of you saying, “take my money!” already.
look for halal at checkout
best for extreme steaks: chicago steak company
The goal of every griller is to cook the best, most delicious steak humanly possible. The next goal is, of course, to impress the heck out of whomever you’re cooking for. Sometimes, that means going to extremes.
for large steaks you only see on instagram, chicago steak company is one of the best sources out there.
Let’s look at tomahawks as an example. A tomahawk steak is nothing more than a bone-in ribeye, only the bone is at least 5 inches long! they have no practical value, but they look fantastic.
clicking on the tomahawk section of chicago steak company’s website reveals five options (six, if you count the pork version): dry-aged premium angus, wet-aged premium angus, usda prime, usda prime dry aged and usda wet aged. that’s a lot of tommies.
You’ll find a similar variety of porterhouse and t-bone steaks, with sizes up to 48 oz. They also sell one of my favorite steaks, the baseball cut sirloin. it’s only 6 oz., but it’s incredibly thick, making it basically impossible to cook it beyond doneness. If you love the feeling of chewing on a bite of tender, juicy meat, put a baseball on your shopping list.
need steaks to impress? Chicago Steak Company ships ultra-high-quality, vacuum-sealed, quick-frozen beef to all 50 states. you can browse their website (I recommend a large monitor!) here:
explore my chicago steak
Best Steak Gift Boxes: Kansas City Steaks
Anyone with a barbecue knows that the best gift of all is more meat! If you have a friend, relative, co-worker, or employee who deserves a special treat, I highly recommend reviewing the gift box options from Kansas City Steaks.
There’s an amazing variety of gift boxes, some with steak and some with food combinations, and they’re shipped in fancy black boxes emblazoned with the Kansas City Steak Company logo. You can also choose combos that include desserts and side dishes and other main course options.
I love the thoughtful inclusions in some of the boxes. like the special butter-topped gift box steak combo: your lucky recipient receives 2 6oz filet mignon, 2 8oz kansas city strips, 2 8oz ribeyes and 3oz roasted garlic butter for a decadent ending.
and it’s more than just a pretty package: the kansas city steak company sells premium aged steaks, including prime rib, sirloin, and (of course) kansas city steaks, also known as ny strip. Plus, you can find hard-to-find cuts like picanha, bone-in filet mignon, and ribeye steak.
So if you’re looking for gifts for that special steak lover on your list, reach out to the Kansas City Steak Company and be sure to get an invite to dinner:
find kansas city steaks
best for unique cuts: omaha steaks
It’s easy to fall into the steak loop: Sirloin, Strip, Ribeye, repeat. Omaha Steaks makes it easy to break out and try something new, including variations on classics you thought you’d done to death.
Based, of course, in Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha Steaks began in 1917. As a company, they pride themselves not only on their delicious steaks but also on their exceptional butchery. this allows them to offer steaks you’ll rarely see elsewhere.
Omaha has a few surprises with even the best-known cuts, including dry-aged bone-in ny loins and a sirloin top roast. Don’t miss out on their incredible king cuts either, like the 48-ounce bone-in ribeye and 72-ounce top sirloin. (available at the time of writing this article).
Omaha steaks also give you the opportunity to sample some unique cuts you may have only read about. like the tender and richly flavorful flat iron steak, pre-sliced tri-tips (hello, steak sandwich!), and succulent sliceable flank and skirt steaks. it’s a testament to their butcher-first mentality that they’ve made such a variety available.
Ready to get out of the rut? Omaha Steaks delivers to all 50 states (Alaska and Hawaii are priced higher), Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and even north of the Canadian border. And if you’re desperate, they offer express service in just 1-2 business days for an additional fee.
check out their impressive lineup here – it’s fun to sail:
explore omaha steaks
best for busy lives: butcher box
Maybe you love to eat steak and other meat regularly? Maybe you lead a busy life and don’t have time to shop? Perhaps you live somewhere without easy access to a butcher shop? Or maybe, it’s some combination or even all three?
What I mean is that there are many good reasons to have someone else do the work for you when it comes to buying meat.
butcher box is a subscription based meat mail order business ready to make buying steaks simple. It starts by choosing your plan – you can fully customize an order or select mixed protein, beef and veal. chicken, beef & pork or just beef, which would be the ideal choice for meat lovers.
then you choose the size of the box you want to receive, either 8-11 pounds or 16-22 pounds. Finally, you tell them how often they should ship your order: every 4, 6, or 8 weeks. that’s it!
Now all you have to do is wait for the delicious steaks to start arriving. oh, and shipping is free to the 48 contiguous states.
so what can you get? the example given for a cured smaller box (ie they choose the meat) includes:
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 new york strip steaks
- 1 pound premium steak tips
- 2 pounds beef grilled
- 4 top sirloin steaks
As you can see, you will not only get steaks, but you will also get other quality beef to cook with. plus, you can always add additional steaks or choose to customize your order entirely.
butcher box offers flat iron steak, top sirloin, ribeye, ny strip, top sirloin and ranch steaks. It’s all pasture-raised, grass-fed and finished, and comes primarily from Australia.
butcher box offers a level of quality and convenience that might be just what you’re looking for for a set-it-and-forget-it approach to shopping for steaks. no more empty freezers!
To see how it works and pricing, visit their website. it’s easy to click and create a sample order without committing to anything:
search butcher box
best for game steaks: fossil farms
This entry on our Best of list occupies a unique niche in the mail order meat business. While they sell a selection of excellent steaks, including Angus, Piedmontese, and Japanese and domestic wagyu, Fossil Farms sets itself apart with a variety of non-beef steaks. Ready to get experimental?
Searching for “steak” on their website reveals not only delicious beef, but also intriguing options like yak ny strip, ribeye bison, and porterhouse venison. if you’re feeling a bit “man vs. wild”, fossil farms has you covered!
Basically, you’ll find many of the more popular cuts you’re familiar with, but that come from farm-raised game. In addition to the animals listed above, you can also order antelope, elk, kangaroo, emu, and ostrich steaks.
the rest of the lineup includes:
- crocodile
- berkshire pig
- chicken
- duck
- goose
- hen guinea
- lamb
- pheasant
- quail
- rabbit
- squab
- turkey< /li
- boar
Fossil Farms, now almost 25 years old, raises many of its own animals in New Jersey and also sources from all over the United States. all are farm-raised on free-range pastures and fed a vegetarian diet.
Since few companies sell games like this, it’s hard to say how their prices compare to the market. however, the meats look beautiful, and it’s incredibly tempting to fill your basket with a little bit of everything.
Shipping is available throughout the continental United States, and if you live in Northern New Jersey, you can get your order delivered.
if you’re tired of the same old thing (I’m a game, and you?), you have to take a look at this catalog of game meats:
explore fossil farms
best for grass-fed: d’artagnan
The food industry is full of buzzwords and callouts, and the steak biz is no exception. One of those terms you may have seen is “grass-fed beef.” What is it, and do you want it?
There’s no mystery here: grass-fed beef comes from cows raised exclusively on grass. though sometimes, you’ll see “grass-fed, grain-finished” for cows that are fattened up for grain slaughter. grass-fed cows take longer to mature and are considered by many to be healthier, offering more nutrients and less fat. Check out this guide for a deeper look at comparing grass-fed and grain-fed beef.
But doesn’t fat equal flavor? yes, that is usually the case. so to compensate, d’artagnan (founded by a french woman and named after one of the three musketeers) ages its hoofed meat: they are allowed to graze until they are twice the age of typical cattle.
This extra time on the pasture matures the meat and gives them time to pack on some extra fat. The result is a tender and delicious steak that is certified human and raised in the remote pastures of Australia.
not convinced? What if I told you that D’Artagnan supplies meat to some of the best restaurants and most famous chefs in the country, including Bobby Flay and the late Anthony Bourdain? that’s a very good company!
d’artagnan ships overnight to all 50 states in recyclable, compostable and biodegradable packaging. if you want to find out what this grass fed buzz is all about, get it right and ask these guys :
explore dartagnan
Best for Value: Farm Foods
You have to be in a much higher tax bracket than I currently find myself in to eat good steaks more than occasionally — and I stress the word “good” here. It’s a premium food category, but that’s ok — what’s life without treating yourself?
however,
farmfoods has the idea that steaks can be part of your regular menu planning. it says on their website:
“We believe that meat should be affordable, without sacrificing quality.”
To live up to their belief, they offer a variety of deals and purchase options to help keep costs down. however, don’t worry; everything is good quality, farm raised, grass fed & finished beef.
Checking out their steak section, we found all the usual suspects: filet mignon, ny strip, sirloin and rib eye. plus some less common options, including brisket, plank, and flank.
However, where farm foods really shine is in the discounts and packages available. these change over time, of course, but browsing the site yields some great deals. In particular, you can save a lot of money on mixed packs that can contain a variety of cuts of meat or even a mix of proteins.
This may also be the only site I found with a dedicated sale tab that leads to current specials. I am especially intrigued by the “surprise package” deals, which are sold at deep discounts. no surprise by the way: you can click and see exactly what you get.
farmfoods also has a wholesale section where you can shop. they say it is intended for restaurants and the like, but that the public can participate. this is your best bet for large amounts of meat at reasonable prices. however, be careful; you’ll have to portion the meat yourself.
Your order ships from Kansas City, and to further reduce costs, any order over £10 ships free to the lower 48 countries. For a reasonable fee ($29.99 at time of writing), you can ship your steaks to Alaska, Hawaii, or the US Virgin Islands.
If the idea of saving some money makes your mouth water as much as steaks, support the little one and try farm foods:
find farm foods
best for variety & bragging rights: new york lobel’s
Lobel’s is one of the most famous names in meat, even outside the barbecue community. In fact, they may be better known among the very elite — which frankly, totally excludes me. But, just because I don’t hob-nob with Manhattan socialites (Lobel’s has a storefront on Madison Avenue), that doesn’t mean I can’t eat the same steaks!
Now in its sixth generation of family-owned butchers, Lobel’s has a long and proud tradition of quality and a close connection to New York City. for example, you can enjoy a lobel steak sandwich at yankee stadium.
It goes without saying that there’s a lot of prestige involved when ordering lobel’s steaks, and you’ll want to mention as many names as possible.
but there’s more to it than that, or I wouldn’t have them on the list.
lobel’s sells top quality steaks and lots of them. Between usda prime, natural prime and american wagyu categories, there are 56 steak cuts to choose from. (Again, that’s accurate at the time of this writing.)
many cuts are dry-aged for added flavor and some are cut twice as thick for sharing, like the 30-ounce, 4-inch-thick double strip. hmm, twice!
take lots of photos, my friends! There’s no question that, for most of us, lobel isn’t your everyday source of steak. but, if you are a great meat lover, it is an experience that you have to try, even if it is only once.
you can discover the legend of lobel’s new york with a click right here:
find lobes
best parenting: pat lafrieda
Many of the better online meat purveyors offer dry-aged steaks. But, no one does it better than Pat LaFrieda, “America’s most celebrated butcher,” according to his website. Ok, but what’s dry-aged, and why should you care?
In a nutshell, you hang the beef in a controlled environment and allow time, temperature, air and humidity to work. I won’t go into the details, but the result is an incredibly deep, rich flavor and unusual tenderness if done correctly. If you’d like to learn more, including how to taste dry-aged beef at home, here’s our complete guide on how to make dry-aged steaks at home.
now pat lafrieda (man and business share name) sells a variety of beautiful usda prime steaks, expertly cut and ready for your grill. but, the meat of his operation is the dry-aged steak variety. it’s a drool-worthy gallery of gorgeously marbled meat.
At the time of this writing, the lineup included 11 different usda prime black angus steaks and rib roasts, all dry-aged for a minimum of 30 days. in some cases, you can choose a dry aging of 30, 45 or 60 days. Of particular note is the 40-ounce tomahawk steak with Lafrieda’s Instagram hashtag etched into the bone.
Hey, if you’re eating such an exceptional steak, why wouldn’t you show it to the world?
I won’t lie; this is expensive stuff, and you won’t even get free shipping. but you will get an extraordinary steak experience. For a special occasion, Lafrieda should absolutely be on your shortlist. you can surf, dream, drool and finally give in to temptation here:
explore lafrieda
final thoughts
what a time we live in, that we can order amazing steaks from all over the country, choosing our cuts and quality, sometimes even choosing the specific farm, and have them delivered right to our doorstep.
If you are a meat lover like me, you must try some of these places. Even if you have a great butcher nearby (and I always advocate supporting local businesses), there are so many options available online to order that you’ll find something you just can’t get any other way.
thank you for going through the list. found one (or several) you want to try? tell us who and how was your experience! And if we left your mail order steakhouse off the list, please share it with us and maybe we’ll include it in a future update.
Happy steak shopping folks!