Food/Meat delivery companies – worth it?

Forums: Health, Food, Meat, Csa, Food Delivery
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We had a food delivery company call us – it sounded potentially ok so we agreed to a visit. Now I am not familiar with these companies, but the gist is you order like 4 or 5 months of food from them and you get high quality meats and chicken and fish. Not the crap (or so they tell us) you get in the grocery stores. They leave you with a sample of a couple of steaks, hamburgers and chicken.

So the pitch – starts out ok – other than they use a “scare” tacit. Tell us how we are providing chemicals/growth hormones to our children, how kids are going through puberty at 7. I know some is true, but obviously they are exaggerating the impacts. Any way - we discuss our eating habits and he comes up with a proposal on how much getting certain items would cost. But in total not per so it is difficult to compare – saying per week and stuff.

Then he tells us we don’t have enough storage space – we have a refridge and freezer upstairs and one in our basement. Because you buy so much at one time you need a separate freezer to store. He then goes to say that they recommend theirs and in monthly payments over 48 months you actually end up paying less because then they will give you a discount off the food.

We end up saying we need a week to consider it. Anyone ever have something like this before? On the surface it seems good, but I don’t want a 4 year obligation and have no desire to have a restaurant quality freezer so we are going to say no thanks. Just curious of these companies.

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@Linkat,

If I had the space I'd rather sign up with a CSA and then source meat from a local farm/butcher (you're in a great location for both) than go through a company where I can't check out the source/s.

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@ehBeth,

There is a good local butcher - the used to be located in the same city I lived in. They have since moved and are actually pretty close to where we moved. We've gone to them, but the hours aren't the best - great meats.

I also can buy local veggies and fruits from local farms where I can - as there are some right down the street from me. I haven't signed with anyone - CSA - I'm not sure where to find one. Maybe I can find a source.

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@Linkat,

http://extension.umass.edu/vegetable/resources/csa-information-listings

I'm envious - you've got access to what are supposed to be some of the best CSA's in the US.

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@ehBeth,

funny I did a quick search just in my immediate area and got a farm that I actually know the family. A good friend of mine from high school's family had a farm and they now have a CSA.

Too late for this year, but just down the street, there is a farm that basically sells road side. So I do try to buy local if I can.

Also, hope to grow some of my own next year with all the space we have. Currently I am growing some herbs in pots on my deck.

The meat is more difficult to find though.

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Our CSA's are fabulous, but we have a hard time using all the veggies every week - we'll do good 3/4 weeks out of the month, but one week, it'll really pile up, and we sometimes deal with spoilage.

My guess is that food deliveries of any type are very similar - great, until you have an odd week.

Cycloptichorn

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I''m not a fan of long term freezing a lot of meat. Freezers generally warm up and cool down, a process that eventually degrades protein. Rare is the freezer - usually in laboratories - that stays at a constant low temp.

To me that particular delivery system you describe seems just an interesting sales pitch for freezers unless you have a family of twelve. Not that I can't see having a separate small freezer - but I guess you already have that with your second refrigerator freezer.

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@ossobuco,

Thus them trying to sell us a restaurant grade freezer. Supposedly you can freeze this meat for like a couple of years - not that we would do that. We had the sample steak on Saturday and actually prefer the steak we buy.

It was a New York strip and we do not normally buy that cut of steak. We eat it maybe everyother week so when we do we usually have filet mignon or Ribeye. Sometimes we will marniate steak tips.

The steak they had in their sample was a bit too tough for my taste. Supposedly according to this man, the ground beef is excellent. The chicken breast in the sample is so tiny - so I can't imagine that serving size would satisfy my girls.

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@Linkat,

I've not ever frozen meat for a couple of years, so I don't personally know. I just know we had to treat our proteins in the lab well, thus sometimes using a -70 degree freezer for certain specimens, using the freezer that comes with a fridge only for known short term storage. The -70 freezer was a whole freezer room at constant temp. So, I call b.s. on this, but again, I don't know, as I never freeze meat all that long.

JPB might have an opinion on this, and agree with me or not. I'd be interested in what she says, either way.
Farmerman probably would have an opinion too, maybe giving a longer freezer time than I would.

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@Linkat,

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@lishou10021,

Hello?

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@ossobuco,

I read that twice. Probably intended for another thread. Maybe?

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@Linkat,

I wouldn't do it, myself. I did subscribe to an organic veg/fruit plan years ago when they first came out but shared it with a friend as they delivered way too much for the three of us to eat each week. You get whatever's available, which is sometimes a problem. Who eats 4 lbs of beets a week? Or 6 romaine lettuces? You get what they're growing each season and you still have to go shopping. So, we stopped after a year or so. I think it was called Small Potatoes or some such.

As for meats, I like to choose my own, not get what they decide. I like to look at what's available and get deals. I also like to buy organic and unless they had a certificate saying it was, I wouldn't trust them.

And I would certainly not go for their freezer! That was a red flag to me. I try to clean out my freezer of meats regularly, and I do date the packages.

Mostly I have things like butter, pastry dough, soup stock, berries, peas, home cooked meat and fruit pies in there - they seem to last forever. I think Osso has something about protein items breaking down or whatever, unless they're cooked.

I bet you don't take them up on it.

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@lishou10021,

huh??? what the heck does weight loss have to do with this?

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@Mame,

No we had decided that same day or the next day that we would not.

Neither one of us liked the idea of buying the freezer. Then we started talking about how he added a few items on like prepared type foods - chicken parm/meatballs - things we wouldn't ordinarily buy but he insisted we should try. He tried to push breaded chicken saying how much time it would save. I told him I make this all the time and it takes about 10 minutes extra to bread the chicken so no thank you.

And the portion of the chicken breast was so tiny - and I don't eat huge portions. I was thinking two of them wouldn't feed one of my kids. I'd rather be a bit inconvienced and go to the butcher. We also have a Trader Joes since we have moved that is just a couple of miles away - that I like to go to.

I think I also agree on the CSA with the local farms. As good as they seem - it seems there would be veggies that we wouldn't eat - and I hate to waste food. With several local farms and some smaller grocery stores nearby that sell local farm produce, I think we can get quality fruits and veggies without joining - just need to plan a bit more.

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@Linkat,

Whew, what a pushy salesman!! I bet he convinces a lot of people who then have buyer's remorse.

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@Mame,

I think he plays it well.

They try to also sell you "normal" like grocery stuff you buy - like Jiff peanut butter, mac n cheese - for the convience. He does say he doesn't recommend the tuna as it is more expensive with them.

Then when we were discussing soap, I told him what my doctor recommended that is good for your skin - so then he brought in the water filtration system and how wonderful it is and how if you buy this, you can decrease your food prices with additional discounts (another montly thing over so many months)

He did say that many people buy that afterwards - I think he knows to push a little and then pull back so it doesn't appear he is overselling.

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@Linkat,

I'm leery of anything like this ever since I learned about "meat glue."

Basically, it's an enzyme that lets you glue pieces of meat together in order to make them look like a higher-quality cut.

This pitch does sound iffy on a number of levels, though.

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@DrewDad,

Actually that kinda of what he used to "scare" us from buying from the grocery store. Saying they use pink glue or something like that. Then he said they get their meat from Mexico not US - and all they have to have is one sign and not on the packages.

So I went to the grocery store and the sign says - Meat is from Mexico, US and Canada. I looked at a pack of chicken and it is said from USA. So they do put it on the packages.

They are supposed to be selling all organic meat - to be honest, I wasn't doubting their quality of meat - more their selling tacits and is it really worth it. I did look them up - although they got a D rating on BBB - it seemed to result from 1 complaint - they had only received 4 complaints with all resolved but 1 - it seems all complaints were based on their selling - freezer included.

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We get ground up Brisket as our hamburger meat - tastes frikken fantastic, the butcher does it right there for ya. No fillers or meat glue in that!

Cycloptichorn

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Food/Meat delivery companies – worth it?

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