fluffy rambles

Here’s a basic cost comparison (at time of my initial purchase, anyway; many items are more expensive on Crowd Cow now):

• Salmon portions

  • Crowd cow: $9
  • QFC: $9

  Unlike most of the items, these were literally the exact same ones, so there’s no quality difference either.

• Chili relleno sausages

  • Crowd Cow: $6-7.25/12oz (50-60¢/oz)
  • QFC: $4/14oz store brand (29¢/oz), $4/12oz Aidell’s (33¢/oz)

  The Crowd Cow ones were arguably way better than the ones available at QFC. I wonder if there’s any local retailers which carry this brand (Berkshire).

• Beef tenderloin tips

  • Crowd Cow: $12/lb
  • QFC: N/A

  This is more of a butcher shop item; I suspect that at QFC this leftover product ends up in the ground beef instead. I used it as stew meat, and QFC has unspecified stew meat for around $9/lb although that’s not particularly comparable. It’d probably make an amazing stir-fry.

• Venison hot dogs

  • Crowd Cow: $11.50/12oz (95¢/oz)
  • QFC: N/A

  This is very much a specialty item, and I was just trying it on a whim.

• Smoked salmon

  • Crowd Cow: $12/6oz ($2/oz)
  • QFC: $6/4oz ($1.50/oz)

  To be fair, the Crowd Cow is wild sockeye while the QFC stuff is apparently farmed. QFC also sells wild sockeye and it’s more expensive ($12/4oz, or $3/oz) but there’s also local fisheries who sell their stuff at the farmer’s market which makes for a better ecological story anyway (even though it’s probably more expensive).

• Wild boar hot dogs

  • Crowd Cow: $10/12oz (83¢/oz)
  • QFC: N/A

  Same deal as the venison ones. Fun novelty, probably not something I’d buy again.

• Ground turkey

  • Crowd Cow: $5/lb
  • QFC: $4/lb

  Crowd Cow’s was better, to be fair.

• Flank steak

  • Crowd Cow: $20/1.25lb ($16/lb)
  • QFC: $12/lb, often on sale for half off

• Ground beef

  • Crowd Cow: “free” with ongoing membership (and $99/box purchase minimum), $7/lb normally
  • QFC: $7-8/lb depending on type, but often on sale for half off

So, yeah, for folks who eat a lot of meat, Crowd Cow is actually a pretty good deal. And honestly, a $100 box seems like a reasonable amount of meat for me for two months. So maybe I’ll keep going with it as a bimonthly thing.

Of course, my favorite restaurant supplier has way better deals on a per-pound basis, but only if you want to buy ridiculous quantities and eat nothing but that for a few weeks. One time I bought a primal cut there and butchered it into steaks for sous vide, and while it was cheap per steak, I actually managed to get quite tired of steak by the time I was done.

Like, yeah, it’s nice to pay only $12/lb for whole beef tenderloin, or $3.25/lb for the “special trim” (basically the same thing as the tips above), but my freezer isn’t big enough for the 15-pound quantities you have to buy it in!

Anyway, just as a reminder, if you decide to try them out, you can use my referral link to get $25 off your first box (and I get $25 off my next one).