busybee fluffy rambles

• 1/3 pound burger patties (Angus beef)
  • Crowd Cow: $32 for 3 pounds ($11/pound)
  • QFC: $10/pound for the pure beef ones, $5.5/pound for the crappy adulterated ones
  • Quality differential: Vastly in Crowd Cow’s favor
• Flank steak
  • Crowd Cow: $20/pound
  • QFC: $15/pound
  • Quality differential: Somewhat better at Crowd Cow
• Beef tenderloin tips
  • Crowd Cow: $17/pound
  • QFC: N/A. Closest equivalent would be their “beef for stew boneless” ($10/pound) but that’s a mix of just like. Random leftovers, only some of which is tenderlion tips.
  • Quality differenetial: Way better at Crowd Cow, as such
• New Mexico Hatch Chili & Cheddar Chicken Sausage
  • Crowd Cow: $11 per 12 ounces
  • QFC: N/A; closest equivalent Aidell’s sausage, $6 per 12 ounces
  • Quality differential: Way better at Crowd Cow
• Chicken breast
  • Crowd Cow: $10/pound
  • QFC: $10/pound
  • Quality differential: Way better at Crowd Cow
• Pork kielbasa
  • Crowd Cow: $8 per 14 ounces
  • QFC: $3.50 per 14 ounces
  • Quality differntial: Ridiculously better at Crowd Cow
• Pork breakfast sausage (ground)
  • Crowd Cow: $9/pound
  • QFC: $4.50/pound
  • Quality differential: I don’t know as I’ve never bought this item from the grocery store but I can probably guess
• Whole chicken (heritage)
  • Crowd Cow: $5/pound
  • QFC: $4/pound
  • Quality differential: In Crowd Cow’s favor but I only ever use this for making chicken stock in bulk
• Pulled pork
  • Crowd Cow: $7.64 per 12 ounce ($10.18/pound)
  • QFC: $12/pound
  • Quality differential: The pulled pork I get from Crowd Cow is usually the highlight of every box and is the single item I look the most forward to.
• Cobia portions
  • Crowd Cow: $40/pound (yikes, I had no idea I was spending that much on them)
  • QFC: N/A; closest equivalent would probably be red snapper fillets, $13 per 12 ounces ($17.33/pound)
• Ground pork
  • Crowd Cow: $7/pound
  • QFC: $5.50/pound
  • Quality differential: Not much TBH
• Salmon fillets
  • Crowd Cow: $18 per 12 ounces ($24/pound)
  • QFC: $5 per pound
  • Quality differential: Honestly the QFC stuff is actually a bit better in this case, being wild-caught (the Crowd Cow stuff is farmed).
• American Wagyu New York Steak end cut
  • Crowd Cow: normally $15 per 7 ounces ($35/pound) but I got this “free” from loyalty points as a special thing
  • QFC: N/A; closest equivalent is American wagyu sirloin ($9 / 6 ounces) or beef tenderlion ($17 / 7 ounces) which can’t even remotely compare, or maybe a filet mignon
  • Quality differential: I have never tried the QFC stuff and based purely on the visible marbling I can say that the Crowd Cow stuff is way better than QFC’s wagyu, and as a “free” loyalty thing I’d say the Crowd Cow one wins by default anyway
• Ground beef
  • Crowd Cow: Normally $9/pound, but I get it for free with my subscription
  • QFC: $9/pound
  • Crowd Cow: so much better than QFC, seriously, and being essentially free it’s definitely the better deal (but it’d be the better choice even if I had to pay for it)
• Ribeye steak
  • Crowd Cow: Another loyalty reward this time, but normally $38/pound
  • QFC: $14 per 10 ounce ($22/pound)
  • Quality differential: Another thing I’ve never bought at the grocery store but given the track records I can probably guess

So, the price differential is about the same as last time, but let’s see what the actual price would have been for the closest grocery equivalent for my most recent box ($200 shipped):

• 2 pounds of burger patties: $20
• 1 pound of flank steak: $15
• 1 pound of stew beef: $10 (replacement for tenderloin tips)
• 12 ounces of chicken sausage: $6
• 1 pound of chicken breast: $10
• 14 ounces of kielbasa: $3.50
• 12 ounces of red snapper: $13 (replacement for cobia)
• 2 pounds of ground pork: $11
• 12 ounces of salmon fillets: $5
• 14 ounces of tenderloin: $34 (replacement for wagyu steak)
• 2 pounds of ground beef: $18
• 2 pounds of ribeye steak: $44
• Total cost: $189.50

So, QFC would have cost only $10 less for worse versions of the same stuff. It’s a little hard to quantify some of that difference since the wagyu and the ribeye steaks were subsidized by my ongoing membership and aren’t an every-time thing, so like, they weren’t free, but they also wouldn’t have cost their full retail price.

But anyway, it seems like Crowd Cow is still a good value compared to the grocery store, and it has a bunch of great advantages such as having much better quality, and giving me a nucleation point around which to meal plan, which improves my diet and quality of life. If I weren’t using Crowd Cow I’d just be buying random junk in a haze and using a lot more prepared meals rather than cooking for myself.

… I do think I should discontinue the cobia and salmon, though, and go back to buying my fish at QFC. That stuff’s better and cheaper.