Mail Order Steaks - Reviewed.
 

OK, So... a little over a month ago, I came across a what I considered great deal for a good amount of meat from Omaha Steaks - a mail-order steak company.

"The American Celebration Bundle
4 5 oz. Filet Mignons,
4 5 oz, Top Sirloins,
4 Pork Chop Medallions,
2 Stuffed Soles,
8 Gourmet Franks,
12 Burgers, and
10 Potatoes au Gratin"

Also came with a cheap-ass cutting board and rudimentary cutlery set (made by Koch, and pretty damn cheap-feeling).

$75 shipped.

I had never ordered steaks over the mail, and am generally not a big fan of freezing meat to begin with.. but always looking for ways to save a buck, I realized that this was a whole bunch of meat for not very much money... so I decided to give it a try.

I mentioned it once or twice here, and people asked me to report on my opinions after I had given it a go, and that's what brings me to starting this thread.

Filet Mignons: decent, but not fantastic... but I wouldn't expect them to be so for the price. Certainly not worth the price they normally charge for them, imho... as my local butcher can supply me a fresh cut that's about 50% larger for less... but, at the price I paid for them, worth it I figure. Bit tougher than a filet should be, maybe - but, as they had been frozen, that was expected. Still, not nearly as tough as it coulda been... and they were moist, considering... must be the flash-freezing process.

Top Sirloins: same story as the filets, really... but a tougher cut of meat to start with. Still easily cut, but a little on the dry side.

Pork Chops: not bad. I don't eat a lot of pork as it stands... but I fried these up with a nice Madeira demiglace, and it wasn't easy to tell that they had been frozen.

Stuffed Soles: tasted like frozen fish. Was ok, I guess... they were stuffed with crabmeat and other seafood. Certainly not something I woulda served for guests (not really sure any of this - with maybe the exception of the franks - is, though), but not too bad for just me and the woman along with some fresh asparagus and rice.

Gourmet Franks: exceptional. I think the best meat of the bunch. Just grilled them up. They were thick and some of the tastiest franks I've ever had. I don't eat dogs often, but I could see buying these outright from the website.

Burgers: Not impressed. tasted like frozen burger patties. Probably great for frozen burger patties, but I've always made mine from fresh meat, and the only experience I have with frozen burger patties is at the occasional cook-out where that's what was had. Nonetheless, they're meat, so I'm sure I'll finish all 12 sooner or later.

Potatoes au Gratin: Meh... they tasted like frozen mashed potatoes with some cheese flavoring whipped in throughout and a bake-crusted shell. Probably my least favorite of the experiences that the package offered.

All in all: for $75 (the cost of two decent aged steaks) shipped, this was a lot of food... but at the omahasteaks.com retail $212 all that meat woulda cost me without the $75 deal, really not worth it, imho. Again - my local butcher'd give me roughly 50% more of the same quality meat - fresh - at less of a cost. But if you can partake of this deal - it's a quantity over quality thing - with quality not loosing out _so_ much, I think... and it's shipped to your door. I'm sure that means something to some people.

My gal and I haven't decided whether or not we might do it again - we might, because the deal's still out there. Anyone that wants a pointer as to how to get the same deal shipped to them, to give it a try for themselves - hit me up.

i agree completely. the sole smelled like the fucking docks. old fish. nasty.

did you make celebration party with celebration bundle?

p.s.

some of the best burger you will have is the buffalo meat burgers that you get at trader joes.

be careful not to over cook them.

Ive always wondered about the Omahas, tons are shipped out every day!!! Everywhere

The power of mass marketing...

ADG

i would never buy frozen meat from the internet :S

Yeah... I love that stuff. :thumbsup

Certain Ralph's sell it, too... same stuff, I think.

And it's easy to justify the extra cost over standard hamburger meat when you realize how much more lean buffalo meat is.

That, in itself, is worth a celebration party. :)

Never tried it, got some good reviews from people I've asked.

BUt they may also not be a custom to fresh kobe or the such...

neither am I... but I can certainly distinguish ;)

and prepare properly

omaha franks are SO fucking good holy shit i love them

:helpme:warning

I tried their steaks....

I quickly found out why it is better to just go to the local butcher.

Try www.allenbrothers.com and get the never frozen beef that is shipped fedex overnight. Not cheap but awesome steaks.

http://www.allenbrothers.com/our-never-frozen-beef.html

That is exactly right! Plus, they do a good job at making their product look better than it really is.

I found superior steaks at the local Grocery store. I bought the $20 a pound steaks and cut them in half. Plenty of meat for a meal! If you are really hungry, or having guests, do a full steak per person.

Let the steak sit out a bit before grilling, pour olive oil on steaks. Put fresh ground pepper and sea salt on your steaks and grill to taste.

Remove steaks from grill, put pat of butter on top of each, cover and let stand 5 minutes.

You will weep because they taste so damn good. Your girlfriend will drop her pants in gratitude. Your guests will never leave. GRILL THIS BABY!!!!

I am so glad I live it a place where the meat kicks ass, is "fresh", FAR better than pretty much all you get at restaurants overseas and is cheap as chips ...

I bought a whole aged t-bone (14 steaks when cut, each 1 inch think) for $6.99 kg on the weekend ... cost total like $32.00.

In US$ terms, that's like $2.50 pound for total price of $25 for 12 t-bones weighing just under a pound each.

But Australian butchers/smallgoods do SUCK at good franks and good hamburger patties - you Yanks have us in spades on that stuff.

Life does not suck.

;-)

get a meat tenderizer.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...onFiring3a.jpg

the best palce to get expensive memat is out of the dumpster... sit in your car surfing the net on your wi-fi to pass the time..

wait until you see a guy in a white apron covered in blood go out to the dumpster.

as soon as he leaves, go commando on the dunpster... you will find so much meat that is only a week or twwo old...

sure, you will probalbly get sick for 2-3 days, but the meat is so delicious going down, its worth the few days in bed...

worst case, you will get ecoli and spend a few days in the hospital being pampered and getting free cable tv (provided you have health insurance).

but dont worry, for you webmsters out there with no health insurance, just leave your wallet at home, make up a fake name and social security number, and reap the same benefits of those of us that make enough money to buy health insurance...

I actually tried them a while ago and they were just ok, like others say, it's better to just go to the local store and buy from them. I did place a second order though to try a different cut to see if they'd be any different, but again, they were just ok.

The only bad thing about them is that they REALLY start to pester you to buy more, they'd call and call until they got ahold of you, then when you did finally break down and answer to tell them "no", they'd say "We'll check back in a month" and they'd be true to their word, ha ha.

Omaha Steaks is really variable depending on where you are ordering from. I had them shipped to Maryland and they were amazing. I had them shipped to California and they were unimpressive. Not sure offhand where they are located or if they have multiple shipping locations, but geography makes a difference ordering from them.

I've receiver numerous Omaha Steak gifts over the years. They are perfectly packed and the quality of meat was always perfect. :thumbsup

I'm stuffed by just reading that...

I've always wondered about Omaha Steaks - you see them advertised everywhere but mail order meat just sounds so. . . pornish! Glad you at least got your money's worth but it doesn't sound like it worth be worth it if you didn't have a great deal and a big freezer.

If you appreciate prime cuts of beef, just do not give in and buy from where it has been frozen, do not buy if its sitting in its own juice on a Styrofoam tray and covered in plastic wrap, and if its a a steak or roast make sure they do dry aging. Oh often yes this means going to a place that sells mostly just meat, maybe some cheese and sauces but other than that meat and lots of it.

Yeah... here in L.A., when I'm up for a prime cut of beef, I'll typically go to Whole Foods - they have a great selection of aged steaks - I'll usually go for the bone-in Rib-Eye... I'll simply grill it up, and it's generally a better piece of meat than one I can get at Morton's.

But it's not every night that I have the cash to blow on $24.99/lb of steak... so, sometimes I'll hit the fresh meats section at Ralph's.

Omaha was just an experiment/filler. Everything took up about 1-2 cubic feet of space in my freezer. If omahasteaks.com does one thing well apart from their franks, it's packaging.

i live in LA but visit the mid west a few times each year, i always order steak when i am out there and the steaks are usually 1000% better than a steak in LA.. i am convinced it is the meat. also the steaks you buy in the markets in california is just so so.. not impressive. even bristol farm or whole foods is not on par with mid west beef.
does anyone know if it is possible to buy steaks not frozen but chilled from somewhere ? perhaps shipped with dry ice ?

Out here in AZ, AJ's has nice cuts of meat, but you pay for it. Even Safeway now has really nice steaks on a semi-regular basis. I don't see the need to order if off the web. I can go to the grocery store if I want frozen steaks and save a lot more money

I have gone to 3 ralphs and they all have the buffalo burgers. and they also have pre-packaged and pre-marinated bacon wrapped filet mignon. It's fucking incredible.

these threads make me glad i went veg, over a year and more healthy then ever!