With the coast of food rising on the daily. It’s getting hard to stick to a grocery budget these days. In my household we do meal plans to help cut the coast of groceries, but a few months ago when I was doing my two weeks meal plan, I found my normal grocery list went up $30 dollars and I could not for the life of me figure out why. Then I began to take things of my list. Once I took of all the meat that I was going to buy my bill went back to normal price.

I could not believe that the price of meat went up that high in a matter of weeks (two weeks to be exact). In the state of Florida, the price for a family size pack of chicken breast that normally coast between $7 to $8 is now $18 to $20. I don’t know about you but there is no way I will be paying that much for chicken breast that is mostly fat.

I went on a mission to find a better way to get the food I needed for my household and still stay with in my budget. I had heard about a company call Crowed Cow through a couponer on YouTube. At the time Crowed Cow was offering a special of $100 of meat. So, I went on Rakuten. I went to the Crowed Cow website and took a look at the offer.

How Crowed Cow works!

Crowed Cow is a group of meat farmers and fisher man that send you organic meat and sea food straight to your door. They offer meat boxes that allow you to order meat and sea food in bulk. They have a lot of premade boxes that you are able to choose from, yet you are also able to browse the website and make your own box base on your budget and their selection of products.

If you choose to singe up for their membership you are given a discount price (members price). The membership is free, and you can cancel at any time. When you singe up you will receive a box every month. You are able to change what’s in your box or just keep the same items from month to month if you like.

Since this was my first time, I just ordered a premade box that they had. It cost me $160(shipping is free with orders at least $99 for standard an $125 for family size). You are able to substitute items in the premade box with any item on the website, however you may have to pay a little more depending on the substitute.

Within a week I got my first box I loved that the packaging was eco-friendly. Once I opened the box, I could not believe how big the meat was compared to the grocery store and how much meat I got for the price. In are box we added two lobster tail for $22. At Publics grocery store we paid $16 each for two and they were half the size of what we got from the Crowed Cow box.

One chicken breast was the size of three that you get from the grocery store family pack of six. The chicken had little to no fat, and everything came in vacuumed sealed packaging, so we were able to stick it right into the freezer.

I was very impressed; I sent a video to my younger brothers, and they liked what they saw.

From that point I stopped buying meat from the grocery store.

For my fruit and vegetables, I have tried two places that you can order from online. One is Misfits Market, and the other is Worthy Flavors.

I decided to try getting my fruit and vegetables delivered since I loved getting better meat at good prices online. I started with Misfits first. I singe up for their free membership and ordered my first box. It didn’t take very long for it to arrive, and it was full of very good vegetables and fruit. I liked my order. Then came the email for next week’s box a few days later. I found that Misfits sends you a box every week. At $40 this can add up quickly and to make matters worse we still had food from the last box there was no way that we had room to put all that food and I didn’t want it to go bad, so I skipped a box. A few days later I got an email that a box would be coming, and my card was billed.

I didn’t like this at all. Even though I skipped a box they made sure that I didn’t skip the one after that. I ened up canceling my membership.

The reason was its just too much food for two people. Also, you can skip a box, but we would have been skipping boxes every week. I also didn’t like how it made me feel like I had a second job (vegetable order is going on my next resume). They flood you with emails and the cost is low but $40 every week is a lot.

However, as I stated the food was great, if you have a big family and you are able to pay at least $40 a week (they do have prices that you are able to choose from) I would not count them out as an alternative to getting your vegetables straight from the farm.

The second place I tried was Worthy Flavors, they also come straight from local farmers. I like this way better than Misfits. I was able to choose how I wanted to get my box (I choose once a month) they have three box sizes you are able to choose from (I got the biggest to see how much food and how long it would last us.) like Misfits there is a membership that is free. If you don’t want a membership, you can still order a box at the same price. (One time buy)

The packaging is eco-friendly and there was a box full of fruits and vegetables and bottled water that they use to keep the food fresh while shipping. I even got vegetables that I never seen (purple carrots). Each box is a different price and the most that you pay is $55. This was much better for me since I choose to get a box every 28 days and not every week.

I have a small space at the time so I don’t have a lot of room to store food and as you will learn I love to stockpile food. Yet in still ordering your food from the farmers is not the best way to get your vegetables and fruit. The best way is to go to your local flee market. This is what I plan to do when I move into my house. It’s hard for me to do it now due to my work schedule and working hours.

Another way is to grow your own garden but not everyone has the space or yard to do this. I stay in an apartment on the third floor. I would love to have a garden and plan to do so when I buy my house. For now, I order online from the farms.

Here is a short list of some other online farmers.

Butcher Box

Front porch Pickings

Holy Grail Steak Co.

Omaha Steaks

Imperfect Foods

From the Farmer

Well, that’s all I have for today. I hope this helps you on your journey.

Thank you for reading Everything Frugal.

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