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The Best Places to Buy Chicken Online in 2021

Buying chicken online

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Use One of These Services to Order Chicken Online and Get it Delivered to Your Doorstep

Do all the choices in your chicken aisle leave you frozen with indecision?

Well, you can get guarunteed high-quality, humanely raised poultry when you buy chicken online. No guessing work and chicken label analysis. Plus, you can get it delivered directly to your doorstep, saving you a trip to the grocery store during your busy life.

Buying chicken online is the easiest way to get fresh chicken delivered to your home. And there are plenty of options to buy high quality chicken online.

So, to help you save grocery store trips and get the highest quality chicken, I have put together this list of the best places to buy chicken online.

Best Places to Buy Chicken Online in 2021

Here are the best places to buy chicken online in 2021.

#1 Best for All of Your Meat and Fish Needs – Crowd Cow

Crowd cow

Crowd Cow has a huge selection of high quality meat and fish. If you’re looking to stock up on all of your protein needs, it may be the best service for you.

The company was started to answer the questions “where is my meat from?”. The site allows you to build a custom box full of your favorite chicken, beef, pork, and/or fish cuts. Order from your couch and get it delivered to your door.

If you choose, you can schedule your order on a recurring basis. But, it’s super easy to adjust, reschedule or skip your monthly box altogether. You will get a notification before your box gets packed so you can adjust the contents if you choose.

Crowd Cow sources its pasture raised, free-range chicken from a variety of independent farms that focus on regenerative and ethical techniques. You have many options for whole chicken and chicken cuts. Not only is their farming eco-minded, but their entire operations are. Boxes are made from recycled material and compostible. Plus, every order is carbon neutral.

Price for a Whole Chicken: $18 – Free shipping with orders over $99, plus 5% off recurring orders.

Delivery Area: the contiguous United States

Best for you if: You want to get all of your meat and fish from one site and have the flexible of recurring and non-recurring shipments.

#2 Best From A Local Butcher Shop – Porter Road

Porter Road

Porter Road sources its meat from independent farms in Kentucky and Tennessee and hand cuts it in their brick and mortar shop in Nashville, Tennessee. This is your online local butcher shop.

The company started as a local butcher shop in Nashville. But, it now delivers nationwide. They work with a few small local family farms that they vet and regularly visit to ensure animals are raised outside on a non-GM and vegetarian diet.

The easy to navigate site offers both subscription and custom orders to buy chicken online. You can choose from building your own order by choosing cuts of meat or choosing a curated box with crowd favorite combinations.

If you go the subscription route, you’ll start with a curated box (don’t worry, there are plenty of options to meet your preferences). Then you can add on items as you’d like and pick your shipment frequency.

Porter Road calls its chicken “beyond organic”. All chickens are pasture raised on grass without antibiotics, hormones, or cages.

Price for a Whole Chicken: $21 – Free shipping with orders over $100 and subscription orders

Delivery Area: the contiguous United States

Best for you if: You want to know exactly where your meat is coming from and who is cutting it.

#3 Best for One-Stop Shopping – Thrive MarketThrive market

 

Thrive Market is like if Whole Foods, Costco and Amazon had a baby. A baby that offers organic, non-GMO foods at a discounted rate for its members. This is another great option to buy your chicken online.

The site offers slow growth, heritage breed pasture raised chickens. It also has more affordable non-GMO free-range chicken. All options comes in bulk frozen orders.

But, join Thrive Market for the rest of your organic grocery needs so you can do all of your shopping from your couch. When you purchase a monthly or yearly membership, you’ll have access to over 6,000+ non-GMO, organic, and sustainable products 25-50% off retail prices.

Try Thrive Market risk-free for 30 days here. They claim that members save an average of $32 per order.

Price for a Whole Chicken: $119 for 15.5 pounds of pasture chicken or 19.5 pounds free range chicken (or about $26 and $21.50, respectively, for a 3.5 pound chicken) – Plus, annual Membership is $59.95 ($5/month). Month-by-month membership is $9.95 per month. Free shipping with orders over $49

Delivery Area: the contiguous United States

Best for you if: You want to do all of your organic, non-GMO shopping in one place.

#4 Best for Deliver From Your Local Grocery Store – Instacart

Instacart

Instacart is the king of grocery store delivery. It is the most widely available service and offers same day delivery.

It partners with different grocery stores to deliver their products to nearby customers. Same day and even 1 hour delivery is available in some locations.

You essentially have a personal shopper who receives the grocery list you created through the Instacart website. Then they take that list to the store you selected, pick up your items, and deliver them to your door step. It is the ultimate in convenience.

You get to go to the grocery store (online through the Instacart website) for your chicken without going to the grocery store.

Price for a Whole Chicken: Varies depending on the type of chicken and store you choose. Instacart Express is $9.99 a month or $99 a year. This will give you free delivery on all orders over $35. If you are not a subscriber of Instacart Express, the delivery fee is $3.99. Regardless, you pay a 5% service fee on each order. There is also an optional tip for your shopper.

Delivery Area: Most of the United States.

Best for you if: You want to bypass the hassle of going to the grocery store while having the convenience of same day delivery.

#5 Best If You’re an Amazon Prime Member – Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Delivery

Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market Delivery

Between Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market delivery, Amazon delivery services reach a large part of the U.S. Plus, they’re free if you are already an Amazon Prime member.

If you live near a Whole Foods Market and have an Amazon Prime membership, then you can get free 2-hour delivery on orders over $35. Once you enter your location, you can shop the inventory at your nearest store.

Amazon Fresh is separate standalone service with many of the same products. Similarly, you can get free 2-hour delivery on orders over $35. This service is limited to certain U.S. cities.

For both Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market online, you shop within the same Amazon interface that you are probably already familiar with. Just scroll through the chicken (and more) products, add them to your cart, pick a delivery time slot, and your groceries are delivered to your door in no time.

Price for a Whole Chicken: Varies depending on the type of chicken. Free if you’re an Amazon Prime member and your order is over $35. Delivery is $4.99 on orders less than $35. Plus, a recommended tip for your delivery drive. The yearly membership cost for Prime is $119. Sign up for Prime here.

Delivery Area: Most Whole Foods stores deliver to their surrounding areas. Amazon Fresh is available in Las Vegas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Best for you if: You are an Amazon Prime member and have a Whole Foods within delivery distance.

#6 Best Monthly Subscription – Butcher BoxButcher box

Butcher Box is one of the OGs in the online meat delivery business. And for good reason.

The site is all about building your own box. You can choose from curated or custom options. Each box is packed with frozen, portion sized cuts of meat. You also have two box sizes: Classic ($129-$149) and Big ($238-$270). Classic has 9-14 pounds of meat while Big has 18-26 pounds of meat.

If you’re looking to buy chicken online only, then you’ll have to build a custom box which costs a bit more ($149 or $270) than a curated one. All chicken is free range and organic. This is a subscription only service, so you’ll also have to choose a frequency. You can pause or canel recurring shipments at any time.

Butcher Box shines if you’re looking to get all of your meat on a monthly basis with one of their curated boxes. These are cheaper ($129-$238). But, to get chicken only, it’s pricey because you have to make a custom box which costs more. So, you’re better off with one of the other options on this list.

Price for a Whole Chicken: $25 – Free shipping

Delivery Area: the contiguous United States

Best for you if: You want monthly shipments of frozen, portioned sized meats. This service could be suitable for you if you are on a low carb or keto diet.

#7 Best for Exotic Meat With Your Chicken – Fossil Farms

Fossil farms

Want to spice things up a little? Maybe toss in some alligator, kangaroo, or emu when you buy chicken online? Then Fossil Farms may be for you.

Fossil Farm’s mission to provide healthy, sustainable alternatives to red meat. So, they specialize in farmed wild game, game birds, and exotic meats. But, they also have plenty of high quality chicken options.

Chickens are free-range and raised on family farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They are never given antibiotics, steriods, or hormones. So, it checks the quality boxes.

This is the cheapest chicken on the list at $12. But, be advised that you get what you pay for per online reviews on this service.

Price for a Whole Chicken: $12 – Plus $16 and the UPS rate dependent on the weight of your order.

Delivery Area: the contiguous United States

Best for you if: You want to try a new type of meat and branch out from the chicken, beef, pork rotation.

Summary of the Best Places to Buy Chicken Online in 2021

Why Should I Buy Chicken Online?

Here are some reasons to buy chicken online:

Convenience

You’ll get chicken delivered straight to your doorstep with the click of a few buttons. That is about as convenient as it gets. With many of these services, you’ll sign up for a subscription once and you won’t have to even think about it if you don’t want to customize each order.

For services like Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods, your order is saved. So, each week you can just login and re-use that same grocery list without having to re-select everything. Save time shopping and thinking about shopping.

Sustainability

Many online chicken and meat delivery services practice organic and eco-friendly farming techniques. Some of these services like Crowd Cow, Porter Road, and Fossil Farms were created specifically to provide a more sustainable alternative to industrial farming. In fact, Crowd Cow is carbon neutral.

Savings

Purchasing your own food and cooking it is always going to be cheaper than eating out. Even though some of these services can seem a bit pricey, consider that your takeout and dining out costs will most likely decrease. More fresh chicken means more cooking your own meals.

Quality

Grocery store chicken is a crap shoot. Sure, you can find high quality chicken at many grocery stores (read about how to buy chicken here). But, in most cases, you still don’t know the exact conditions that your chicken was raised in.

With many of these online chicken ordering services, their requirements for raising chickens are clearly outlined on their websites. And those requirements are typically very strict to ensure the most humane and healthy living conditions. Because a happy and healthy chicken means a great tasting chicken.

Health Benefits

Humanely raised meat is better tasting, better for the environment, and better for your health. Organic or unprocessed chicken is less likely to contain additives, preservatives, and bacteria. Plus, buying high quality chicken significantly lowers your risk of food poisoning.

Which Type of Delivery Service is Right for Me?

If you notice, this list has afew types of services: meat delivery boxes, subscription boxes and grocery delivery.

Meat Delivery Boxes

Online meat delivery services allow you to buy a shipment of meat without signing up for a recurring delivery. So, you can go on a site as needed, choose the meats that you want or pick from a curated selection, and purchase a one-time order.

In many of these cases, you also have the option for your order to be recurring. But, it’s not required.

Features: one-time order ability, customized orders, option for subscription/recurring shipments

The following are produce box delivery services:

Subscription Boxes

For subscription services, you’ll automatically get a box every month or whatever frequency you choose. The boxes are filled by the service provider. In most cases, you have the option to make some customization prior to delivery.

Features: Subscription based, set delivery schedule, some control over what items you receive.

The following are produce box delivery services:

Grocery Delivery

For grocery delivery services, you have full control over what you purchase and when you get it delivered. Think of these as going to a virtual grocery store and selecting the items that you want online. Instead of you physically doing the shopping in the store, someone else does and delivers the goods to your doorstep.

Features: Full control over what items you purchase, access to a full grocery store inventory, no subscription, determine when you want your items delivered.

The following are grocery delivery services:

The Bottom Line: Buying Chicken Online

Buying chicken and other meats online is a great way to save time and hassle during your busy life. But, my favorite reason for buying chicken online? Quality.

No more wondering what the quality of the chicken is at your grocery store. Sure, knowing how to read a chicken label can help. But, when you buy chicken online, you know exactly where your bird comes from.

Which one of these services is the best? Well, it is the one that is best for you.

For me, I will be trying Crowd Cow soon. I love the large selection and the fact that I don’t have to purchase a subscription. Plus, its prices seem to be the best from a quality verus cost standpoint.

If you have experience with any of these services, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below.

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