Omaha steak - question for experts | The Boneyard

Omaha steak - question for experts

Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
8,233
Reaction Score
17,484
A good price, sure, but it's not a lot of meat and top sirloin is not a great cut. You are getting a lot of other stuff with it, though.

Big Y has been carrying Prime beef at reasonable prices over the last few weeks. I'd do that before buying Omaha Steaks.
 
Last edited:

August_West

Universal remote, put it down on docking station.
Joined
Aug 29, 2011
Messages
51,023
Reaction Score
87,218
seems gourmet

You can do the same price or sometimes better price than Omaha there. For WAY better beef from local farms you can choose. Or you can go way nuts with Wagyu and kobe stuff, but I dont think you are looking for that.

What are you looking for? Type of Cuts? Amount?

Ill do the Apples to Apples comparison to Omaha for you.

edit:

Oh I see you have a specific smorgasboard in your cart. Hang on
 

Fairfield_1st

Sitting on this Barstool talking like a damn fool
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
2,500
Reaction Score
7,811
I always found the quality to be good, but in breaking it down as a price per lb, I just couldn't do it anymore. I think it's very expensive.
 
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Messages
15,243
Reaction Score
16,157
You can do the same price or sometimes better price than Omaha there. For WAY better beef from local farms you can choose. Or you can go way nuts with Wagyu and kobe stuff, but I dont think you are looking for that.

What are you looking for? Type of Cuts? Amount?

Ill do the Apples to Apples comparison to Omaha for you.

edit:

Oh I see you have a specific smorgasboard in your cart. Hang on
Thanks August - this teaser offer just caught my eye, that's why I'm asking. I'm not a steak gourmet by any stretch - just wanted to get something that I can slap on the grill for the family and enjoy something a little different.
 
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
177
Reaction Score
932
At $50 bucks, you're not getting ripped off, but all of the items are fairly small portion size. 5oz steaks? That's 25% bigger than the beef on a 1/4 pounder. That's a petite steak.
Potatoes? Apple Tartlets? "Free" hamburgers? Meh. I'd prefer buying beef and just beef, so you don't have to guess at the value of the other items. Reminds me of infomercials where they are throwing in "AND THERE's MORE" and you get a "free" dog flea tweezers to induce you to buy the Flowbee II.
Also, ad does not mention grade of beef, and it's all about the grade of beef. If no grade is mentioned, then it's probably "Select". My rule on Select steaks is this - I select chicken instead.
Regarding the crowd cow, site offers "100% grass fed." Avoid. Go with the "grain finished," if you use that site at all. I have had a variety of 100% grass fed beef, and, to my taste, it is generally inferior in taste and texture. Often it has a "fishy" flavor, especially in the middle meats.
The way you get a great steak is you start with good genetics and then you fatten the animal. Fat content dictates grade. With low fat content, you'll never get prime - difficult if not impossible to fatten properly only on grass.
Even the "grain finished" steak on that site is suspect. Here's one ad: "At Wolfe Brothers Farms, the focus is on raising happy cows on pasture and traditional, heritage grains. This Northern Pennsylvania farm, run by two brothers who are the seventh generation in their family to farm in the area, produces deeplly flavored, sweet-tasting beef that's prized by New York's top chefs. " This is straight marketing clap trap. "Deeply flavored". What's that? "Sweet"? Do we want our beef sweet? "Happy Cows"? Do they have boners? How do they know.
It's very simple. Very. They don't use the word "Prime." or even "Choice" after "USDA" on "US". It should be presumed to be Select (basic) beef unless labelled otherwise, notwithstanding Madison Avenue creativity.
For $30 bucks a pound, if you're getting Select, you're overpaying.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
22,196
Reaction Score
4,333
No, someone gave us a few boxes of the stuff once and I'm not a big fan. The quality is o.k. (you can do better), but the portions are cut so small that cooking them properly without overcooking is very difficult.
 
Joined
Apr 13, 2018
Messages
939
Reaction Score
3,748
Its been a long time since I purchased Omaha Steaks. When I did, the meat is very good! It can be pricey but they often offer special deals. Its delivered in a styro-foam container packed with dry ice.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
6,135
Reaction Score
20,046
I have been thinking of getting a shipment from Butcher Box. It seems like a good deal when you have a discount code.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
231
Reaction Score
1,205
At $50 bucks, you're not getting ripped off, but all of the items are fairly small portion size. 5oz steaks? That's 25% bigger than the beef on a 1/4 pounder. That's a petite steak.
Potatoes? Apple Tartlets? "Free" hamburgers? Meh. I'd prefer buying beef and just beef, so you don't have to guess at the value of the other items. Reminds me of infomercials where they are throwing in "AND THERE's MORE" and you get a "free" dog flea tweezers to induce you to buy the Flowbee II.
Also, ad does not mention grade of beef, and it's all about the grade of beef. If no grade is mentioned, then it's probably "Select". My rule on Select steaks is this - I select chicken instead.
Regarding the crowd cow, site offers "100% grass fed." Avoid. Go with the "grain finished," if you use that site at all. I have had a variety of 100% grass fed beef, and, to my taste, it is generally inferior in taste and texture. Often it has a "fishy" flavor, especially in the middle meats.
The way you get a great steak is you start with good genetics and then you fatten the animal. Fat content dictates grade. With low fat content, you'll never get prime - difficult if not impossible to fatten properly only on grass.
Even the "grain finished" steak on that site is suspect. Here's one ad: "At Wolfe Brothers Farms, the focus is on raising happy cows on pasture and traditional, heritage grains. This Northern Pennsylvania farm, run by two brothers who are the seventh generation in their family to farm in the area, produces deeplly flavored, sweet-tasting beef that's prized by New York's top chefs. " This is straight marketing clap trap. "Deeply flavored". What's that? "Sweet"? Do we want our beef sweet? "Happy Cows"? Do they have boners? How do they know.
It's very simple. Very. They don't use the word "Prime." or even "Choice." It should be presumed to be Select (basic) beef unless labelled otherwise, notwithstanding Madison Avenue creativity.
For $30 bucks a pound, if you're getting Select, you're overpaying.
Crank knows his beef. Spot on. I can also vouch for the difference between grass fed and grain fed. When you travel outside the US and go to places like Europe, where the beef is mostly grass fed, it tastes NOTHING like USDA beef. When I have foreign visitors come to the office, the first place they want me to take them is to a butcher for steaks to ship home.
 
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
177
Reaction Score
932
(as so many, they advertise the breed of Angus rather than the grade of beef).
"Angus" is a marketing scheme, nothing more, nothing less. Hereford routinely produces the best beef that I've had, but try marketing that - most people have never heard of it. It was the #1 breed in the U.S. for beef until the Angus Marketing Machine cranked up in the 70s.
"Certified Angus" is just more marketing scheming. If the beef producers grade their own meat, then you will, obviously, have market-driven grading. Also, 70% of beef in the U.S., about, is now Angus, so, what's being certified?
USDA Prime/Choice or US Prime/Choice is the only verbiage that ensures there was independent (we hope) grading of the meat.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
16,028
Reaction Score
23,074
"Angus" is a marketing scheme, nothing more, nothing less. Hereford routinely produces the best beef that I've had, but try marketing that - most people have never heard of it. It was the #1 breed in the U.S. for beef until the Angus Marketing Machine cranked up in the 70s.
"Certified Angus" is just more marketing scheming. If the beef producers grade their own meat, then you will, obviously, have market-driven grading. Also, 70% of beef in the U.S., about, is now Angus, so, what's being certified?
USDA Prime/Choice or US Prime/Choice is the only verbiage that ensures there was independent (we hope) grading of the meat.
I agree on Hereford. There is a lot of bait and switch going on in the markets because they advertise Angus but if you look closely it’s not choice but select. I can’t personally pull the trigger on steaks for $25 a pound no matter how they taste. I bought prime rib eye from Costco and could not tell the diff to their regular ribeyes. I prefer to pay under $10 a pound and even less on sale at Stews. I guess I’m just not in that class of higher beef folk.
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Messages
1,483
Reaction Score
5,510
I grew up on Omaha Steaks. That's because my father won a big sales contest at his job and we had enough credit to use for a few years. We had to buy a separate freezer for the stuff. My mom didn't have to buy any meat for years! I had dozens of their styrofoam coolers and my sister and I would play with the dry ice when it was delivered.

I never ordered as an adult until I was recently given a gift card from an Omaha based client. I ordered a sampler of chicken, filet, pork chops, burgers and hot dogs because it gave me the most meat for my gift certificate amount (I didn't want to have a credit remaining, nor did I want to kick in too much more). We've only had the chicken and pork so far. It's fine. I don't think it's any better (and may not be as good) as what we get at our local markets, and as mentioned in this thread, portions are very small. That's a good thing for portion control, but it makes the "great deals" a little less great.

The best part, to me, is the cleaning and packaging. My kids had fun with the dry ice that it still comes packed in, the chicken was well trimmed, and it's nice to have something in the freezer in case we don't feel like popping into the market.
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
1,649
Reaction Score
5,721
When I lived in CT we used to occasionally go into the city to get beef at Lobel's. I'm not sure I've had better steak than what we got from there. I agree on the grain v grass. I've done many blind side-by-side tastings and grain always wins out. In fact, we consistently chose grain fed choice beef over grass fed prime beef.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
2,034
Reaction Score
4,430
Just give me the natural cow from my local farmer that I can buy in 1/2's and 1/4's.

As far as making real beef taste like commercial beef via finishing with grain or corn - Argentine beef that was routinely touted as the best tasting in the world and was grass from birth to death has gone south since they introduced finishing about a decade ago and that is widely accepted with consumers and chefs. Never mind that grass fed is a healthier beef.

If you're buying beef that from Omaha or your local market you're just getting feedlot beef - I'm not by their feedlot mentioned here, but have passing familiarity with their operation -https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm435077.htm

If you're going to consume beef on the regular do yourself a favor and find a farmer and know where your beef comes from.

People like what they like, but for the life of me I don't understand how the American palates got so timid - I suspect many here would say wild venison and wild hog would be gamey and would turn their nose up at a flavorful local farm raised chicken.
 

Hankster

What do I know.
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
1,912
Reaction Score
3,292
At $50 bucks, you're not getting ripped off, but all of the items are fairly small portion size. 5oz steaks? That's 25% bigger than the beef on a 1/4 pounder. That's a petite steak.
Potatoes? Apple Tartlets? "Free" hamburgers? Meh. I'd prefer buying beef and just beef, so you don't have to guess at the value of the other items. Reminds me of infomercials where they are throwing in "AND THERE's MORE" and you get a "free" dog flea tweezers to induce you to buy the Flowbee II.
Also, ad does not mention grade of beef, and it's all about the grade of beef. If no grade is mentioned, then it's probably "Select". My rule on Select steaks is this - I select chicken instead.
Regarding the crowd cow, site offers "100% grass fed." Avoid. Go with the "grain finished," if you use that site at all. I have had a variety of 100% grass fed beef, and, to my taste, it is generally inferior in taste and texture. Often it has a "fishy" flavor, especially in the middle meats.
The way you get a great steak is you start with good genetics and then you fatten the animal. Fat content dictates grade. With low fat content, you'll never get prime - difficult if not impossible to fatten properly only on grass.
Even the "grain finished" steak on that site is suspect. Here's one ad: "At Wolfe Brothers Farms, the focus is on raising happy cows on pasture and traditional, heritage grains. This Northern Pennsylvania farm, run by two brothers who are the seventh generation in their family to farm in the area, produces deeplly flavored, sweet-tasting beef that's prized by New York's top chefs. " This is straight marketing clap trap. "Deeply flavored". What's that? "Sweet"? Do we want our beef sweet? "Happy Cows"? Do they have boners? How do they know.
It's very simple. Very. They don't use the word "Prime." or even "Choice" after "USDA" on "US". It should be presumed to be Select (basic) beef unless labelled otherwise, notwithstanding Madison Avenue creativity.
For $30 bucks a pound, if you're getting Select, you're overpaying.
Happy cows? So, nobody told them the chances are good they will end up on the grill? Cows get boners?
 

huskeynut

Leader of the Band
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
6,883
Reaction Score
27,150
We usually get an Omaha steak box from one of our daughter-in-laws around Christmas. They're okay, nothing special.

When we lived in CT we got our meats at Stew Leonard's. Real good meat at reasonable prices. Now that we live in Florida, we get our meats from Publix and Fresh Market. We prefer fresh cut meats and we like our steaks thick!
 

Online statistics

Members online
69
Guests online
2,119
Total visitors
2,188

Forum statistics

Threads
155,752
Messages
4,030,445
Members
9,864
Latest member
leepaul


Top Bottom