Farm Foods Market Review: Farm To Table Meat Delivery

The number of online meat delivery companies has exploded in recent years.

Humanely raised and ethically sourced ingredients are becoming more important as we become aware of our health and dietary needs. 

Farm Foods Market is a farm collective priding themselves on authenticity and being transparent about where their foods come from. 

Farm Foods Market sent me a selection of products for free in return for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What is Farm Foods Market?

Farm Foods Market, at its core, is an online butcher shop offering known origin meats and proteins.

When you buy meat at the grocery store, you don’t specifically know where that meat came from, what that animal was fed or how it was treated while it was alive – or even if the meat in the package all came from the same animal.

They choose to work with farms that meet a high standard of raising animals with full transparency of what their animals were fed and how humanely they were treated.

Farm Foods Market is the opposite of that.

They are radically candid about where their meat offerings are sourced, and any organic or humane certifications those specific farms may have.

This information is passed directly onto you so you can have peace of mind knowing you’re getting a quality product to feed your family. 

Farm Foods Market came about during the founders’ own search for healthier eating at reasonable prices and state a simple concept:

Starting small from a few farms in the Northwestern US, they’ve now expanded across the nation as well as a few partners in New Zealand as well.

Ordering and shipping

The Farm Foods Market website is user-friendly with meat categorized by animal: beef, pork, chicken and “other meats.” 

The other meat category specializes in off-the-cuff options like bison, elk, salmon, lamb and even pheasant. Great to see lots of cuts you would never find in a supermarket.

The cuts within each category range across the whole animal. They even offer organ meat or minimally processed options like sausage and jerky.

If you’re looking to buy bulk, there are value pack options and even an option to buy 1/16th of a whole cow.

Don’t fret, the main BBQ favorites are available too: brisket, ribs and pork shoulder among others. 

Farm Foods Market sent us a variety of meats to review including:

• 1.5 pounds ribeye steak
• 1 pound of 80/20 grass-fed ground beef
• 1 pound of sugar-cured smoked bacon
• 1 pound of ground elk
• 1 Berkshire pork chop
• 4 wild boar sausage links made with cranberries and shiraz
• 1 sockeye salmon filet

The meat arrived in a thick styrofoam cooler, packaged with dry ice.

The meat remained frozen solid when I opened the package as Farm Foods states that they pack with enough dry ice to ensure the meat stays frozen for 12 hours after estimated delivery. 

In fact, Farm Foods Market guarantees all deliveries, so if your delivery shows up thawed or spoiled they will issue a full refund. Peace of mind!

How good was the meat from Farm Foods Market?

I was super excited to try Farm Food’s product line to see how it stacked up to other offerings in the market. 

I already knew from researching the company that the meat would be high-quality, but I was not prepared for just how deep the flavors would be. 

From the red meat to the fish, you could definitely taste a distinctive difference in quality compared to high-volume, mass-produced meat. 

Grass-fed ribeye steak

Seasoning/Preparation Method: Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper.
Cooking Method: High-heat sear over lump charcoal and hickory wood chunks.

Verdict:

The ribeye actually contained two steaks for a total of 1.49 pounds. After opening the package, you could smell a deep, irony smell most likely due to the animal being grass-fed.

Grass-fed cows tend to have less marbling and a gamier taste to them, and these steaks were no exception. 

The marbling was more than I expected from grass-fed, and the gamey taste definitely reflected that it was a grass-fed animal. They were cut thick to about 1.25” – 1.5” thick and remained tender at medium-rare internal temperature.

Farm Foods Market ribeyes were on par with an upper choice-type of USDA meat quality rating, and much more rich in flavor than ordinary grocery store steaks. 

Grass-fed ground beef

Seasoning/Preparation Method: Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper, pressed into burger patties. Served as cheeseburgers.
Cooking Method: PitBoss 4-burner standard gas griddle.

Verdict:

The ground beef was great! Full of flavor and juicy. I cooked these as quarter-pound burger patties smashed on the PitBoss 4-burner gas griddle. 

Minimally seasoned with just a dash of salt and pepper, the flavor and quality of the beef took center stage.

I was worried the 80/20 fat ratio would dry out the meat once smashed, but it remained juicy, frying up in its own fat renderings and giving a nice, crusty exterior while the inside remained juicy.

Sometimes frozen beef isn’t as tender or flavorful after thawing, but this ground beef was chock full of deep, meaty flavor even once thawed in the fridge. 

A great ground beef choice with a single origin, this meat is hands-down better than grocery store beef. 

Wild boar sausages

Seasoning/Preparation Method: No seasoning.
Cooking Method: PitBoss 4-burner standard gas griddle.

Verdict:

I was skeptical about these sausages at first. Made with cranberries and shiraz, the flavor profile was a bit intimidating. Having said that, these sausages were a surprise for the better. 

Wild boar is lean in protein, so the berries and shiraz helped to keep it moist while cooking on the griddle top. The meat was well emulsified with no dry chunks breaking apart within the casings.

Speaking of casings, off the griddle, these sausages gave a crispy snap when bitten into. All the while the sausage itself remained juicy. 

These sausages were the most eclectic I’ve had in a long time. The wild boar flavor was not gamey at all, and being a lean pork sausage, the recipe shone through on this one.

You could use these in place of bratwurst or kielbasa at your next cookout.

Sugar-cured smoked bacon

Seasoning/Preparation Method: No seasoning.
Cooking Method: PitBoss 4-burner standard gas griddle.

Verdict:

The sugar-cured smoked bacon was fantastic. First and foremost, it’s bacon, so how bad can it be? Honestly, I’ve had “bacon” from farmer’s markets that had no business being marketed as such, and should have just been called sliced pork belly or uncured. 

The Farm Food Markets bacon, though, was heavenly. The sugar cure you could smell right out of the package, giving off a sort of honey or agave hint. Already having that smoke flavor pushed this bacon over the edge. 

Cooked on the griddle, the smokiness was the first thing you noticed. What sugar was left from the curing process helped to almost candy the bacon and crisp up nicely. 

This bacon is up there with some of my favorites. The depth of flavor from the cure and the deep smoke penetration make this meat ideal for layering on sandwiches or just eaten on its own. It’s a complex flavor that melds together perfectly.

Knowing this is from a humanely raised, single origin animal makes it that much better. A+.

Berkshire pork chop

Seasoning/Preparation Method: Kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper, granulated garlic, rosemary.
Cooking Method: Two-zone cooking on PitBoss 4-burner standard gas griddle.

Verdict:

I’ve had Berkshire pulled pork and bacon, but never as a chop. This was a thick piece of meat. I knew I wanted the pork flavor to shine through, so I planned on doing a two-zone cooking method to get to 135°F internal temperature. 

The pork chop came bone-in and plumped up nicely during the sear. I took it off the heat at 130°F and let it continue to rise til 135°F before cutting into it.

For being a lean piece of meat, the pork chop had a surprisingly rich flavor to it and noticeable marbling throughout. This not only kept it from drying it during cooking, but also added flavor and moisture to the meat. 

I don’t think I’ve ever had a pork chop this flavorful from the grocery store if that tells you anything. The crust on the outside that formed during the sear was in stark contrast to the tender, juicy interior. 

You don’t have to worry about a dry, flavorless result with these pork chops!

Ground elk

Seasoning/Preparation Method: Kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper.
Cooking Method: PitBoss 4-burner standard gas griddle (burgers) / Cast iron skillet (casserole).

Verdict:

I did the ground elk two ways: two quarter pound burger patties, and a sweet potato, whole 30 style skillet casserole.

Elk is similar to beef but is generally much leaner and heartier. I wanted to see if the burger would stay juicy and flavorful without any fat added. The skillet casserole with the sweet potatoes would be more of a meal-prep kind of dish, and frankly, I needed a healthy, filling lunch for a couple days. 

The elk burgers were definitely less juicy than ground beef, but the flavor was great. Meaty, but not gamey. Farm Foods Market elk is grass-fed and pasture raised much like their beef, but elk had a significantly less “mineral” taste to it. 

It was a bit on the crumbly side when bitten into, but if I had worked the meat together tighter into the patty shape, I think this would have stuck together better.

The elk really shone through in the skillet casserole. Browned in olive oil with salt and pepper, then tossed with cubed sweet potatoes, covered with shredded cheddar then baked, this dish is great for meal prep and keto alike. 

The meatiness of the elk gave the dish a heartiness and kept me full for hours on end. I don’t think you’ll find elk in your local grocery store, but Farm Foods Market has got you covered!

Salmon filet

Seasoning/Preparation Method: Kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper, garlic clove, rosemary sprig.
Cooking Method: Smoked on PitBoss Sportsman 820 pellet grill.

Verdict:

The first thing I noticed about the salmon filet was its rich, deep red color. It was a beautiful red that I rarely see in grocery store fish. The look alone caught my eye upon opening the case. 

I decided to smoke the salmon over hickory and apple pellets in the Pit Boss Sportsman 820 Pellet Smoker to an internal temperature of 140°F. 

The salmon took on the subtle smoke flavor extremely well without dulling the deep color too much. The result was a flaky, flavorful piece of fish that rivaled some of my favorite restaurant versions.

Related: Hot Smoked Salmon

Farm Foods Market boasts its salmon is wild caught sockeye salmon from Alaska.

Though the serving portion was on the smaller size, 7oz, it was super flavorful in every bite. Whereas farmed salmon has a dull, metal-like taste to it -and often dries out quickly – this salmon was savory and complex while also layered with the smoke flavor.

Bottom line: I want more! A great option if you’re in the market for salmon.

Final thoughts

I was extremely impressed with Farm Foods Market’s offerings. From their everyday ground beef to their more eclectic sausage offerings, each piece of meat was extremely flavorful and reasonably priced in comparison to the market. 

Their transparency of animal origins and how they are raised puts Farm Foods Market right up there near the top offerings in online butcher shops and meat ordering. 

The information they relay to the consumer lets you make informed decisions on protein choices, not only for health benefits, but for humanely raised animal welfare as well.

But is it worth the price and wait time for shipping? 

If you’re looking for tremendous flavor that is a noticeable upgrade from your local grocery store, then the answer is yes. You’ll be supporting farms that take care of their animals as well vs. the mass production companies. 

If you don’t have access to quality farmers or butchers, or are wanting full authenticity from sourcing and animal welfare, Farm Foods Market is definitely a good choice.