Why Is Everything Shipped Frozen
Omaha Steaks uses flash freezing to keep the food from spoiling as it makes its way from them to you.
The process of flash freezing is actually an important part of maintaining the quality of the meat. Any type of freezing is going to cause ice crystals to form inside the meat, which can tear into the muscle cell walls as they grow. When thawed, these damaged cells end up resulting in drier meat.
While freezing in general is not great at maintaining the flavor and quality of meat, flash freezing or rapid freezing is the best option.
Filet Mignon Pastry Bites
These are one of the foods you can see us make and taste test in our video review above. For being frozen, these came out delicious. The pastry still had a light crispy and flakey texture, which surprised me for something that was frozen and simply reheated in the oven. The inside filet was juicy and savory. Its definitely something I would order again, especially as an appetizer to be passed out at a party or family get together.
Best Mail Order Steaks In 2022
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Until recently if you wanted to buy the best quality steak you were severely limited by where you lived.
Luckily we are now spoilt for choice, with a range of specialty butcher shops delivering restaurant-quality steak online.
Even if you live in a small city, these online butchers deliver steak to your door anywhere in the continental United States.
Weve rounded up the best mail order steak companies in the country for buying steak online.
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Omaha Steaks Review: How Good Is This Mail Order Steak Company
Bottom Line
Omaha Steaks has a huge variety of delicious food but they lack transparency when it comes to their meat quality, USDA grading, and sourcing practices.
Pros
They offer a huge amount of variety, making it a good choice for big parties.
Their premade options are delicious .
It could make for a good gift.
Cons
The pricing can be confusing and annoying.
They lack transparency when it comes to meat quality, USDA grading, and sourcing.
Their packaging is all styrofoam and plasticnot environmentally friendly at all.
Not Sure What Box Is Right For You?
No need to spend hours searching. and I’ll send you my personal favorites !
Over the years weve reviewed dozens of different meat delivery boxes but none of them are as well-known as Omaha Steaks.
Chances are youve either received Omaha Steaks as a gift, youve given it as a gift, or youve at least seen their ads. This is because theyre one of the oldest meat delivery services out there. But does that make them the best?
Today were unboxing, taste testing, and reviewing Omaha Steaks to find out if one of the oldest meat delivery services is really worth it.
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The story of Omaha Steaks starts, not in the United States, but rather in Latvia.
Due to immense popularity in the town, the company began growing and in 1952 they became one of the first butchers to advertise mail order steaks in magazines.
Pan Seared Strip Steaks
If youve followed my blog for even a few minutes, you know that I prefer to grill just about everything, to include grapes and angel food cake found in my book, Grill Seeker: Basic Training to Everyday Grilling. Having said that, Im also a huge fan of cast iron and often combine the two using a cast iron skillet over high heat on my grill to create the perfect pan seared New York strip steak.
Maybe youre wondering, how do I make a steak without a grill? You can certainly heat a large skillet on your stovetop, I just prefer cooking outdoors when I can. Theres less mess to clean up and on those hot summer days, cooking outdoors keeps the house cooler. Theres no shortage of steak recipes online that will turn out a good steak. Today were talking about turning out a great steaksteak house quality in fact.
To start, get the best quality NY strips your budget will allow. Sometimes mail order is the best way to go, if you dont have a local butcher. The strips Im using today come in at a little over an inch thick and are perfect for pan searing.
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Ways To Stretch A Steak
Chef Colin provided a new perspective on steak. When I think of steak, I think of dinner, and Chef Colin helped me expand my thinking. Steak is a protein that works wonderfully for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
In our cooking demonstrations, I learned a couple of ways to make the luxurious steak stretch to feed more people while still feeling luxurious. That left me brainstorming these other ideas that would even be great to use a leftover if there even is such a thing as leftover steak.
- A 12-ounce ribeye could stretch to feed at least four servings if fanned across a salad for lunch.
- Cut the steak in small bite-size pieces, combine it with some scrambled eggs, diced cooked potatoes, salsa, and cheese and wrap it in a flour tortilla for a breakfast burrito.
- Top a pizza with thin slices of steak, add bell peppers in multi-colors, and some mozzarella to create a Philly cheesesteak pizza.
- Build a steak sandwich.
- Finely dice the steak, mix it with cubed fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, and other Mexican-flavored toppings and turn that steak for one into breakfast burritos for four.
Omaha Steaks Vs The Competition
While Omaha Steaks was the first, there are a lot of meat delivery services out there these days. Here are the meat delivery services that are most comparable to Omaha Steaks:
As you can probably tell, the running theme when comparing Omaha Steaks against their competitors is Omaha Steaks offers the most variety but many other meat delivery services offer higher quality and more niche food options.
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The Method To Cooking Steak
Heres what I learned from my virtual meeting with the three Omaha chefs on how to make the perfect restaurant-style steak at home. They certainly know their steak.
The Types Of Food Omaha Steaks Offers
While steaks are in their name, Omaha Steaks offers way more than just steak. In fact, they offer nearly every cut of beef, chicken, turkey, and pork imaginable. But thats just a portion of the foods they offer. They also now offer seafood, pastas, sides, desserts, and even wine.
To give you an idea of the immense variety they offer, here are some of their most popular foods they sell from each category:
Steaks
- Brussels sprouts with bacon and shallots
- Roasted mixed vegetables
The examples above are really just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, I found one of the hardest parts of ordering to be deciding what to get.
While they offer a lot of meats that you cook, a good portion of the items they offer are premade foods .
This enormous variety, coupled with their premade options makes Omaha Steaks a great option for special occasions where you may need to feed a lot of people a nice dinner but you dont want to have to spend hours cooking everything. Emily and I have considered using Omaha Steaks for when we host future family holidays.
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Is It Cheaper To Buy Meat Online
Generally, the meat you find from online butchers caters to the high end of the market.
This makes sense, people looking to order steak online are looking for a way to get their hands on the best quality grass-fed, Wagyu, or sustainable raised beef. Not save money.
Having said that, some of the companies in our guide are cheaper than others, so its definitely worth shopping around.
Wrapping it up
You now have no excuses for wasting money on cheap steak from the supermarket.
If you dont have any good butcher shops near you dont despair. We truly live in a golden age for meat lovers with the best butchers delivering amazing quality steak to your door.
You might also want to check out our guide on where to buy Wagyu Beef online.
If youve never ordered steak online before you should definitely give it a try. Its a safe and convenient way to try steak that could previously only be tasted in the finest restaurants.
Not sure what steak to order? Check out our guide to the best steak for grilling.
How Long Can Omaha Steaks Stay In The Shipping Cooler Before Spoiling
Weve left our meat in its Styrofoam container for upwards of 6 hours from when it arrived on our doorstep . So this means that the meat was in the cooler for over 30 hours and there was still a huge block of dry ice in it. My rule of thumb for anything being delivered frozen is to ensure it is frozen when I open the box or else I consider it spoiled and contact customer support.
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How Long Does Omaha Steaks Foods Stay Good In Their Packaging
Weve held on to frozen Omaha Steaks meat for over 3 months since purchasing it and havent had any issues cooking it after. Its important to note that the meat has to stay frozen through this whole time, since it can spoil thawing and being refrozen. Omaha Steaks says that their meats are vacuum sealed to last for up to three months in a properly working freezer.
How To Cook A Restaurant
A New York Strip Steak with a Mushroom Bordelaise Sauce
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Thank you to Visit Omaha who provided the author with complimentary steaks to facilitate this article.
Everyone who knows me knows how much I love to travel and eat in restaurants. Getting out and discovering new foods and new ways of making ingredients Im familiar with is my passion. So, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I had to find a new way to fulfill my wanderlust and enjoy restaurant-style steak at home.
I also love to entertain, and I distinctly remember my daughter cautioning me while planning a dinner menu for guests, not to cook steak as that wasnt my best dish. I had to agree cooking a steak at-home was a bit of a mystery to me. It never seemed exactly right.
I NEEDED to learn to cook a restaurant-style steak at home to make it through the pandemic. Using technology, I made the best of a difficult situation by using virtual travel. I went virtually to Omaha, a place I think of as the steak capital of the world. Visit Omaha offered an on-line cooking demonstration with three Omaha restaurant chefs. They gave our group their best tips for cooking an Omaha Steak.
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How To Make It:
Step 1
Thaw your Omaha steaks. Once thawed, be sure to let them rest for at least 20 minutes at room temperature.
Step 2
Generously sprinkle salt and pepper on each side of the steak.
Step 3
Heat your cast-iron skillet over high heat and coat with Olive Oil. Then, preheat your oven to 425.
Step 4
Place your steaks in the heated skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. You want them to cook until browned.
Step 5
Add your butter, thyme, and minced garlic to the pan. No right or wrong way to go about it!
Step 6
Turn off the stove and carefully place your skillet with the steaks into the heated oven. Cook for 8 minutes.
Step 7
Remove the steaks from the oven. Let rest for 5 minutes and then slice them across the grain. Spoon the butter mixture over the steak and serve with veggies!
Make sure to grab these Omaha Steak NY Strips. We love the boneless ones here for everyday meals and save these ones from their Private Reserve collection for special occasions and guests.
Steak Lessons From Three Omaha Restaurant Chefs
- Chef Jake Newton of V. Mertz Photo Courtesy of Visit Omaha
- Chef Nick Strawhecker of Dante Photo Courtesy of Visit Omaha
- Jessica & Colin Duggan of Kitchen Table Photo Courtesy of Visit Omaha
Omaha Restaurant Chefs and Their Tips on Cooking Omaha Steaks
Three Omaha restaurant chefs showed me how to tackle cooking a restaurant-style steak at home, all using Omaha Steaks. Chef Jake Newton, from V. Mertz, runs a fine-dining style restaurant. Chef Nick Strawhecker of Dante Pizzeria Napoletana has an Italian-style restaurant, while Chef Colin Duggan owns Kitchen Table, a restaurant with a home-style kitchen. While all these chefs are at the helm of different styles of restaurants and each shared a variety of tips, they all started with the same tool, a cast-iron skillet. I had one once and never used it, so my first step in the quest for a perfect restaurant-style steak at home was to purchase a pre-seasoned cast iron skillet.
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Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes
This dessert was incredible. If you watched the video above, youll see when we cut into the cake the molten chocolate inside literally pours out. It was very decadent and rich without being overly sweet. Emily and I actually had to split one between ourselves because, while small, theyre very filling.
Omaha Steaks Anniversary Sale Get 50% Off Steaks Burgers Bundles
Boneless New York Strips. Image by: Omaha Steaks
Save 50% off during Omaha Steaks anniversary sale. Save on steaks, burgers, and pre-packed meat bundles. Stock your high quality meats and meals for your next family cookout. Buy your favorite steaks or burgers individually or in bundles. Bundle packages give you the option to add delicious meats, seasonings and includes vegetables and desserts. Youll love the New York steak strips, steak burgers, scalloped potatoes, caramel apple tartlets, delicious vegetables and more.
Ordering from Omaha Steaks allows you to do a few different things. You can place orders online to get quality meals for family dinners, or order bundles to stock up for weekend gatherings or special events like birthdays or Sunday cookouts. You can also order pre-packaged meats to stock the freezer of a relative or friend who could use a little extra – or as a gift. Receive free shipping on purchases of $169 or more, plus a free gifts on select packages.
Omaha Steaks has 50% off sales to fit any budget. Save on customer favorites, enjoy four, 6 oz steak burgers for $13.99, or shop for a bundle including the 105th Anniversary Collection which is a 20-item combination of Butchers Cut Top Sirloins, boneless pork chops, filet mignon burgers, stuffed baked potatoes and caramel apple tartlets for just $105.
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Quality Vs Price Not What I Was Expecting
Buying online is always a hit or miss. Sadly you dont always get what you pay for, however sometimes youre pleasantly surprised. That was not what happened when I received my first order, I wasnt pleasantly surprised, I was shocked. The quality of the meat was understated in its description. By simply following the instructions careful my wife and I had some of the most delicious meals we ever cooked at home. We are both professionals and rarely cook at home, however due to the pandemic we were forced to change some of our spoiled habits. Weve eaten in some of the most famous restaurants and steakhouses in world not just in New York and our home cooked meal literally surpassed any steak Ive ever eaten, and weve been dining out for over 35 years. I never give reviews however this company surpassed our expectations by a mile. This is a good company that makes an honest effort to serve its clientele true quality and deserves to be acknowledged for it.
