Buying chicken online may not be the norm but, as we discovered during the coronavirus pandemic, the supply chain for commodities like quality meat, seafood and even yeast are not failproof and shouldn’t be entirely relied upon when things go haywire. Considering the average American eats about 100 pounds of chicken per year, having a good source is crucial if you’d rather not go without. Not only is purchasing chicken online easy and affordable, but you can do some serious armchair research and determine where the birds are coming from and get exactly — or close to exactly — what you’re looking for. This is especially advantageous if you’re trying to eat more organic chicken or certified humane and pasture-raised poultry. Even if you’re not, there are a multitude of online retailers to buy butcher fresh chicken from and take grocery store guesswork out of the equation.
Why buy chicken online?
When you’re cruising the chicken aisle at your local market or grocery store, you’re limited in selection, but a bevy of online retailers makes finding the type of chicken you want easier than ever. With a little investigation, you can find the best place to buy chicken online that meets all your requirements. You can get the exact chicken cuts and type of chicken you’re searching for, all from just a few clicks, and many of these retailers provide much more chicken label information about the chicken and poultry than a simple grocery store label. Companies like Cooks Venture, started by Matt Wadiak one of Blue Apron’s founders, sell particularly high-quality, certified humane chicken raised on non-GMO feed made with sustainable farming practices at competitive prices. As important as anything, in Wadiak’s view, his chicken outfit employs regenerative farming to keep soil health intact and limit the overall impact poultry farming has on climate change. With
There are also great deals to be had on chicken when you purchase online, including on whole chickens, and especially when chicken is purchased in bulk or semi-bulk. You can scour the web or jump on the mailing list for these chicken purveyors (or check back with us, of course) to find out about limited online chicken sales and special package deals. Many companies like Rastelli’s, ButcherBox and Crowd Cow — which got its start selling beef online — now carry organic and free-range chicken too. You can easily bundle it all up in one order of butcher box quality meat and save on shipping costs and trips to the store. Crowd Cow, for example, offers 5% off if you subscribe to have chicken delivered regularly, something you likely would want anyway. Cooks Venture offers a 25% discount and free shipping when you buy four of their heritage breed, animal welfare certified chickens, and they can be had for as little as $15 per bird, which is far cheaper than you’ll find for the same quality at Whole Foods.
Safety and freshness
If you’re concerned about freshness, most of these online chicken purveyors ship their birds chilled or frozen via highly traceable logistics and usually in just a couple of days or less. Many have begun using eco-friendly shipping solutions, too, like recycled denim and compostable or reusable boxes. (Some do still ship in Styrofoam.) At present, we have not uncovered any instances of compromised freshness or wide-spread foodborne illness linked to buying chicken and poultry online. Reason stands that it is at least as safe or safer than buying from a brick-and-mortar store. Like anything, the higher quality the operation — both online or in-person — the less the chances are for a “situation.”
Types of chicken you can buy online: organic, humanely raised and more
This is one of the biggest advantages of ordering chicken from an online poultry retailer. As mentioned, in a grocery store you have limited options and often the best stuff sells out first. Online chicken retailers like Thrive Market, Crowd Cow or Fresh Direct allow you to select exactly what you want, and their inventory is less vulnerable to outside supply chain disruption. This includes specific cuts of chicken like breasts, thighs, wings and whole chickens, but also chicken that is bred and raised at a standard of your choosing. You can buy organic chicken, certified humane chicken and pasture-raised chicken and have them sent to your door in just days and on a regular basis. In addition to chicken, you can find high-quality turkey and quality fresh meat at many of these online retailers, as well as more specialized poultry like duck, pheasant, quail and game hen, if you know where to look.
Cook’s Venture
Chicken labels to consider
Sifting through the labels and terminology when buying meat and poultry can be tricky. With so many different standards it’s helpful to have a way to decode the chicken label. To complicate matters, only some of the labels refer to USDA regulations while others, like “all-natural,” are simply marketing buzzwords and mean nothing.
These first two labels signify some of the most rigorous standards and are the best indicators you are getting a humanely raised poultry product.
Certified humane chicken
According to the ASPCA, this label represents a significant improvement over conventional standards and means the animal has outdoor access for ruminants and for pigs and poultry when accompanied by the words “free-range” or “pasture-raised.” If animals are raised indoors, it means more space, bedding and enrichment are required and subtherapeutic antibiotics are prohibited. Standards extend to transport and slaughter too, and compliance is assured by independent on-farm auditing.
Animal welfare certified chicken
This six-level rating program for animals raised for meat and eggs is slightly more complex. According to the ASPCA, each successive level represents progressively higher welfare and includes all requirements of those below it. Cage confinement, hormones and subtherapeutic antibiotics are prohibited at all levels, standards extend to transport and slaughter and compliance with them is verified by auditors on every farm.
Read more about both of these labels here.
Organic chicken
The “organic” label is a good one to look out for but keep in mind it really just means that the chickens have been fed a certified organic diet and often — but not always — means the farming practices used in feeding the birds are better. The chicken label doesn’t signal anything about a chicken’s quality of life or humane practices during their life and/or death and, in many cases, organic chickens still withstand a lot of factory farming’s most notorious practices.
No antibiotics or chicken raised without antibiotics
This means the chickens were not routinely given preventative antibiotics, which many deem harmful but it doesn’t ensure they weren’t given antibiotics if they had gotten sick.
Pasture-raised chicken
Because there’s no legal definition of this term, “pasture-raised” is hard to verify. The USDA requires chicken labels to be “accurate” but without any formal guidelines, this one has quite a bit of wiggle room but implies birds spent significant time outdoors and in a pasture.
Free-range chicken
This is another label you’ve likely seen on sides of egg cartons and chicken packages that is misleading once you dive into the criteria. “Free-range” is meant to indicate that chickens had access to the outdoors but there is almost no requirement for how much or how big that outdoor space is. In many cases, poultry coops are set up so that the chickens don’t even use the outdoor space.
All-natural chicken
This is a marketing term and means nothing. There are no requirements for a chicken to be labeled all-natural and if you see it, you should probably assume it is anything but.
For more, read our in-depth breakdown of chicken labels or check out out this chicken labeling chart from the ASPCA.
Where to buy chicken online: Organic, welfare-certified, pasture-raised and more
Thrive Market
For $119 you can build a custom butcher box of meat and seafood and that includes plenty of options for quality, organic chicken. In fact, you can select only chicken for this box if you want but also choose to mix in some high-quality beef or wild-caught cod, salmon or other seafood.
Crowd Cow
Despite the name, this newer online meat purveyor carries a lot more than beef. Crowd Cow has one of the best selections of free-range and organic chicken you can order online. Purchase organic whole chickens for as little as $16 or try the Bodybuilder Pack — a whopping six pounds of chicken — for just $63.
Cook’s Venture
Founder and CEO Matt Wadiak’s goal is to improve the overall farming and feeding system which supports the massive poultry industry and bring it to scale (they’re currently distributing upward of 700,000 chickens per week) so more people can eat better chicken raised on environmentally friendly feed. You can get their G.A.P Animal Welfare Certified heirloom chickens which are bred to be biologically sound, gut-healthy and tasty (speaking from experience) directly from Cooks Venture’s website for around $18 when you buy six, with free shipping on all orders.
Green Circle
Specialty food store D’Artagnan has a great selection of certified humane, air-chilled, antibiotic-free and pasture-raised chicken, making it one of the best places to buy chicken online. Green Circle is a well known, quality producer and butcher. D’Artagnan carries a good deal of their poultry line. If you want to stock up now, the high-end retailer is selling six Green Circle certified-humane organic chickens (3 to 3.5 pounds each) for just $129. Or get two Green Circle birds for $32.
Rastelli’s
Chicken thighs are incredibly flavorful and a perfect candidate for dishes like chicken cacciatore or lemon pan chicken. Rastelli’s will ship out a box of 12 boneless skinless thighs for $29 or 12 boneless skinless chicken breasts for $39. You can also order nearly four pounds of ground chicken — perfect for meatballs and tacos — for just $19. Save 5% if you make it a reoccurring delivery and snag any number of Rastelli’s other great meats direct from the New Jersey-based specialty shop while you’re filling up your cart.
Smart Chicken
Certified Organic Smart chickens are fed an organic grain diet, are free-range and certified humane by the Humane Farm Animal Care. All Smart chicken products are raised without the use of antibiotics. A 4-pound bird will cost about $17.
Applegate Farms
You’ve probably seen these chicken products and others from this line in your local market. You can rest assured Applegate stresses quality in their products including organic and certified humane chicken in many of them. That includes Applegate’s homestyle chicken tenders or breaded chicken patties, which are both made using humanely raised birds.
ButcherBox
All of this online butcher’s chicken is G.A.P animal welfare certified. While you can’t place single orders for breasts or single whole chickens, you can build your own monthly boxes that include chicken or choose ones that are curated by ButcherBox.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.