8 Great Online Butchers

Although I’ve very much grown out of that phase of my life where I didn’t consider a meal complete unless it included some form of dead animal (see: me from the ages of 15 to 18) I do still enjoy meat. I’m particularly fond of a well-timed steak or juicy roast chicken when I know that it’s been sourced from a farm that actually takes care of its animals and expertly butchered by someone that actually knows what they’re doing.

That’s why I wanted to provide you with this handy little list of some of the best online butchers out there. Because even if you don’t live near one of these brilliant churches of meat, you still deserve to have quality grade cattle delivered to your doorstep at a few days’ notice. I know that a lot of these probably won’t be what you’d classify as “budget” options but it’s important to remember that great meat ain’t cheap. Nor should it be. If you want an animal that’s been raised well and looked after properly for its whole life, you’re going to have to pay for it.

Think of how much it would have cost your parents to raise you and think of all of the food you used to eat in order to become the wonderful, strong human that you are today. It’s probably a lot, right? Well, call your parents and thank them for all those countless meals. And then hit up one of these 8 great online butcher shops to pick yourself up a dry-aged steak to congratulate yourself on all those years of hard work and good eating.

An independent family-run butcher with an obsession for British meat, HG Walter is one of the best places online to purchase meat that’s high in provenance, welfare, and flavour. Whether it’s from Aberdeen Angus cattle or Hampshire Duroc pigs, the majority of the meat at HG Walter is sourced from small farms that rear free-range native breeds. Even just looking at the produce, you can immediately tell the difference. The steaks here look like the kinds you’d see on early morning cartoons. And they taste twice as good as they look.

Donald Russell supplies some of the very best restaurants in the UK with their high-quality meat. This means that, if you want your next steak night to really go off, you should probably give them a gander. The dry-aged Tomahawk steak is one of Donald Russell’s signature cuts (and a real scene-stealer if you want that steak night to be truly unforgettable) but even the humbler cuts like their pork chops as succulent as they come. A world-beater.

High welfare, slow-reared meat is what The Ginger Pig is all about. It’s rare for a banger to steal the show for me but The Ginger Pig’s handmade sausages (made from a blend of pork belly and shoulder to ensure a good fat content and optimal juiciness) are to die for. They’re the reason The Ginger Pig is so renowned and the reason you should order from them at the next available opportunity. As well as all your typical cuts of meat, you can also get a range of traditional, hand-raised pork pies, chutneys, pickles and condiments delivered to your address, too.

Richard H. Turner is an acclaimed chef. James George is a master butcher. Together, they’ve formed Turner & George – a butcher’s shop that advocates traditional butchery and cutting methods using only the best quality meat around. Every piece of meat they sell has been raised naturally, lived the best of lives and is completely hormone, antibiotic and cruelty-free. Cooking a bone-in rib eye for your dad’s birthday? This lot will sort you out.

You might be more familiar with Riverford for their impressive range of organic, slow-grown fruits and vegetables but they also sell a pretty mouth-watering selection of British meats from their very own organic butchery in Devon. Every animal that Riverford slaughters has been bred for the best flavour possible and sourced from West Country farmers who genuinely care about what they do. Grass-fed beef never tasted as good as this.

Farmison & Co is a butcher that really knows its stuff. Heritage breeds can be found left, right, and centre on their online shop. Belted Galloway beef, Hampshire Down lamb, and Middle White pork are just a few of the rare breeds they’ve got available. If you want meat that actually tastes like meat – and boasts a real sense of terroir – then this is where you should be spending your next paycheque.

I’ve already given some love to field&flower in our list of the best BBQ delivery boxes so you shouldn’t be all that surprised that they’re one of the best online butchers around as well. These lot champion small-scale, traditional free-range farmers and fishermen and will deliver that quality produce to your doorstep for a very fair price. The meat travels straight from the farms it's sourced from to field&flower’s butchery in Somerset where they give it the all-star treatment. I’m not joking when I say that their lamb mince will make you never want to buy any other mince ever again. It’s that rich, grassy and wonderful.

One of the main anxieties I have about ordering meat online is whether or not it’s going to be packaged properly in order to ensure it doesn’t arrive already half-cooked. That’s why Crombies of Edinburgh made it onto this list of the best online butchers. Not only is their meat good (like, really good) but it always arrives on time in a protective chilled box that ensures it remains at the optimal temperature all throughout its journey. It really is the little things that make the difference.