Have you heard of Rastelli’s yet? This popular Farm-to-Butcher-to-Table meat delivery service has been on my list of services to try as a busy, working mom.
I’m always looking for ways to make dinner more delicious, easier to prepare, and of course, to find high-quality and sustainable meat sources. Let’s be honest – the stuff in the Walmart aisle doesn’t always look super appetizing.
To date, I’ve tried Butcher Box and Cooks Venture and have been super pleased with both. I’m really excited to keep expanding my horizons by giving Rastelli’s a test.
In 1976, Rastelli’s started a small, local butcher shop in New Jersey. Since then, Ray Rastelli, Jr. and his brother, Tony, have built quite the reputation for superior butchery and quality meats. They’ve fed our troops around the globe and supply their products to some of America’s finest restaurants.
Without further ado, here’s everything you need to know about Rastelli’s sustainable meat delivery service.
Disclaimer
Any time I write a review, I want to include any information about sponsorships or affiliate links. This article is not sponsored by Rastelli’s and I am not being paid to write it. Rastelli’s did send me a package with product samples, and this article does contain affiliate links.
If you decide to click one of my links and end up purchasing something from Rastelli’s, I will earn a small commission. I really appreciate it if you do use my links when shopping because it helps support this blog and the creation of new content. I also have a special discount code for you: MAMA15 for $15 off orders over $50!
Alright, on with the review!
Rastelli’s Unboxing
The Rastelli’s order was placed on a Thursday, and I received the shipment the next day. My first impression was how incredible it was to receive frozen items so quickly.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in a situation where I received a frozen food package and some of the items were thawed or slightly thawed. Fast shipment is critical!
The box is visually appealing with this cool knife collage of a cow on the side and the Rastelli’s logo on another side.
When you open the box, you see the phrase “For the Love of Great Food.” Rastelli’s explains in their About section that the reason they got into the business 45 years ago was, you guessed it, the love of great food.
I love seeing a mission statement like that unveiled as you open a box. It’s the little details that stand out.
Inside the box, there is a thick insulated cube that surrounds another insulated bag.
The meat is inside the insulated bag, which also contains two blocks of dry ice. That dry ice is not directly touching the meat and is carefully separated with brown paper.
Overall, I was struck by how much care went into the packing of this box. Everything arrived perfectly frozen, and it’s no wonder! It’s like I just went to the grocery store and picked up a week’s worth of meat without actually lifting a finger.
I should also say the insulated bag the meats came in is totally reusable! We bring this with us when we set foot in a grocery store (I’ll admit – it’s rare these days), and we use it as a grocery bag and to keep things cool on the way home. It felt like a freebie!
Rastelli’s Sustainably Raised Meats and Sourcing Transparency
Have you noticed the meat at the grocery store has gone down in quality in recent years? Not digging on Walmart, because I LOVE their pickup service and their prices. That said, I avoid buying meat there as well as other popular grocery chains in my area like Publix and Winn Dixie.
The frozen salmon literally falls apart, the chicken is tougher and stringier than ever, and the red meat leaves much to be desired.
Two years ago, my husband and I started buying a quarter of a cow from a local farm. And let me tell you – it looks NOTHING like the stuff in the local grocery store.
While we’re lucky to have a cattle farm 10 miles from our house, not everyone is that lucky. And we are still looking for good fish and chicken sources.
Rastelli’s seems to check all the boxes by sourcing certified antibiotic, steroid, and hormone-free meats. All seafood is wild-caught or sustainably raised in the wild, and they deliberately look for farming and fishing families that care for animals and the environment.
That kind of stuff is important to me, and Rastelli’s has taken care of it! Plus, they deliver it to your door so you don’t even have to go to the store.
The last time I bought frozen salmon from my local Walmart, it literally fell apart (and not in a good way). The salmon from Rastelli’s was on an entirely different level. It held firm but flaked apart with a fork when cooked. It was incredibly tender and flavorful – some of the best salmon we’ve made at home!
Rastelli’s Oven-Ready Meats
Another cool section of Rastelli’s website is the Oven-Ready section, which is basically music to the ears of this busy mom.
Here, you’ll find dinners that can go from the freezer into the oven onto your table. There are crab cakes, turkey roulades, potstickers, meatballs, and everything in between.
While these done-for-you options are on the pricier side, you’re largely paying for convenience. I can see these being incredible gifts, especially for expecting moms and those who are grieving.
We’ve had several close friends and colleagues whose parents have passed away, and it can be difficult to know what to send. I can see this type of gift being practical and appreciated. There’s a whole gifting section to make selection easier.
Testing Out Rastelli’s – Our Experience
In our Rastelli’s box, we got:
- Faroe Island Salmon Filets
- Black Angus Beef Steak Craft Burgers
- Fully Cooked Italian-Style Beef Meatballs
- Fully-Cooked Turkey Meatballs
Because I haven’t yet found a good source for high-quality salmon, I was really excited to test out the Faroe Salmon Filets, so let’s go through that experience first!
Rastelli’s Salmon
We received 4 6 oz. filets of the Faroe Island Salmon. This salmon is GMO-free, antibiotic-free, and is sustainably raised in free-flowing pens in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Faroe Islands are famous for their natural fjords, where fish swim freely in their natural habitat. These fish feed on a diet harvested exclusively from their native habitat, and as they live and swim in the cold water, they develop natural layers of fat that make for a delicious, rich salmon.
To prep this salmon, I pulled it out of the freezer in the morning and placed it in the fridge. By dinnertime, it was still slightly frozen in the middle, so I put the vacuum-sealed salmon filets in a bowl and let cold water slowly trickle over them. In about 20 minutes, the filets were thawed through and ready for cooking.
If I had planned better, I could’ve pulled the salmon out of the freezer the day before, but this trick comes in handy if you forget, like me.
My new favorite way to make salmon is to do foil wraps. It takes 5-10 minutes to prepare, you put it in the oven, and you’re done!
I slice up squash, zucchini, and onion, place the salmon on top, and drizzle with any vinaigrette. Italian vinaigrette is our favorite, but when I’m out, I’ve substituted Greek dressing and even Caeser dressing. Both are delicious!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 20 minutes, or until the salmon reaches 145˚F in the center.
This salmon was insanely delicious. It was tender, full of flavor, buttery, and rich.
And by full of flavor, I don’t mean it tasted fishy. It was a perfect balance of richness and mildly-flavored meat. My daughter is such a picky eater, and she actually ate this salmon! We were thrilled.
Black Angus Beef Steak Craft Burgers
We tried the Black Angus Beef Steak Craft Burgers next. These come as a pack of 6 frozen 6 oz. burger patties that you can sear right on your stovetop or the grill. I personally seared mine in a cast iron pan for convenience.
The burgers are made from 100% pure antibiotic-free Black Angus beef.
The cattle live in large, open fields in the American heartland and are grass-fed and grain-finished. Finishing on grain creates incredible marbling and flavorful, tender beef.
Rastelli’s says this burger brings the quality of a steakhouse burger to your home.
And I have to say, I agree.
These burgers were incredible!! They had the perfect amount of fat where they were tender and flavorful without being greasy.
I served these up in a pretty classic way, with lettuce, tomato, red onion, ketchup, and mustard. My husband also likes some mayo on his.
My one and only complaint is the fat splatter all over my stovetop, but that could be avoided by grilling these instead.
I find the individually-wrapped burgers so convenient because you can pull out exactly what you need and leave the rest in the freezer.
Fully-Cooked Meatballs
I have to say, I was a little skeptical about the fully-cooked meatballs. Our family makes huge batches of meatballs for quick freezer meals, but I freeze them uncooked.
My main concern was that pre-cooked meatballs, when heated again, would be rubbery or dry. But I was wrong!
These meatballs had this nice char on the outside from Rastelli’s cooking process, which added some really nice flavor. The meatball mixture also includes a blend of parmesan and romano cheeses as well as Italian herbs and spices. Our whole family thought they were so delicious!
My favorite part about these meatballs is they go from the freezer to the oven and are ready in just 20 minutes. They’re also versatile – you can make spaghetti and meatballs (what we did), meatball subs, meatballs with brown sauce over mashed potatoes, meatballs with barbecue sauce as a party appetizer… there are so many options.
To be transparent, I just don’t know if I will repurchase these, and my hesitation is only because of the cost. We purchase a quarter of a cow from a local farm every year, so we have tons of ground beef at the ready. I like making big batches of meatballs and freezing them myself, which saves our family a lot of time and money.
If you need the convenience – or don’t have access to high-quality, sustainably-sourced beef – I think these meatballs would be a really great buy. That said, they do cost $29 for two 1-pound packs, so they are essentially $14.50 per pound.
Valentine’s Day Dinner At Home
UPDATE: This section is new since my review was published! We tested out a Valentine’s Day dinner at home with three Rastelli’s oven-ready options:
- Beef wellington
- Creamed spinach
- Au gratin potatoes
All you do is take off any plastic covering and pop it in the oven – from frozen! You can have a romantic date night dinner with no meal prep and zero planning in about an hour. And that entire hour is just letting the oven do its thing.
We tried it out and it was absolutely delicious. And if you’re a creamed spinach fan… yeah, you’re going to love it. Plus, if you order these three items, you’ll have plennnnty of leftovers.
You can find these suggestions and plenty more in the Oven-Ready section of the Rastelli’s website. And be sure to use code MAMA15 for $15 off orders over $50!
FAQs About Rastelli’s
Is Rastelli’s good?
I can say from personal experience that Rastelli’s is good! All of their meats and fish are carefully sourced from farming and fishing families that care about their animals and environment.
You can taste the difference – it’s completely unlike what you buy in the grocery store these days.
Read more about their sourcing and transparency here.
Who owns Rastelli’s?
Ray Rastelli, Jr. started Rastelli’s as a small butcher shop in New Jersey. Over the years, Ray and his brother, Tony, expanded to what Rastelli’s is today. Rastelli’s is now far more than just a butcher shop – they’ve built a premium network of sourcing partners to deliver the highest quality meat and seafood around the globe.
Is Rastelli beef grass-fed?
Rastelli’s offers several options for your beef. You can order grass-fed beef or grass-fed and grain-finished beef. If the product isn’t labeled as grass-fed on Rastelli’s website, it’s grass-fed and grain-finished.
Where does Rastelli’s meat come from?
Rastelli’s meat is sourced from all over the globe! For example, the Wagyu beef is sourced from a small family farm in Ohio. The Faroe Island Salmon is sourced from free-flowing pens in the North Atlantic Ocean. The lamb is sourced from Ray Rastelli, Jr.’s own backyard in South Jersey!
For any product you buy, you can first read about where it comes from on the product page. You don’t get that at the supermarket!
Where is Rastelli’s based?
Rastelli’s is based in New Jersey, where the company first began in 1976. Rastelli’s can ship to anywhere within the continental U.S.
Is Rastelli’s Like Omaha Steaks?
I would say Rastelli’s is similar to Omaha Steaks in that both offer meat and seafood that is shipped to your door.
Both Rastelli’s and Omaha Steaks sell Faroe Island Salmon Filets, for example. Omaha Steaks charges $34.99 while Rastelli’s charges $35.
Where you start to see some differences is that every single product on the Rastelli’s website tells you where the item was sourced from. You know that your burger came from Ohio, for example. Omaha Steaks doesn’t offer that kind of information for all of its products.
I also think the ordering process is a bit more streamlined in the Rastelli’s website. The design is simpler – it’s easy to order and find what you need. The Omaha Steaks website is a little overwhelming!
Final Thoughts on Rastelli’s
When reflecting on the whole Rastelli’s experience, from the fast shipping to the thoughtful packaging and high-quality meats, I’m impressed. This company is doing things right, and it couldn’t be more convenient to have meat delivered right to your door.
High-quality meat and fish is also hard to find these days. I personally can’t get it at my local grocery store, and while I have found a great local beef source, I don’t have good options for fish and chicken.
Aside from being a good option for everyday home cooking, I think Rastelli’s also makes for a GREAT gift (check out the Gifting section of the website). Whether it’s Christmas, a birthday, or a thoughtful gift for an expecting mom or friend who’s grieving, who wouldn’t want some short rib burgers or oven-ready turkey breast roast?!
I’m excited to keep trying items from Rastelli’s. I have my eye on their organic chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, pre-cooked turkey roulades, and oven-ready potstickers. If you don’t know where to start, check out the Best Sellers section.
Rastelli’s Discount Code and Savings
If you want to give Rastelli’s a try, I do have some savings for you! The brand has created the discount code MAMA15 for $15 off orders over $50.
In addition, you can get extra savings when you shop through Rakuten, the cashback browser extension. At the time of writing, I was able to snag $7.50 cashback!
If you’ve never heard of Rakuten, you simply install the extension to your web browser and click on the popup when you visit a participating website. You earn cash back, and Rakuten pays you what you’ve earned once a quarter. I’ve personally saved over $500 with almost zero effort thanks to this app.
Use this link to sign up with Rakuten and get a $40 bonus to jumpstart your savings.
Have you tried Rastelli’s? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
