Pickup & storage
Pickup logistics + how to handle your beef.
A short, practical guide so the meat you took the time to order stays at its best from our pickup window all the way to your dinner plate.
1. The pickup window
How pickup works for cut orders and for whole/half shares.
For cut orders, you pick a city (Twin Falls, Burley, or Rupert), a date, and a 30-minute arrival sub-slot inside the larger pickup window at checkout. The sub-slot system isn't bureaucratic — it just keeps everyone from showing up at the same minute. We hand you your order, answer a question, and get you back on the road in about five minutes.
For whole and half shares, pickup happens at our processing butcher rather than from us — once your share is cut, wrapped, and frozen, we'll let you know which butcher to go to and when. The cuts come out of the butcher's freezer rock-solid, so you generally don't need a cooler unless you've got a long drive in hot weather.
Coolers are optional. The meat is vacuum-sealed and frozen solid at pickup, and most customers drive straight home and unpack into the freezer without one. If you've got a long drive (more than an hour or so) or it's a hot summer day, a cooler buys you peace of mind — but for the typical Twin Falls / Burley / Rupert pickup-to-home trip, you don't have to bring one.
2. Long drives & hot days
When a cooler matters and what gear works.
Your cuts come out vacuum-sealed and frozen solid. For a drive of an hour or less, a closed truck or trunk on a cool day will keep them frozen long enough to get home and into your own freezer. Beyond that, a closed cooler is the easiest insurance — no ice needed for shorter drives, just the cooler itself.
Gear we like, in plain terms: a hard-sided cooler (Coleman, Igloo, anything that closes flat), and a couple of reusable gel packs from your home freezer if it's a hot day. Bones-and-roasts orders or whole/half pickups are heavy — a hand truck or a sturdy tote saves your back. None of this is fancy.
If your drive home is longer than an hour AND it's a hot day, add a layer of ice on top of the meat, not under it. Cold falls. The bag of ice on top keeps the cuts at the bottom frozen the whole way home.
3. Freezer life
Vacuum-sealed cuts last 12–18 months. Label everything yourself.
Every cut you get from us is vacuum-sealed in food-grade plastic and frozen hard before pickup. In a standard home freezer kept at 0°F, you can plan on 12 to 18 months of top-shelf quality on steaks and roasts, and about 9 to 12 months on ground beef. That's quality, not safety — frozen beef stays safe basically forever, but the texture starts drifting after the timelines above.
Our packages don't come with a date printed on them, so the single biggest favor you can do yourself is label them on pickup day. A Sharpie on the vacuum-seal bag works fine: month and year you brought it home. Future-you opening the freezer in March will thank past-you instantly.
Stack flat, oldest in front, newest in back. If your freezer is the chest kind, keep a paper inventory taped to the lid — sounds old-fashioned, saves you from re-buying a roast you already have.
4. Thawing
The fridge is the right answer. The counter never is.
The safest thaw is the slow one. Move the cut from your freezer to your refrigerator and leave it there. A pack of ground beef thaws overnight. A 1.5-inch ribeye is ready in 24 hours. A larger roast can take 36–48 hours. Plan dinner one day ahead and you'll never need a faster method.
Never thaw beef on the counter. The outside of the cut hits room temperature long before the inside is even close to thawed, and that's the temperature range where bacteria multiply quickly. It feels harmless because the meat looks fine, but it's a real food-safety issue.
Backup method when you forgot to plan: cold-water thaw. Leave the cut in its vacuum seal, drop it into a bowl of cold tap water, and change the water every 30 minutes. A steak is ready in about an hour. A 3-pound roast in two to three. Cook it the same day you thaw it that way.
5. Best-by ranges per cut category
Rough planning numbers from our freezer to yours.
Frozen at 0°F in vacuum seal. Quality, not safety — food stays safe frozen indefinitely if it never thaws.
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Steaks (ribeye, NY strip, sirloin, tenderloin)
12–18 months frozen
Thaw 24 hours in the fridge before cooking.
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Roasts (chuck, rump, tri-tip, sirloin tip)
12–18 months frozen
Thaw 36–48 hours in the fridge depending on size.
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Ground beef & burgers
9–12 months frozen
Thaw overnight or use the cold-water method.
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Organ cuts (liver, heart, tongue, oxtail)
6–9 months frozen
Cook within a day or two of thawing.
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Stew meat & soup bones
9–12 months frozen
Bones can go straight into the pot from frozen.
These are the numbers we use in our own kitchens. If a package looks fine, smells fine, and was kept frozen the whole time, it's almost certainly fine — trust your nose.
Related: deeper into freezer storage by cut and the three safe thawing methods.
Common questions
How long does vacuum-sealed beef keep in the freezer?
Steaks and roasts: 12 months. Ground beef: 4-6 months (oxidizes faster). Bones: 6 months. Vacuum-sealed wins because it blocks air contact — the same cut in butcher paper lasts about half as long.
What's the safest way to thaw beef?
Fridge thaw is the gold standard: a 4-5 lb roast takes 24 hours, 1 lb steaks take 12-18 hours. Cold-water thaw works in a pinch — sealed bag, submerged, change water every 30 minutes, cook immediately after. Never counter-thaw beef; bacterial doubling time at room temperature is too fast.
Do I really need a cooler?
Usually no. Your beef comes out frozen solid and vacuum-sealed, and for a typical drive home it stays frozen in a closed truck or trunk on its own. A cooler matters when you've got a long drive (more than an hour) on a hot day, or you're picking up a full whole/half share and just want extra peace of mind. Customers regularly drive whole-share orders home to Utah without a cooler in the box.
How big a freezer do I need for a half or whole beef?
Half beef: roughly 12–14 cubic feet of freezer space. Whole beef: roughly 24–28 cubic feet. Our Piedmontese animals run larger than typical commodity steers (~950 lb hanging weight, ~750 lb take-home for a whole), so plan a little generously. A standard chest freezer is roughly 7–9 cu ft — you'll want a dedicated chest or upright for a whole share, or two coordinated freezers for a half if your kitchen freezer is full.
What if my freezer dies while my beef is in it?
A full chest freezer keeps food safely frozen for ~48 hours unopened. If you have warning, transfer to a neighbor's freezer or an ice-packed cooler. Refreeze anything still partially frozen with ice crystals visible; cook anything fully thawed within 1-2 days.
Can I refreeze beef after thawing it?
Yes if it was thawed in the fridge and is still cold (40°F or below) — texture takes a small hit but it's safe. If it was cold-water or microwave thawed, cook first, then freeze the cooked portion.
Have a pickup or storage question?