Free Range Thinker

As some of you know, I recently purchased a lot of meat from Zaycon Foods. Forty pounds of 93% lean ground beef, forty pounds of boneless chicken breast and thirty pounds of bacon (mmmm…. Bacon). I was very impressed with the order and suggest you all check it out.

Full disclosure: I am not writing this for Zaycon, nor do they know I am doing so – however, they do have a referral program that rewards referrers – I would be grateful if you would click this link to order from Zaycon if you chose to do so or think you may be interested in doing so.

Here’s my take…

Company Profile and Ordering – Grade: B+

When I stumbled upon this company, I had zero awareness. Having had experience in leading a local food ministry, I did have familiarity with less traditional food suppliers and therefore was able to identify what to look for and how to navigate the site. What I found very perculiar about the site was the lack of pricing and the omission of a simple “How it works” page on the site. It is as simple as 1-2-3, but it’s not easily discernable to the typical everyday consumer.

Here’s how I would describe it (and this does not imply any sort of accuracy – just my research and understanding): Zaycon regularly makes bulk food purchases available to individuals and families so they can receive high-quality food at affordable pricing, nationwide. Because it is nationwide, pricing does vary depending upon supplier pricing and distribution costs.

1. Stay informed by creating an account (free registration and no credit card or financial account info required until you actually make a purchase).
2. Once your account is created, select the region(s) near you. In my case, I chose Indiana, Ohio and Michigan because I live in the northeast area of Indiana in can be in either state in about 40 minutes.
3. You’ll receive and email when an event is coming to your region. At that time, access your account to view what’s available – order early because supplies are limited and I can affirm that they do sell out because I thought about placing an order for my church food pantry and found that they were out of beef and chicken at least a week before the deadline.

At this point, I grade a B, but add a plus because of their outstanding communication. Yes, I received an email receipt. They I got a thank-you that explained what to expect and what to do on the day of pick-up. Then, I got a second reminder the day before. Both reminders were personalized and complete with driving directions my pick up spot.

Pick Up & Packaging – Grade: A

I pulled into distribution location and met a fellow standing by a Ryder truck. He had a sign and cones stationed to direct traffic – fortunately I was the only one there at that particular time and was able to talk more with him about the product and the company. Though I had brought my own liner for the back of my SUV, he offered to put down a clean trash bag to make sure the chicken didn’t leak – and it turned out to be a non-issue anyway. No leaking whatsoever. My only reservation is a matter of perception. If I hadn’t already ordered and paid and done my research, I would have been very leery about getting meat from an unfamiliar dude passing it out from a Ryder truck.

Everything was very compact and easily portable. The ground beef was in four ten-pound chubs. The back was packaged sealed in two fifteen-pound boxes, each with two packages. The chicken was packaged in several loose open bags, all of which were inside a sealed inner lining and then boxed.

Ease of Packaging and Storing – Grade: A+

Buying meat in bulk, you know there will be some self-reliance so it can be stored and best packaged for your household. We packaged each ground beef chub into ten individual one-pound packages, rolling them in butcher paper, taping and dating before placing in a vacuum seal ziplock back and sealing with a handheld vacuum. For the bacon, we did the same, except we had to fold the strips to make them fit the bags. This produced about 25-30 packages. Next time, we’ll cut them in half (which we do after we thaw the bacon anyway). We determined the chicken breasts were all approximately two pounds. They came butterfly cut, so we folded them and then rolled and dated them, providing about twenty packages. Did not bother to cut or trim fat, but that is a very simple process as we thaw before use – very lean meat with little fat to trim. All the meat was then stored in the chest freezer (yes, it’s pretty close to full).

Taste/Quality – Grade: A

The chicken breasts are huge. The beef is crazy lean and the bacon is . . . well, bacon. Some fat but not excessively so. Thickness is just right (thinker than the typical grocery store bought package, but not so think you feel like you’re biting into a live pig! For my family, the food is lives up to our expectations of our meats. I assume our family to be average with average tastes.

Overall Experience and Recommendation: A

Great experience top to bottom. Zaycon’s website could use a little tidying to make more appealing, understandable and discourage any incorrect perception that the company is completely on the up and up. I had viewed several web videos and read other recommendations before making my purchase. I saw only two comments that could even begin to be construed as negative. One suggesting that the bacon slices were too thin (I found them to be just right) and one suggestion that the chicken breasts were so large, there was no way they could be steroid free (LOL).

If you have a multi-person family, order. Invest in a good vacuum sealer and a 5 dollar roll of butcher paper. Package and store in your freezer. You would be hard pressed to fit in all in a traditional top level freezer, so if you have space in your chest freezer, that’s ideal.

If you are a one-person household or don’t do a lot of meat, consider going in with someone else (or two others). Make your buy and divvy it up accordingly.

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