Serving Ontario families since 1984 Toll-free (800) 361-3418 · Local (705) 745-4242 · Text (705) 304-0080

Cut to order

Cut and packed the way you ask.

Every food company says custom. Here is what it means here, in the detail you would need to actually use it.

Thick-cut strip loin and T-bone steaks on a wood cutting board
Cut at the thickness you ask for, not the thickness the case came in.

The difference in one sentence

At a store you choose from what has already been cut. Here you tell us how you want it cut before anybody picks up a knife.

That sounds small until you have tried cooking a steak that is half an inch thinner than you wanted, or thawed a three pound pack of ground beef for two people.

What you can ask for

These are ordinary requests, not special favours. Your Food Planner will ask most of them before you think to.

Steak thicknessThree quarter inch, one inch, inch and a quarter. Say the number.
Roast sizeSized for a Sunday with leftovers, or for two people who do not want a week of it.
Ground beef packsOne pound packs, or two, or five. Whatever matches how you actually cook.
Chicken breast sizeSix to eight ounce portions, or larger if you butterfly them.
TrimHow much fat comes off before it is wrapped.
Sausage heatMild for a house with small children, hot if that is you.
Bone in or outOn the cuts where you get the choice.
Portioned for oneSingle-serve packs for a household of one, or for shift work.

If you are not sure what to ask for, say how you cook and we will suggest it. Most people know how they eat without knowing the butcher words for it.

How your instructions get to the knife

This is the part that makes it real rather than a promise at the kitchen table.

1. It is written on your order

Not remembered, not noted on a sticky. Your cutting instructions go on the signed order in writing, which is the same document you keep a copy of.

2. It travels with the order

From the order to the pick list to the delivery slip. The person cutting your meat is reading your instruction, and the person loading the truck is checking against the same sheet.

3. It is still there next year

When you re-order we already have it. That is why re-orders take minutes. Nobody has to ask you again how thick you like a strip loin.

One honest limit. Cutting is a physical job, so a pack lands on a whole piece. Ask for ten pounds of rib chops and the picker pulls whole packs, which means you will usually get a little over rather than a little under. We absorb the difference. It is never the other way around.

Why it matters more than it sounds

A freezer full of the wrong pack size gets eaten slowly and resentfully. A freezer full of the right ones disappears, and the household re-orders. Forty years in, that is most of what we have learned about why some orders work and some do not.

It is also why the Perfect-Fit Promise exists. If something turns out not to suit your family after all, you have 14 days from delivery to tell us and we replace it.

Common questions

Does custom cutting cost extra?

No. Cutting and packaging to your instructions is how every order is done here. It is not an upgrade and there is no charge for it.

What if I do not know what to ask for?

Tell your Food Planner how you cook and who you are feeding. Most people know they want steaks thick enough to not overcook, or packs small enough for two, without knowing the butcher term for it. We suggest, you decide.

Can I change my cutting instructions on the next order?

Yes. We keep what you asked for last time so a re-order takes minutes, and you can change any of it. Families change, and the packs should change with them.

Will I get exactly the weight I ordered?

You will usually get slightly more. Meat is cut and packed in whole pieces, so a line rounds up to the next whole pack rather than down. We absorb that difference, and you are never sent less than the order says.

What if an item is not right once it is in my freezer?

You have 14 days from delivery under our Perfect-Fit Promise to tell us an item is not right for your family and we replace it. Everything we deliver also carries a 12-month quality guarantee.

Tell us how you cook.

Take the two-minute survey and we will draft a plan from your answers, or book a free consult and we will go through the cuts together. No obligation, no payment information.

Take the 2-Minute Survey What happens at a consult