12 Grocery Chains With The Highest Quality Meat Departments

Meat and poultry prices are rising, and changing which cuts you buy goes only so far to save money. So, if you have to pay a lot anyway, you want the quality to be as good as possible. How good the meat and poultry from a particular market is depends on a few factors, including the source of the meat, the conditions the animals were raised in, the treatment of the meat by the market, and the attentiveness of the staff. It's a bonus if the meat department offers special services like custom cuts.

What constitutes good-quality meat can be very subjective, and one person's high quality can raise another person's eyebrows in disbelief. So, it's difficult to rank grocery store meat departments in any particular order that everyone would agree with. But in this list, these 12 grocery chains appear to have the highest quality meat departments according to customer reviews, professional evaluations, and store policies regarding sourcing, feed, and treatment.

The home of the famed cheap rotisserie chickens is also home to one of Julia Child's preferred meat departments, so you know you can't really go wrong at Costco. The meat department at the much-loved warehouse club is a favorite of professional butchers, too, and it has a well-deserved reputation for stocking plentiful amounts of different cuts. These include specialties like A5 wagyu worth hundreds of dollars and Spanish ham carving sets (also worth hundreds of dollars). Interestingly, the business center locations are rumored to have different cuts than you'd find at the regular locations.

One issue — believe it or not — is that even the regular cuts of beef can be kind of pricey. Given Costco's reputation as a cost-saver, that sounds like a bad thing. However, Costco sells a lot of its meat in bulk, remember, and the company's standards for meat quality are incredibly high. Both of those converge to give you large amounts of very good meat, although many customers do admit that the per-pound meat prices are on par with other grocery stores. Of course, if you're buying those wagyu steaks, even smaller portions (which some customers wish were possible) carry a high price tag. Still, if you want your money to go toward food that you don't regret buying, Costco appears to be one of the better options if you aren't aiming for bargain-basement pricing.

Whole Foods has long been one of the stars of the high-quality food scene, with the original company's focus on sustainability and health, especially regarding organic products. Even after the company's acquisition by Amazon, the meat continues to be antibiotic-free with a traceable supply chain. It continues to require more third-party certifications as well. The company also now has programs to train people to be butchers rather than just employees who happen to cut meat.

Meat quality is generally stellar, although some reviews from customers note issues with specific store locations. Sometimes, this is a matter of local preferences; for example, one comment mentioned a store meat cutter who moved from Texas to the Pacific Northwest and who cut meat too thick for local preferences. Prices continue to be an issue, with Whole Foods often being among the most expensive options around. That makes the meat less of a good option for some customers, according to online comments. But overall, the quality of the meat itself usually still gets a lot of compliments, even from customers in regions with robust local farm and butcher scenes.

Sprouts is constantly trying to improve its meat department and animal welfare standards, which is saying something given that they already rank well in surveys regarding supplier farming practices. Sprouts sells 100% grass-fed beef, cage-free eggs, and a large percentage of pork from suppliers that use group housing rather than isolated gestational crates. Sprouts hopes to reach 100% of pork from group housing by the end of 2025.

Sprouts gets very high marks for its rotisserie chicken. Reviews note that the flavor is quite good — the seasonings are actually detectable and not just words on the package — and the texture of the chicken is terrific. The company's rotisserie chickens use antibiotic-free poultry, too. Customer reviews call the meat departments clean and say the meat itself is of good quality.

The one caveat is that the quality you get often depends on how the meat is handled during shipping and at the store, and there are some complaints online about particular locations having spoiled meat. However, these complaints don't seem to be a company-wide issue, as other locations get very good reviews for meat products.

The Fresh Market is an East Coast chain that offers prime beef with excess fat purposefully trimmed away; that ensures nothing is left on each piece that might raise the weight (and thus the price) without actually being useful to cooks. The company touts its varied selection of cuts, the marbling in the beef that it stocks, and an aging process of two weeks that makes the beef more tender. Beef is ground daily in the store and is supposed to be sold only on the day it's been ground. Poultry in the store is antibiotic-free and vegetarian-fed, making this chain a suitable choice for customers who don't want to have to inspect every single package for specific wording.

Customer reviews about the meat are very good. One reviewer appreciated the store deals on hamburger and chicken, another said the ground meat was so fresh it was as if it had been ground at home, another ranked the rotisserie chickens best of all, and a fourth mentioned the great bacon pricing.

Southern favorite Publix has a meat department that people mostly love. It gets wonderful reviews for quality, but the prices aren't exactly loved. For example, one person online was a bit annoyed that Publix's prices for cuts like ribeyes were more expensive than those at places like Kroger. Someone claiming to be an employee responded that at Publix, the meat is never frozen, and it's cut onsite by employees who are specially trained in cutting meat. Another response pointed out that the cheaper Kroger meat could have been a lower USDA grade, which would affect pricing. Admittedly, the pricing at Publix's meat department can be high, but given the reviews people have of the marbling and overall flavor of the meat, the cost could be well worth it.

Publix sells both conventional and organic meat, and those trained cutters will give you custom cuts and even repackage meat if you want a different quantity. Much of the meat is from GreenWise, a private label from Publix, and this brand focuses on antibiotic-free and vegetarian-fed products.

While the Walmart family of companies is often derided in popular culture as being low quality, that's not what you're really getting in stores, especially at Sam's Club. Sam's Club has some surprisingly glowing reviews online, especially for its meat department. While there are people who avoid Sam's Club when buying meat, their reasons often focus only on the size of the selection and the fact that the price isn't as low as they'd hoped for in a club store.

Sam's Club private brand Member's Mark and Walmart are both setting high standards for their suppliers. And this isn't a new thing; both have worked to improve their animal welfare policies for over a decade. As of 2024, 78% of Member's Mark poultry was antibiotic-free (the goal is 100% by 2025), and 100% of pork products at both Walmart and Sam's Club in the U.S. came from suppliers that followed the Pork Quality Assurance program from the National Pork Board. Both companies have a zero-tolerance policy for animal abuse.

Walmart itself also gets good marks for meat quality. Ribeye, tomahawk, and cowboy steaks have been singled out as great, and plenty of online comments say Walmart has been consistently good for quality meat. One comment noted that Walmart often ended up with choice-grade beef that contains a better subgrade known as choice+.

Central Market is a 10-location chain that's in Texas only, but it's worth a mention here because it's so highly regarded. An offshoot of H-E-B that was meant to sell more high-end and specialty goods, Central Market has gradually expanded from its original Austin location to the Houston, San Antonio, and DFW metro areas. The chain sells beef that's prime or choice grade only, which are the two highest grades from the USDA. It offers grass-fed beef and antibiotic-free products, too. The beef is Angus and comes from a Texas ranch that's been in business and run by six generations of the same family.

Customers love Central Market, and one customer pointed out that Central Market actually sells the better subgrades of choice and prime, which are choice+ and prime+. Really, the only complaints to be had are higher prices and the fact that there's nothing like the chain in other states.

Winn-Dixie scores high with great customer reviews and its established reputation for having quality butcher counters with excellent customer service. The company calls itself "the beef people" and touts 12,000 years of combined experience across its meat departments over the 100 years the chain has been in business. Custom cuts and the potential to get custom orders make the chain popular among customers; the stores hand-cut all the meat. One customer has said online that Winn-Dixie would also fry up unusual cuts of meat. Other customers have praised the relatively low prices of the meat.

The company and its beefy reputation (sorry) almost closed down. Aldi had bought several Winn-Dixie locations from Southeastern Grocers (Winn-Dixie's owner) in 2024, intending to convert them to the Aldi brand. However, in February 2025, Aldi turned around and sold several of the locations it had bought to an investor group. Sounds bad at first, but it turns out that investor group is led by Anthony Hucker, the CEO of Southeastern Grocers, and C&S Wholesale Grocers, which has been a Winn-Dixie supplier for years. Not surprisingly, the investor group has said it wants to retain Winn-Dixie's level of quality.

Aldi gets some wonderful reviews for beef — but its chicken apparently leaves a lot to be desired. Part of the appeal of Aldi in terms of beef lies with two programs. One is that the company marks down meat products as the use-by date approaches, with a massive 50% price cut closer to the date. Lots of customers take advantage of this, which means it can be difficult to score those coveted half-off items. The other program is Aldi's lenient return policy, which allows you to return bad meat. Aldi doesn't restrict its products to just grass-fed or free-range, of course, but it does encourage its suppliers to adhere to several animal welfare and quality programs in the U.S.

Many customers have complained about "woody" chicken breasts at Aldi. This isn't actually Aldi's fault because it's an industry-wide issue with a condition called woody breast, in which the meat is tough and discolored when cooked. Raw chicken appears paler than normal. The cause is unknown but may be linked to chicken growth rate. You can avoid these by buying organic chicken; if you buy conventional, buy fresh, not frozen, and get those that are plump with normal coloration.

Customers do offer two warnings. One is that some stores seem to have issues with refrigerator temperature, but the customers don't pinpoint problem locations. The other is that sometimes the 50% price reduction isn't properly marked, so always check those expiration dates.

BJ's Wholesale Club is another membership warehouse store like Costco and Sam's, and it gets great reviews for its meat quality. The company offers a wide selection, including grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, and antibiotic-free products. Much of the company's meat is from its private label, Wellsley Farms, and overall, the steaks from the store get rave reviews online (the ribeyes are mentioned in multiple sources as one of the better items). One person did report issues with lean ground beef having a tough texture, but others noted that the complaint sounded like a staff member had not ground the beef properly. Some people have commented that the butcher sections seem to vary by location, although the fact that there are actual butchers on site is a plus.

Prices for meat products are refreshingly low in general, with some beating out Costco's prices by a mile. A new customer who'd previously belonged to Costco noted that they were able to get pork ribs at BJ's for about two-thirds of the price at Costco, while another customer said they could find prime and choice ribeyes (there are those ribeyes again) for reasonable prices. However, one person did point out that some cuts are select grade, which is below prime and choice, and that affects the price of the product.

Yes, Wegmans fans, your store is on this list, too. Wegmans gets high marks for its meat departments, although customers have to deal with some high prices for that quality. Consumers' Checkbook looked at customer satisfaction with markets in Boston, the Delaware Valley, and the Washington D.C. areas in 2022, and Wegmans was among the highest-rated for meat quality in all three surveys. The chain came in first in the D.C. region with an 87% rating, second in the Boston area with an 83% rating, and tied for first in the Delaware Valley region with an 87% rating.

Compared to other markets, Wegmans meat prices are definitely on the higher side. But a comment online points out something important: Wegmans has a lot of specialty items that may skew the average price upward. Conventional, basic items may be much lower in price. That indicates that you could still keep your grocery bill from soaring with some careful shopping. Wegmans does offer grass-fed beef and organic products alongside conventional meat and poultry, and the market has all of its meat products put through independent third-party audits. 

McCaffrey's Food Markets is a small East Coast chain with eight locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and it gets high marks from customers both for general quality and for meat quality. In a 2022 survey for Consumers' Checkbook, the meat quality was ranked higher than average for the area, with the market tied with Wegmans and Whole Foods at 87%. One person online specifically complimented the butcher at their McCaffrey's when someone asked about local grocery stores in Pennsylvania.

The chain stocks organic meat in addition to conventional, and it offers custom cuts and beef that's freshly ground onsite each day. About the only negative is that some customers complain about the price. In that Consumers' Checkbook survey, McCaffrey's meat prices were on the higher side when compared with 13 other grocery stores in the Delaware Valley region. Only Wegmans and Whole Foods were ranked as more expensive.