6 On Your Side: Consumer Confidence, should you try mail-order steaks?

(ABC 6 News) – It’s a tough job, but someone had to do it. A blind panel of eight tasters from Consumer Reports sampled popular filet mignon and ribeye cuts from Omaha Steaks, The Kansas City Steak Company, and Snake River Farms.

“The companies didn’t know that we were testing these steaks. They didn’t send them to us, we bought them just as any consumer would,” Perry Santanachote from Consumer Reports said.

The panel looked at everything from the packaging to the steaks’ appearance, aroma, flavor, and texture.

Snake River Farms was voted Editor’s Choice.

“The filet mignon was everyone’s favorite and the cowboy steak was a stunner that would make any meat-lover happy,” Santanachote said.

Snake River Farms filets didn’t come cheap at $8.50 an ounce and the 40-ounce ribeye cost $158 or $3.95 an ounce.

Voted Best for a Crowd, The Kansas City Steak Company’s filet was $5.83 an ounce and the 18-ounce ribeye was about $70 or $3.96 an ounce.

“Most tasters liked this ribeye the best even if it wasn’t the prettiest,” Santanachote said.

Omaha Steaks was voted Best Value.

“Neither the filet or the ribeye were anyone’s favorites in the taste test. But we really appreciated how beautifully butchered and well-marbled the steaks were,” Santanachote said.

Omaha was the least expensive of the three. Its filet was $4.76 an ounce and the ribeye cost $3.54 an ounce.

CR said many tasters compared Omaha’s steaks to a really good supermarket steak, a perfectly fine option and an especially good value.