Major Retailer in Iowa Has Highest Quality Meat Department

I love a good cut of beef. I'm also very spoiled because my wife is a beef producer. I cannot remember the last time we went to the store to buy beef.

Sure, a good steak at a restaurant is nice, and we still enjoy that. But buying beef has eluded our family for almost a decade now since my wife joined her dad's farming operation and spearheaded working with the cattle.

Where's the Beef?

While Iowa is known as a farming state, we're better known for hog production than beef production.

That doesn't mean we don't have awesome beef here.

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But what about our grocery options? Who sells the best beef?

A Major Retailer With Iowa Locations Has the Best Meat Department

I'd like to preface the results here with a statement: I don't think the study conducted included any Iowa-based grocery chain.

Fareway and Hy-Vee both have incredible and highly rated meat departments.

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Neither was so much as mentioned here. So, take this study with a few shakes of salt (for your steak) and not as the gospel.

The website Chowhound looked into grocery chains with the highest quality meats. What's interesting is that they only examined 12 options.

Like I said above, it seems like they ignored Midwestern chains.

The result from Chowhound found the number one retailer for meat is Costco.

While Costco is a very popular and known for being affordable, once you have a membership, the regular cuts of beef at Costco are pretty pricey.

But that seems to equal quality according to Chowhound.

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The reason they came out on top was quality and plentiful amounts of different cuts. While we're mostly talking beef here, their rotisserie chicken got a nod too.

Who Else Made the List

Of the 12 on the list, there were a few other retailers with Iowa locations, including:

• Sam's Club/Walmart
• Whole Foods
• Aldi

The other 8 do not have Iowa locations.

How do you feel about the list? Fareway and Hy-Vee seem to have been robbed, if you ask me.

Want to enjoy some good Iowa beef options? Check out all the Best Burger winners in Iowa since 2010!