Omaha Steaks Review

Some people may scoff at the idea of giving meat as a gift, but I order gift packs for my extended family from Omaha Steaks just about every year. They offer a wide variety of food gifts - from steaks, to lobster tails, to bar-b-q packs, to complete meals, including dessert. All food is delivered vacuum packed, carefully packaged and kept fresh, in dry ice. I'm also really impressed by their very human customer service. When you call Omaha Steaks, you don't find yourself talking to a computer or answering automated prompts: you speak to a real, live person. The meat, itself (and the fish, and turkey, and side dishes) is of the best quality. I also like that there are choices for almost every price range - from $30 to well over $100. Their packages often come with free extras, such as six free bugers -that's a great deal.

Christmas can be a financial drain - especially as I have so many nephews and nieces. I could easily spend several hundred dollars between the kids, my parents, my siblings and their spouses. Instead, I usually order one food pack for each family. My sisters and parents love it, because it means they don't have to shell out lots of money for Christmas dinner. Instead of spending $200 on my sister, her husband and their three kids, for instance...I can spend about $50 on a complete turkey dinner that includes potatoes, veggies and dessert. The kids love the food, my sister isn't a slave to the kitchen on Christmas day, and my brother-in-law has one less Christmas expenditure to worry about.

What's most impressive to me is that the company clearly puts a premium on the human element, as a an incident that occurred two years ago illustrates: It was just before Christmas, and my sister's family was living in Texas. I decided to send them one of the more expensive steak gift packs for the holidays. Quite suddenly,, one of my nephews became seriously ill, and the entire family had to up and leave the state for treatment at a Florida hospital. When the crisis was over, my sister reminded me about the impending package from Omaha Steaks --I'd given her the heads up that Christmas dinner would be my treat. As the steaks were due to be delivered that very day, I figured the money I'd spent was lost, and that the best I could do was call the apartment manager and tell her to enjoy the steaks, herself. My sister urged me to call Omaha Steaks and find out if there was a way to just cancel the order. I called and explained the situation to a very friendly customer service person who informed me that the steaks had, indeed, been delivered that morning, and that the building manager, who had no idea my sister would be gone for an extended period, had signed for the package. I thought the phone call was over, until the customer service person said that Omaha Steaks would not penalize me for circumstances beyond my control - especially not when a medical emergency involving a child was to blame. She said they would gladly honor the order I'd made, deliver a duplicate steak pack to my sister in Florida, and that I would not be charged for the pack that had already been delivered to the Texas apartment complex. The delivered package, she explained, could not be re-sold, and she suggested I call the apartment manager and tell her the steaks were hers, free of charge. I was completely shocked. It's telling about the state of business practices that an example of human kindness and plain, old understanding catches us off guard so completely. The next day, the filet mignon package was delivered to my mother's address in Florida, where my sister and her family were staying, as their little one was recuperating in the hospital.

If there's someone on your list who has everything and is difficult to buy for, consider the gift of meat or seafood. You can be sure it's a gift they'll appreciate, and you can rest assured that meat and fish from Omaha Steaks is always of the best quality.