Frequently Asked Questions
We know you’ll have questions about what we do!
Have a read below or get in touch with us here.
About the Delivery
What to expect once you order, how will you be notified, what is the product like.
When can I expect delivery?
We deliver (almost) every month, usually towards the end of the month. The banner at the top of this page should give you our next delivery dates, but it is best to place your order at least one week before the start of our delivery period so that you don’t miss out! When ordering, you can choose your preferred delivery date. Depending where you live, you will receive your box via our network of trusty refrigerated couriers or direct from us if you live locally (Coffs and Armidale). All our deliveries are free and we deliver to most of QLD, NSW, Victoria and Tassie.
How will I order my Good Life Beef?
Browse our packages, then use our online shop to process your order, including any customisations you would like and when you would like it delivered. If using PayPal to pay, your order confirmation email will come through straight after you have processed payment. If using the direct bank transfer option (our preferred method), we will send you your confirmation once the money has cleared to our account – that could be 2-3 days depending on your bank. If you have any questions, please give us a call or use our contact form and we will endeavour to reply as soon as possible. Your confirmation email will have all the details about your delivery, how it will be packed, how and when it will be delivered and what to expect.
How is the price of Good Life Beef calculated?
Our beef is on par in price with beef found in most supermarkets, but remember that you are also getting your beef packaged free from plastic and delivered to your doorstep for free! Plus it is guaranteed grass fed and high welfare! We use a set price for the beef packs, which works off an average price for all the different beef cuts in the box, but there will always be some natural variation in the way the meat is packed – every box is slightly different. While we don’t have enough Scotch Fillet steak to go around every box, for example, we will always try to give people an Eye Fillet steak instead, or cuts of a similar value. This means that your 10kg box will usually weigh slightly more than 10kg (bonus!). We will always endeavour to make it more rather than less!
Do you customize your Good Life Beef boxes?
Yes, there are several customisation options available when ordering your beef. Choose your preferred portion sizing (packs of 2 or 4), your preferred mince and sausage configuration (thick or thin sausages, mince instead of sausages, sausages instead of mince) and your preferred type of roasting cut (select up to 2 of the following: Plain Roast, Corned Beef, Beef Brisket or Ribs and we will do our best to give you your preference). If you have any other special requests (ie. steaks you don’t want or want more of or substitutions), please add these to the order notes and we will do our best to pack you your ideal box of beef! We want to see you enjoy all your beef, so if there is something you don’t want, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
How will my order be delivered?
We offer free delivery to all our customers regardless of where you live. We deliver to most places along the east coast of Australia, and if not local (Coffs and Armidale customers will get to meet your farmer in person!), your box will be delivered by our refrigerated courier network – the same couriers who deliver HelloFresh and Marley Spoon.
We deliver to all the following locations (and more!): Sydney, Newcastle, Central Coast, Port Macquarie, Taree, Blue Mountains, Wollongong, South Coast, Southern Highlands, Canberra, Albury, Melbourne, Gippsland, Mornington Peninsula, Regional Victoria, Launceston and Hobart, Orange, Forbes, Parkes, Dubbo, Tamworth, Bathurst, Mudgee, Coffs Harbour, Armidale, Tamworth, Grafton, Lismore and Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Gympie, Bundaberg, Townsville, Cairns
Please get in touch if your town is not on the list – it is likely we can arrange it for you!
All our beef is delivered chilled, not frozen and within 1 week of being cut up and packed. All the beef is cryovacced in compostable vacuum bags, so shelf life for some cuts extends for many months.
When placing your order through our website, you will have a choice of delivery day (for most areas). Local deliveries to Armidale, Coffs and surrounds occur on fixed days, but this will always be arranged with you well in advance so you can be home to receive your delivery. Courier deliveries will all receive a tracking link via text message the night prior to the delivery, which will give you a 2hr timeframe for delivery the following day – this means you aren’t waiting around inconveniently all day for your order to arrive. You will also receive a text as soon as your order has been delivered. This means that, at worst, someone can come home and place your order safely away in the fridge.
How will I be notified of my delivery?
When placing your order via our website, you can select your preferred delivery date and time (including night time delivery slots for many metro locations in case you are away during the daytime). You will receive confirmation of your chosen date and time with your confirmation email once payment is received. Local deliveries to Armidale, Coffs and surrounds occur on set days, usually a Thursday to Coffs and Friday to Armidale, while courier deliveries are usually Saturday-Wednesday. All deliveries will be confirmed the night before. Local deliveries will receive a text from Lucy to confirm a time that will suit us both and all deliveries made by our refrigerated courier network will receive their tracking link around 8:30 the night before, which gives a 2hr time window for delivery the following day. Please contact us at anytime if there is a problem with your delivery day, or you want to order but can’t be there during the delivery window and we will do our best to accommodate.
About the Meat
How will it look, what to expect, certifications.
What will my Good Life Beef order look like?
All our meat arrives in 100% compostable packaging, sturdy cardboard boxes, portioned according to your preferences (you can choose packs 2s or 4s), cryovacced in fully compostable vacuum bags that can be placed straight in your green bin. All the packs are labelled with the name of the cut and the best before date. Cryovaccing is a great way to prevent rapid deterioration of meat, as the meat is in an air-free environment. Unlike meat from the supermarket, which is often pumped with preservatives to maintain its bright pink appearance, Good Life Beef is preservative free (all except sausages and corned beef which traditionally use preservatives in their recipes). You may see a more brown colour to your meat than from store-bought meat. This is a completely normal process of ageing, and there is no compromise to taste at all. The cryovacced meat can be stored straight in the freezer, or eaten as is.
Are you Halal certified?
We are not Halal certified, as the abbatoir where our animals are processed is not certified. We are simply trying to educate and provide a quality product to everyone, regardless of race or religion.
Is your meat certified organic?
No, we are not certified organic, but do our best to justify every chemical we use only to improve animal welfare.
Is Good Life Beef preservative free?
Other than our sausages and corned beef our beef is all preservative free – just as it should be! Supermarkets use Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) which pumps Carbon Monoxide in to a sealed pack to retain a bright pink colour – read more here. Other supermarket tricks like increasing the weight of meat by injecting water also deceive customers in to paying more for their meat. All our mince, steak, roasts, stir fry and slow cook cuts are as natural as can be, dry aged for over 8-14 days with no additives to deceive or trick – just plain natural great-tasting beef.
Sausages and corned beef traditionally use preservatives to retain the bright pink colouring of the meat which is lost when oxygenation occurs. We use sodium metabisulfite (a preservative) in our gluten free sausages, which prevents oxygen discolouration and potassium nitrate in our corned beef cure, which kills Botulism spores and creates a pink colour. Both cuts of meat are substitutable in our boxes if you specifically want a preservative free box.
Are Good Life Beef sausages gluten free?
Yes, all our sausages are gluten free, and they taste great! PS. They are also dairy free!
Can we buy Good Life Beef bones?
We encourage you to use as much of the animal as possible, to prevent it going to waste. Whether for bone broth, beef stock or for your pets, we offer bones for purchase for $5/kg.
Can we buy offal cuts, including Cheeks, Oxtail and Tongue?
Beef Cheeks, Oxtail and Tongue are not strictly offal cuts, but along with Kidney, Liver and Heart, we encourage you not to let the animal go to waste. Prices are as follows:
Heart – $14/ whole piece
Tongue and Oxtails – $18/whole piece
Kidney – $10/whole piece
Liver – $6 per 250g pack (pre-sliced)
Beef Cheeks – 2 for $30 (limited availability)
Beef Fat – $5/kg (untrimmed)
All offal comes chilled and can be ordered as an add-on to your regular beef pack or as an individual order. Please note, orders under $150 will incur a $30 shipping fee.
About the Animals
How the animals are treated, how the meat is produced and what to expect with your product.
How do you know the animals have had a good life?
Each animal is born on the farm, and is associated with us in a low stress way from the first day. All our animals have been selected for their naturally calm nature as well. Sick animals are treated as soon as the problem is identified, to reduce their symptoms and boost their happiness. Animals have access to wide open spaces for the course of their life, which they love to run and play in. All the Good Life Beef animals are well-fed, whether we are in drought or not. Where possible we prefer them to be pasture-fed, but in drought times we may have to supplement with hay and grain too. Grain is never more than 60% of their diet, as this can be unhealthy for cows. We also make sure that they are up to date with all their vaccinations, as there are many diseases in cattle that are untreatable and fatal to unvaccinated animals. We find it best to prevent diseases before they happen. We see our cows most days, sometimes twice a day, sometimes more. They are always pleased to see us, often running to greet us or standing round for pats, chewing their cud. What is a cud? Well, didn’t you know that cows enjoy their food more than once? Good food and good health are the two main reasons we know our animals are healthy.
Do you use antibiotics or hormones on your animals?
Our meat is 100% free from synthetic hormones like artificial growth promotants. Our meat is also free from antibiotic residues, as all animals must fall outside a with-holding period for antibiotic use that ensures a period of time has passed since the last treatment.
Our animals are well-fed and happy, meaning that they have strong immune systems and fight most infections without requiring treatment. However, where prevention fails, common infections like pink eye or mastitis must be treated using antibiotics to prevent an animal from illness, pain and stress.
Hormone injections or Hormonal growth promotants (HGPs) are not used on our cattle. We are proud that their growth rates are on par with those of cattle implanted with HGPs, simply because they lead a happy life.
What is industry best practise for beef cattle?
Animal health and welfare is of utmost importance to us, which is why we try to use best practise in all our husbandry with beef cattle by following the standards laid out by the LPA Accreditation Scheme. Low stress stock handling is a major way to reduce the impact humans have on the animal. It involves maintaining distance, using fluid and smooth movements, recognising an animal’s pressure points. It also means that we don’t use electric prodders or whackers, as our animals recognise where they need to go through repetition and learning in low stress situations. We don’t use working dogs, as many cows are traumatised by wild dogs roaming the paddocks at night without also having to face them with us in the day. Most of our calves are also bred to be horn-free or polled, and we use only polled bulls to breed our animals. Industry best practise can sometimes be expensive, but it guarantees that we have minimal impact on the animal’s wellbeing.
What is their diet?
Last year in 2019 we saw a record low rainfall for the year. Unfortunately, this meant that there was not enough grass available in the paddock to satisfy the animals requirements. We fed our cows daily with a variety of feeds, including legume hay, ryegrass silage and some grain (a mix of barley, corn, lupins and other vitamins and minerals) to get them through the drought. We are proud to say that not a single Good Life Beef animal went hungry for a single day last year.
Since the beginning of 2020, it has been a completely different story! We have ample feed for all our stock and they have been swimming through the pasture and lazing around under trees all day! Other than a few vitamin and mineral supplements to right any deficiencies they might have, we have not supplemented the cows diet at all! Happy cows, happy us!
Because the cows are browsing on a variety of different grasses, legumes, shrubs and herbs you will find a complex range of flavours in our beef that you won’t find in grain-fed beef from the supermarket. You are what you eat!