How to Fill Out a Beef Cut Sheet
How to Fill Out a Beef Cut Sheet: A Plain-English Guide
If you've never bought a half or whole beef before, the cut sheet is the part that trips everyone up. It's the form that tells your processor exactly how to turn a side of beef into the labeled, freezer-ready packages you take home. Get it right and your freezer is full of exactly what your family eats. This guide walks through every choice in plain English.
Ready to book? Call us at (817) 404-7405 — flat-fee USDA beef processing, and we'll walk your cut sheet with you.
First: what a cut sheet actually decides
A cut sheet covers four things: (1) how the major primals get cut (steaks vs. roasts), (2) thickness and package sizes, (3) what you want done with the trim (ground beef, stew meat, etc.), and (4) which specialty items you want kept (bones, organs, fat for tallow). That's it. Everything below is just the detail.
Step 1 — Steak thickness and per-package count
- Thickness: 1 inch is the most popular. Go 1.25–1.5" if you like a thick steakhouse cut, ¾" if you prefer quicker-cooking steaks.
- Steaks per package: Match your household. Two people → 2 per pack. Family of four → 4 per pack.
Step 2 — The front quarter (chuck & brisket)
This is your slow-cooking, high-flavor beef.
- Chuck: roasts (great for pot roast), or have it all ground. Chuck steaks are an option but most people roast or grind it.
- Brisket: keep it whole for smoking (this is Texas — keep the brisket), or have it ground.
- Short ribs & stew meat: say yes if you braise; otherwise it goes to grind.
Step 3 — The rib & loin (your premium steaks)
This is where the money cuts come from. Decisions here matter most.
- Ribeye: bone-in (more flavor) or boneless (easier storage). Set thickness.
- Standing rib roast (prime rib): want one for the holidays? Tell them how many ribs before they cut it all into ribeyes — you can't have both from the same section.
- T-bone / Porterhouse vs. NY Strip + Filet: Big one. Leave the short loin bone-in and you get T-bones and Porterhouses. Have it boned out and you get separate New York strips and filet mignon. You choose one or the other.
- Sirloin: steaks (set thickness) or roast.
Step 4 — The round (lean rear quarter)
- Round steaks, rump roast, and sirloin tip roast — or convert some/all to ground beef and stew meat if you don't cook many roasts.
- Tip: many families over-order roasts they never cook. Be honest about your habits and send the extra to grind.
Step 5 — Ground beef (the workhorse)
- Package size: 1 lb is standard; 1.5–2 lb if you cook for a crowd.
- Lean ratio: 80/20 is the all-purpose default. Leaner (90/10) if you want, but flavor and juiciness drop.
- Whatever trim you don't assign to roasts or stew meat ends up here — so your ground-beef total goes up the more steaks/roasts you decline.
Step 6 — The extras people forget
- Soup/marrow bones and dog bones — free protein and stock; check yes.
- Organ meats — liver, heart, oxtail, tongue. Skip if you won't use them.
- Fat for rendering — keep it if you make tallow.
How much meat will I actually get?
Your packaged take-home weight is usually 60–70% of hanging weight, depending on how many bone-in and roast cuts you choose. We explain the math in our hanging weight vs. take-home weight guide so the final box size is never a surprise.
Don't overthink it
If you're unsure, the safe default is: 1" steaks, 2–4 per pack, brisket whole, short loin boned out (strips + filets), round mostly ground, 80/20 ground beef in 1 lb packs, keep soup bones. That setup makes 90% of families happy.
Ready to book?
At Parker County Beef Company we process under USDA inspection at a flat fee — $850 whole / $450 half, everything included — and we'll walk your cut sheet with you so it's done right.