Learn how far in advance that you can purchase a prime or standing rib roast for Christmas or another holiday celebration.
📋 What's New In This Post (12/1/25) - Added information about storing the roast when you bring it home.
Your Guide to Buying Prime Rib for Christmas
Turkey is the king of Thanksgiving, no doubt.
But for Christmas, that is not as clear. People have everything from lamb to ham to tenderloin to turkey once again.
In my opinion, if I am going to have a choice of whatever meat I want for Christmas day dinner it's always going to be the standing rib roast. The Whos down in Whoville love their roast beast!
What you might be wondering is how far in advance you purchase a standing rib roast? Is there such a thing as buying it too early or too late?
Let me share with you all you need to know so you can pick out your ideal roast and have it ready to go for Christmas dinner.
This post includes affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These are products and services I recommend because I use or trust them. Cookies will be used to track the affiliate links you click.
Jump to:
🎄 If you are looking to pick up a rib roast for Christmas and would like one delivered right to your door, I recommend Porter Road. All the meat I have had from them has been top notch. You can preorder a rib roast for Christmas and it will be shipped fresh to your door by December 23rd. No worries about not being able to get what you want in the store.
🎄 When Do Rib Roasts Go on Sale for Christmas?
Standing rib roast or ribeye roasts - you often see the names interchanged - will start showing up in the weekly ads of a grocery store the week before Christmas. A lot of stores run extended ads depending on when Christmas falls, so it may actually be the last ad before Christmas.
Unless you are having a get together before Christmas, there is no reason to buy one before then as it will likely go down in price in that last ad.
Whatever stores you shop in, start checking their ads either online or in the print version as we get close to Christmas. That way you can shop around and find the best deal or the highest quality.
For the freshest meat look for stores that run the start day of their ad as close to Christmas as possible. For example, Kroger stores start their ads on Wednesdays. In 2020, for example, Christmas is on a Friday. So the ad began on Wednesday, December 16th, 9 days before Christmas.
If you can, it's best to get the roast before the weekend in which more people will be shopping, thus your selection is going to go down. Stores are going to stock up heavily right when the ad begins, so that's when you want to go and pick out your roast.
TIP - Look for whether the ad indicates what grade the roast is. Most places will be selling USDA Choice. Prime is harder to come by but can be found at stores like Costco. If there is no grade listed, then there is a chance it's Select, which is the lowest grade of beef you will find the stores. I do find these often with rib roasts for Christmas, as stores can offer these lower cuts of meat for a great price to get people in the door.
❓ Are They Fresh or Frozen?
I have never seen a rib roast in the grocery store that was frozen; they are always fresh. If you want to buy it way before Christmas and need to freeze it first, I have instructions on how long to thaw a rib roast for you to check out.
📅 Can You Buy it Too Early?
I believe the answer to be no. In fact, I think it's a good idea to buy early. Why? You have the chance to do a homemade version of dry aging it. While your home fridge may not be the optimal way to dry age a hunk of beef, you can use it to remove some of the moisture, which will concentrate the flavor of the beef.
Do not worry, it won't be dry when you cook it! Plus you will be able to char the outside better after doing this.
Optimal would be to buy your rib roast 1 week before Christmas, give or take a day or two.
🧊 How to Store a Rib Roast
Once you have your rib roast and bring it home, how is the best way to store it? Place it into your fridge on the bottom shelf. I would even put it on a sheet pan so in case the package leaks for some reason, you aren't getting juices all over your fridge.
There is another way to store it so that you will actually improve the flavor of the roast - wrap it in cheese cloth! You can do your own home version of dry aging really easily and if you get your rib roast well before Christmas you should definitely give it a try. Here is how to do it:
🏠 Dry Aging at Home
It's super simple to do this at home yourself. Just follow these steps
- Remove the roast from it's packaging
- Wrap the roast in cheese cloth (if you don't have it then paper towel would be 2nd best)
- Place onto a sheet pan or any container that it will fit in
- Place on the bottom part of your fridge away from other food
- Allow it to sit in the fridge for about a week
- Unwrap and prep for cooking
The cheese cloth is there to allow for evaporation without turning the outside of the meat rock hard like cheese that was left uncovered in the fridge.
🛒Order Cheesecloth
You can find cheesecloth in many grocery stores but you can have it sent directly to you via Amazon. I also use it for homemade Instant Pot yogurt. Here are a couple options:
📆 What if Sell by Date is Before Christmas
Key thing to remember here is sell by date is just that, the day the store needs to sell the product by. It doesn't mean it goes back the next day as soon as the clock strikes midnight. The roast will still be good after a sell by date, and it most likely will be very close to Christmas anyway.
If it says freeze by instead, that still is going to be on the conservative side of things.
In the end, I always recommend doing whatever you feel comfortable with. If anything smells off about it, then I wouldn't eat it.
Leave a Reply