Monday, August 30, 2010

Homemade Dog Food

Yep, we're doing it! Our dog has allergies to (we think) corn and wheat, and we just can't afford the dog food that she can eat anymore. Since they are black labs, we are adding some supplements to the food.

We bought Dermaplex vitamins/minerals ($23.95 for 166d supply, $.14/day), brewers yeast and garlic ($11.99 for 133d supply, $.09/day) and glucosamine (10.95 for 88d supply, $.12/day.) According to the package directions, we will add 1-2 scoops of each to the food daily. We bought from KVPet.com - free shipping over $50, super fast delivery!

Ingredients

3 pounds minced chicken meat (we plan to use thighs, wings, breasts, etc. and straining out the bones. I got 2 whole fryers for $6 last week, which will yield about 3#.)
2 1/2 cups frozen vegetable blend (no garlic or onions), minced (Sale price $1)
4 cups rice (Approx $1.50)
6 1/2 cups water

Directions
1. Place chicken, vegetables, and rice into a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir in water until the mixture is smooth. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and all of the liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes. Cool completely before serving; store covered in the refrigerator.

*In reading reviews on various sites, we will change out liver and chicken as well as rotate potato in for the rice and use different varieties of rice.

Price: $8.50 according to pricing above, makes 12c and you feed 1c daily making this $.71/day, plus the supplements above equals $1.06/day. The dog food we used to feed was at least $1.63/day, not to mention the vet bills as each food didn't work! This will be over $200 savings in a year (per dog.)

1 comment:

Meghann said...

Made our first batch tonight.

3.5# chicken drumsticks, $3.47
4c rice, a mix of white and wild, ~$1
10oz bag of frozen peas and carrots $1
6.5c water

$5.47 for 12c of food - for our large dogs we're going to start with 2c each, so this will last 3d. Easy peasy to make, and since it only lasts 3d I won't have to worry about freezing it I can just store it in the fridge and serve!

I put everything in the pan and let it simmer - it took longer than 25m - then pulled the drumsticks out and shredded the meat off of the bones with a fork. Mixed it together when I was done and then sectioned it out.

We'll add the supplements when we feed it. I gave some to each dog, and they loved it!!

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