Question for those of you who home cook....

[yorkiemini]

I have started to use the Dr. Remillard diet i got last year, but it takes me a long time to get the scale out and measure all the ingredients every day.

So my question is - do you prepare the food for about a week or month and freeze or refrigerate it. I want to make this work, but I am putting in a lot of time with it - not that Cali is not worth all the time, just that we have a lot of things packed into the day (she goes to work with me every day and we make hospital rounds most weekends).

The ingredients I use are hamburger or chicken, macaroni, veggies (her fav is green beans), corn oil, and corn oil. Then of course Balance It that I add after warming the food up

Thanks for your help.

[yorkiemini]

Oops- did not mean to put corn oil in twice

[tokipoki]

When I was home cooking for Toki, I'd make maybe three or four weeks worth of food at one time and freeze it in containers with four days worth of food mixed up per container (which I weighed out) or something like that. It was easy to score the top of the food with each new container and eyeball 1/8 of the food when preparing each meal. It was quick that way. I'd like to get back to home cooking...it wasn't too bad because I'd prepare the food on a Sunday afternoon and have enough food to last for a good while! I feed Toki canned food now and use a scale before each meal...it doesn't take me too long but I definitely would prefer not having an extra step (I'm kind of lazy lol) when I've just rolled out of bed at 5:30.

[Britster]

I don't homecook (YET! lol) but from what I've read, it's totally fine to prepare a weeks worth batch, etc. That's the only way I'd do it. No way would I be cooking every day for him. I'm too lazy for that

[107barney]

I cook enough for 6-8 weeks at a time. It takes time to do this but totally worth it to get ahead.

I'll use Winston for an example. His ingredients are cooked beef, canned sweet peas, a veggie mix, and corn oil.

I cook up ground beef and put it aside in a big bowl. While that's cooking, I open up cans of peas and drain them and put in a big bowl.
I put corn oil into about 1/2 cup Pyrex glass container so that later it is easy to measure my oil rather than pouring the big bottle.
I chop up fresh raw carrots, canned drained green beans, raw fresh broccoli, raw bell peppers (red yellow and orange), and zucchini.

So everything is out on the counter. I use 1/2 cup measuring cups for everything except the veggies and oil where I use teaspoons.

I have a box of snack size ziplock bags. I weigh out three of them on my scale and zero it out. Then I scoop in the beef into each one. So he gets about 20g of beef so I add 20g to the first one, then I go to 40g on the second, then 60g. Then I zero it again. Add peas in the same manner. Zero it a third time, add veggies. I usually do two diff kinds per bag. Then I set them all aside. When I have about 14 bags (or a weeks worth), I add the corn oil to all the bags and seal them.

I always refrigerate overnight then bag a weeks worth in a larger freezer ziplock bag. I take out a few days at a time and leave in fridge. I warm them up when ready and add the BAlance it. I add a fish oil capsule at the very end once a day.

I use a jewelers scale that measures 10ths of grams. The one I have is the weigh max 1000. I weigh everything, including balance it. WeighMax 1000 Digital Bench Scale 1000 x 0.1 gram:Amazon:Toys & Games


Hope this helps

[lisaly]

Originally Posted by 107barney

I cook enough for 6-8 weeks at a time. It takes time to do this but totally worth it to get ahead.

I'll use Winston for an example. His ingredients are cooked beef, canned sweet peas, a veggie mix, and corn oil.

I cook up ground beef and put it aside in a big bowl. While that's cooking, I open up cans of peas and drain them and put in a big bowl.
I put corn oil into about 1/2 cup Pyrex glass container so that later it is easy to measure my oil rather than pouring the big bottle.
I chop up fresh raw carrots, canned drained green beans, raw fresh broccoli, raw bell peppers (red yellow and orange), and zucchini.

So everything is out on the counter. I use 1/2 cup measuring cups for everything except the veggies and oil where I use teaspoons.

I have a box of snack size ziplock bags. I weigh out three of them on my scale and zero it out. Then I scoop in the beef into each one. So he gets about 20g of beef so I add 20g to the first one, then I go to 40g on the second, then 60g. Then I zero it again. Add peas in the same manner. Zero it a third time, add veggies. I usually do two diff kinds per bag. Then I set them all aside. When I have about 14 bags (or a weeks worth), I add the corn oil to all the bags and seal them.

I always refrigerate overnight then bag a weeks worth in a larger freezer ziplock bag. I take out a few days at a time and leave in fridge. I warm them up when ready and add the BAlance it. I add a fish oil capsule at the very end once a day.

I use a jewelers scale that measures 10ths of grams. The one I have is the weigh max 1000. I weigh everything, including balance it. WeighMax 1000 Digital Bench Scale 1000 x 0.1 gram:Amazon:Toys & Games


Hope this helps

I usually cook either every day or every other day, but this sounds great. It really isn't difficult to cook for one small dog. I make boneless chicken tenders that have all of the fat trimmed off. I have been browning them in a little of the oil and also sautéing her vegetables. I don't use more oil than prescribed. Do you think this is okay, Cathy? I also want to hear what you think about grilling them on my Weber gas grill. I'm trying so hard to keep Kate healthy and also get her to lose a little weight she gained, so using the scale is important to me. I got a great deal on this scale at Williams Sonoma.

Caso Baking Scale | Williams-Sonoma

[107barney]

Originally Posted by lisaly

I usually cook either every day or every other day, but this sounds great. It really isn't difficult to cook for one small dog. I make boneless chicken tenders that have all of the fat trimmed off. I have been browning them in a little of the oil and also sautéing her vegetables. I don't use more oil than prescribed. Do you think this is okay, Cathy? I also want to hear what you think about grilling them on my Weber gas grill. I'm trying so hard to keep Kate healthy and also get her to lose a little weight she gained, so using the scale is important to me. I got a great deal on this scale at Williams Sonoma.

Caso Baking Scale | Williams-Sonoma

I think that's ok as long as you don't char the meat. I pressure cook my chicken on the bone because I want the broth for them as it is very healthy if you use organic chicken. Chicken on the bone is a lot cheaper too. I would email Dr Remillard about how to adapt the recipe for Katie to lose weight.

[lisaly]

Originally Posted by 107barney

I think that's ok as long as you don't char the meat. I pressure cook my chicken on the bone because I want the broth for them as it is very healthy if you use organic chicken. Chicken on the bone is a lot cheaper too. I would email Dr Remillard about how to adapt the recipe for Katie to lose weight.

Thank you for your help.

[107barney]

Originally Posted by lisaly

Thank you for your help.

Anytime!

[yorkiemini]

Thanks to a all for all the great suggestions.
I have been cooking the chicken breasts in the crockpot and keeping the broth. I was going to make the portions into little patties and freeze them, but scoring them sounds like less work.

I've been using the portion that Dr Remillard had calculated for her, but it does not look like very much so I'll have to keep watching her weight. She gobbles it down so fast, it is gone in no time!

[yorkiemini]

Oh dear I may have created a monster!

This morning I gave her the old kibble and light topper while I prepared enough home cooked for a week --- she refused her kibbles and sat there and stared at me

I think the home cooking is here to stay!

[107barney]

Originally Posted by yorkiemini

Oh dear I may have created a monster!

This morning I gave her the old kibble and light topper while I prepared enough home cooked for a week --- she refused her kibbles and sat there and stared at me

I think the home cooking is here to stay!

Hahahah! Mine love kibble -- what does that say about my cooking

[yorkiemini]

Wonder if I will be wishing for the kibble days

I'm just so done with recalls, salmonella,me E. coli, arsenic, Mercury and china!

[Prince vaswani]

Hi , I got my yorkie 3 weeks ago. He is 4 months. Scotch is refusing dry food and is not totally interested in canned wet food.. He is eating only half of his dietary requirements. Pls help. Can I start home cooking? And how do I transition from dog food to home cooked food?

[107barney]

Originally Posted by Prince vaswani

Hi , I got my yorkie 3 weeks ago. He is 4 months. Scotch is refusing dry food and is not totally interested in canned wet food.. He is eating only half of his dietary requirements. Pls help. Can I start home cooking? And how do I transition from dog food to home cooked food?

Is he an adult over a year ?