Home Cooking Made Easy!
 

I’ve been wanting to home cook for a while, some of my concerns were finding a food that was less processed and being able to have the time to do it right. I know that there are supplements, such as Balance It, that will give you recipes, but I was wondering if it may be too difficult on days when I didn’t have much time. My dogs are getting older and I really wanted to give them a food that they could get excited about. I’m not putting down kibble, it’s convenient as anything, but I guess I just wanted to spoil my dogs a little more and also give them foods that were considered biologically appropriate.
I heard about Honest Kitchen a long time ago here, but only tried it recently. Their foods are dehydrated, so it’s minimally processed, and they are said to use human grade ingredients and made in a plant used for human foods. While you can buy a food from them that has the meat, I chose to get one of the formulas that enable you to add your own meat. (I also have the chicken formula that contains meat because I’m so nervous about running out of food for them :D). I like knowing what I am giving them, and I like switching it up. I’ve given them boiled hamburger, eggs, fish, and chicken, as well as other cuts of beef. For each 5 pound dog, I make a daily serving of ¼ cup of the mix and ¼ cup of meat that I make once a day, it’s no hassle and they seem so happy. There are two different grain free formulas to choose from in case your dog is sensitive to certain foods. This is also a great option, if you want to try home raw feeding. Just add raw meat to the ingredients. You can know that your meat source is clean and you don’t have to worry about organ meat vs. muscle meat and things like that. You could probably make you own raw “medallions” very easily out of extra lean meat and an equal amount of dry mix and then just freeze the batch and thaw as needed.

Awesome, Nancy!

I've been wanting to take the plunge and homecook for Jackson as well. For a while and then I just feel like I am too lazy as I barely cook for myself. LOL. I know he would absolutely loooveee it though. He is a food hound. I just also worry about balancing properly and also proper amounts to feed. So that's why I like the companies like THK that can make it sort of homecooking-ish but have it balanced etc.

I did try THK years ago and it was green in color and very soupy and he wouldn't touch the stuff. So lately I've been looking into other options like Sojos where they have dehydrated options as well but maybe be a bit more palatable for Jax? They have the kind where you can add your own meat in as well.

I know what you mean, I worry so much about balancing it correctly and I think you'd almost have to do a weeks worth at once, I mean are you going to cook one carrot one potato, one green bean, etc.. daily? I don't add as much water as they suggest, I use about a tablespoon less. I know some people are giving chicken broth as the liquid, that might tempt some more. For those who don't cook, you could take a rotisserie chicken from the store and eat what you want and boil the rest for a couple of hours. Strain meat off and then refrigerate liquid and skim off fat the next day. Freeze meat and use as needed. Your right, though it's very green, but so far every meat I've added, including eggs, they love. Good to know other companies are giving this option! I feel like they really love me for it!

I was given a huge bag of the salmon & I've been feeding it ever since. I give one meal a day to which I add a few "scraps"--healthy things like veggies, eggs, fish &/or meat--& it's gobbled up immediately. Then the rest of the day I have kibble sitting out. Many days the kibble isn't touched; now & then it's devoured. I think I'm lucky I can free-feed so I don't have to worry about portions so much. (I always figured if my girls got chubby I'd have to rethink this but they've never hit 3.5 lbs, lol.)

Ha, ha, I wish I had stayed with free feeding, but we wanted to put Joey in a tricks training class and they insisted we needed to limit his food. He was pretty easy going about food in those days, but once we did that, he became food obsessed. I guess it wouldn't work anyway because my little rescue came to me food obsessed, and he would probably eat a whole bag of kibble if I would let him, so at least I can feed them at the same time and no one is choking anymore!

Awesome Nancy!!! Fun to see them eat something new, isn't it?!

There are a bunch of other options out there too, if you want to branch out - which is nice. U-Stew is another very good one.

I'm getting ready to experiment with U-Stew. Just offered it today.

I had no idea that there were others, I'm glad there are other choices, it keeps the prices more competitive.

I resorted to feeding dog food after 16.5 years of home cooking. After Barney and Daisy died, I lost the motivation. The boys eat Royal Canin products and sadly, like it better than my cooking.

So sorry to hear about your dogs, I just dread the day that comes.