Homemade Dog Food

Disclaimer: I suggest you consult your pet’s veterinarian (as I am not one) to determine the best food for your dog’s breed, activity, etc.


I’m changing it up a bit for today’s post….let’s talk food. Dog food to be specific!

Recently, I have been paying close attention to the chemicals and preservatives found in food and how they can have adverse health affects. While reflecting on my family’s grocery list and meal habits, I couldn’t help but notice that we feed our dogs dry processed kibble, which seemed to represent everything I was trying to avoid consuming myself. Why couldn’t I extend these healthy eating habits to the canine members of our family as well? How would I go about doing that?

There seem’s to be a meal delivery plan for every lifestyle and diet these days, and dog food is no exception. While having fresh dog food delivered each week in perfectly portioned bags would be nice, I found out it comes along with a significant cost, and a bit more inconvenience on my end. With extreme heat and cold here in the Midwest, I would need to make sure someone would be home to receive the shipments each week and that would be nearly impossible.

Boat ride!

Boat ride!

Sometimes you just need carried around!

Sometimes you just need carried around!

Also, our dogs are used to eating ‘free choice’ (they have a bowl filled each night and choose when they want to eat during the day), which would have to change to them being fed twice a day, and while doable it would be an added task. We already fed them a very high quality dry food, they appear to have no allergies and also no issues with digestion. I knew there had to be a budget friendly way to incorporate fresh food into their diet, and that idea started a path down a Pinterest rabbit hole.

After reading several articles, recipes, and suggestions, I came up with my own dog food recipe and I have used it for the past three weeks. I didn’t want to cut out their dry food completely, as I am sure there are some added vitamins/minerals/proteins that they need from it. Instead, I simply give them one bag of homemade food once per day, on top of their free choice dog food (each bag is about 1.5ish cups). Here is what I have found so far:

1) Our dogs love the taste, and it fills them up! They are eating significantly less dry food, which means less cost!

2) They drink less water, which is normal, since they are eating less dry food.

3) They remain VERY active, and continue to have no issues with allergies or digestion.

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The Recipe!

This is a very easy recipe, substitute with whatever you have on hand, just google to see if it is healthy for your pet first (again, I am not a pet health expert).

You will need:

  • 1 pound ground beef (I sometimes substitute a beef/deer mix)

  • 1 can kidney beans

  • 1 1/2 cups frozen peas

  • 2 cups uncooked brown rice

  • 4 large carrots, sliced

  • 2 sweet potatoes, cut into 1in chunks

  • 4.5 cups water

Add everything to a crock pot and mix well. Cook on high for 5 to 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Let cool completely and portion into baggies, I use one heaping cup per bag which is probably closer to 1.5 cups. Toss in the fridge until you are ready to serve, or make a large batch and store in the freezer. This recipe makes around 12 servings, which lasts just under a week between my two dogs.

Start

Start

Finish

Finish

Bagged up!

Bagged up!

And there you have it, my simple and budget friendly homemade dog food recipe! Feel free to pin this post for later use, and as always, thanks for stopping by the blog today!

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Epic (EASY) Chicken Noodle Soup

It’s officially Fall and temperatures are dropping rapidly here in Iowa, which means all things warm and cozy are on the menu at my house. This simple, yet super tasty, chicken soup recipe will warm up those cold toes from the inside out!

 

First things first…

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The Chicken

The most important ingredient, and easily made in the crock pot!

Directions: Lightly spray a large crock pot with non stick spray. Rinse and pat dry a fresh whole chicken (insides removed) and place it in the crock pot on top of a bag of carrots (if you don’t want carrots in your soup you can use balls of foil to keep the chicken up off of the bottom). In a bowl, mix together the following seasonings and sprinkle over the entire chicken:

1/2 TB Paprika

2 TB All purpose seasoning

1/2 TB Garlic powder

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Cook on HIGH for 4-4.5 hours and use a thermometer to make sure it has reached 165+ degrees


The Soup

You will need:

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 tablespoon butter

2 32oz cartons of low sodium chicken broth

1/2 32oz carton of vegetable broth

2 cups extra wide egg noodles (roughly half of a bag)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste


Directions:

  1. In a large pot over medium heat cook the onion, celery, and butter until tender or about 5 minutes

  2. Pour in the chicken and vegetable broths, basil and oregano

  3. Pull apart the chicken from the crockpot, skin and all, and add the pieces to soup mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

  4. Cut up the carrots from the crockpot and add to the soup mix

  5. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes

  6. Add egg noodles and continue to simmer for 10 additional minutes or until noodles are done, careful not to overcook them! Check taste and add salt and pepper again if needed.

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Boom!

Dinner is served