Easy Home Made Dog Food

Sometimes the thought of cooking for yourself can be daunting enough let alone cooking nice healthy meals for your pets.  but when you've got a dog who is ill or often suffers from a sensitive stomach cooking your own pet meals is the way to go.  I've been making my own dog food for years now and to cut down on costs I shop the sales and make the food in bulk and freeze it in meal size portions.  Only a couple of hours in the kitchen means Ella has nice, home made, human grade food for a month! (I would make even more but my freezer is pretty small)  If you are interested in making your precious pooch his/her own food yourself you can pick up a pet food recipe book from your local pet store, take to the Internet to do a bit of research or even just talk to your vet the next time you're in there....I'm sure they can give you some advice or make you aware of any supplements your dog may need.....particularly if your dog suffers from any kid of sickness.

In my case though, Ella is a big healthy girl with no real issues, giving me a little more freedom with her menu.  I use a uniform distribution ratio for my recipes.  Meaning: for every pound of protein, I match it with a pound of fruits or vegetables and a pound of carbohydrate.  To make sure she meets her calcium requirement I let her lick out any and all dairy containers (yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese....you name it) that have been finished that day.... or in lacking that, I'll cut and give her 1 oz of cheese as a treat.  That being said I have read a couple different books on making your own dog food and depending on who you listen to there may or may not be other important minerals or nutrients missing, for that purpose I find it easiest to supplement her home made food from time to time with a good quality store bought kibble, although it could also be done by adding particular oils or vitamins purchased at specialty stores.......but I stick with what's easiest for me!

An example of her home made food would be

I brown and drain 4lbs of lean ground beef  

 

stir in 4lbs of fresh or frozen fruit or veggies (in this case it was frozen peas)

 boil 4lbs of whole grain brown rice until cooked (not necessary to salt the water)

 Mix it all together and let cool.

 Once cool, bag in meal size portions. (Ella is a large breed so she gets between 1.5 and 2 cups per bag.  *I find sandwich bags are the perfect size)

 below is an example of shredded chicken, mixed fruit (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries) and whole wheat pasta noodles

this post reminds me of an excellent peanut butter and carob chip dog biscuit recipe I have.......for those of you with dogs you like to spoil, stay tuned and I'll try to post that one in the next day or two! El'Poocho is going to love it!!!!!!