# Dog Food Factory in My Kitchen



## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Dog food factory is right - today I'm making up batches of Babykins food. It's hard work getting everything cooked, mixed together, sorted out into packets. I hate the clean up afterwards too. I've discovered that I have my limit in how much food I can process - if I go over my limit my arthritis kicks in big time and I pay for it. 

It makes me more aware and sensitive to factory workers who do this type of work on a daily basis.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Oh dear yes, I couldn't imagine doing work like this day in and day out. My left knee hurts as does my left shoulder, plus general aches and I haven't cleaned the last two pots, nor have I finished packaging the last of the chicken.


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## oshagcj914 (Jun 12, 2016)

My food prep days look more like a slaughter house than a food factory  A lot of the stuff I get I can just repackage frozen, like turkey hearts. Every few months I spend a few hours repackaging a few hundred pounds of meat, then I just get a few pans full of stuff out at a time and feed it until it's gone. 

Sometimes I dehydrate liver, turkey hearts, or gizzards for treats - that's a nasty smell! I usually only do that in the garage so it doesn't stink up the whole house. There's nothing like the smell of cooking or dehydrating liver, gag!


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I now have a small chest freezer in the garage, so can keep the bulk in there and process smaller quantities. Today I did raw minced salmon and minced chicken with bone and offal, some chicken and beef donated by a neighbour because it was a day or so past its use by date, and used up the vegetable cubes I froze when I cooked to much a batch or two back. All defrosted until barely unfrozen (except the cubes, which were poked into the packs after weighing)), mixed, weighed, and back into the freezer, some in one meal for all four animals, some one meal for the cats or the dogs. Enough for a week or so, but I will be doing a cooked batch before it is all used up. Small dogs mean less food, but more packing... the most I have done in one go is 50 2-meal packs, which does begin to feel industrial!


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## PlayfulPup (Aug 8, 2012)

My family has started to make everything from scratch for the people in it. (dairy, wheat, corn, soy free) It has gotten me thinking about raw for dogs again. I think after a while of feeding the humans like this, I'll branch into switching a few kibble meals to meaty bones and see how it goes. 

Is their a reason to cook the meals vs raw? (i'm going to go search the forum for this, but feel free to point me to another thread that covers this topic too!)


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Spunky said:


> My family has started to make everything from scratch for the people in it. (dairy, wheat, corn, soy free) It has gotten me thinking about raw for dogs again. I think after a while of feeding the humans like this, I'll branch into switching a few kibble meals to meaty bones and see how it goes.
> 
> Is their a reason to cook the meals vs raw? (i'm going to go search the forum for this, but feel free to point me to another thread that covers this topic too!)



Spunky I am a microbiology professor and that part of me just can't cope with the idea of raw chicken on my floors. My GSD (even on this meal plan) does as he used to with kibble and carries a mouth full of food away from his bowl, drops it on the floor and then laps it up. I walk around barefoot, so yuck to stepping unknowingly across one of Peeves invisible food spots. My other issue is being able to easily travel with food for dogs to hotels and the like. I don't think it would be polite to possibly leave something behind that might harm a person who was immune suppressed.


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## PlayfulPup (Aug 8, 2012)

lily cd re said:


> Spunky I am a microbiology professor and that part of me just can't cope with the idea of raw chicken on my floors. My GSD (even on this meal plan) does as he used to with kibble and carries a mouth full of food away from his bowl, drops it on the floor and then laps it up. I walk around barefoot, so yuck to stepping unknowingly across one of Peeves invisible food spots. My other issue is being able to easily travel with food for dogs to hotels and the like. I don't think it would be polite to possibly leave something behind that might harm a person who was immune suppressed.


That makes sense. One of the reasons it did not work for us in the past is that I have young kids and someone is always crawling on the floor. I'm going to have to come up with a solution for this if we give it a try. I do love my steam mop, so I'm sure every solution will end in using that daily. I also figured if we ever went to 100% raw we would buy premade for traveling to family, though cooked would be cheaper. Another thing to consider!


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

I did the food factory thing yesterday, it feels good when it's all neatly packaged and in the freezer. Lily do you freeze everything separately (meat, pasta, vegies etc) and then put it together for a meal as you feed?


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Caddy with what I did this weekend it is separated by ingredients and I will mix as I go, but before we hit the road I will make up individual meals and freeze them to travel with.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

I keep them separate sometimes or with things I put straight in the fridge, but as a rule I mix the meat with purraed vegies & fruit and add in the other things too like eggshell, kelp, fish oil etc.. DH finds it much easier that way and asks far fewer questions when he's feeding the girls.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I find it easier to premix - some of the ground meats I get seem to have a rather high bone content and need mixing with boneless meat, and it is much easier to mix in large quantities then freeze than to make tiny nuggets of each and try to remember which is which! I have found it useful to have some spare veggies ready, though. Cooking up 1 pound mixed veg with 1 pound chicken and freezing it in ice cube trays makes perfect sized portions for adding to raw meals for my toy dogs. The second freezer is proving a very useful addition - I have a kind neighbour who is finding adjusting to cooking for two now that her children have left home very difficult, and who regularly passes on the meat she has bought and not used, and it's not just meat, but M&S meat! (The Brits will know what I mean.) 50% of this week's batch was made up of the packs of chicken breast and the steak burgers she gave me (onion free - I checked!).


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

How many meals for your three did you manage from Sunday's food factory? You will love having the extra freezer space.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Mfmst that is about 2 weeks worth. I am looking forward to being able to take a weekend and have one day for cooking a month's worth of meat and then the next day doing the other stuff and dropping it into the freezer.


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

We often have a food factory day at our home too. It's for people though . My DH has gotten into meat curing/smoking (bacons, sausages, pastrami and corned beef type thing). We often make kraut and all that so we have a lot of little packaging to do. Do you use a Food Saver? DH is loving his. It vacuum seals it and less likely to be freezer burned. He also likes the butcher's paper for freezing sausages. They are wonderful too.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Sammy as I gear it all up I think a food saver may be in order. I don't have one yet though. Do you have a particular one you would recommend?

BF has a friend who does a lot of smoking too.


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

lily cd re said:


> Sammy as I gear it all up I think a food saver may be in order. I don't have one yet though. Do you have a particular one you would recommend?
> 
> BF has a friend who does a lot of smoking too.


We just got the Costco model. Here it is regularly like 179.99, but we got it when it was $40 off. The rolls also go on sale regularly, so we stock them up. My DH and my oldest have a bagging party . I also make my taco mix by mixing spices and I put them in food saver pouch. They are so much cheaper when you blend them yourself.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I will keep an eye for that to go on sale then! Thanks.


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## Asta's Mom (Aug 20, 2014)

You are to be commended for all that cooking - my what a project and every 2 weeks at that. I am sure Javvy, Lily and Peeves enjoy the bounty though. Extra freezer space has to be a must. Food factory, indeed. I could never manage that.


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## PlayfulPup (Aug 8, 2012)

Sammy the spoo said:


> We just got the Costco model. Here it is regularly like 179.99, but we got it when it was $40 off. The rolls also go on sale regularly, so we stock them up. My DH and my oldest have a bagging party . I also make my taco mix by mixing spices and I put them in food saver pouch. They are so much cheaper when you blend them yourself.


taco seasoning is on todays docket  Then making a few pounds of taco meat for the freezer. We also have a food saver. My husband usually runs it, but he is out of town, so I hope it is as straight forward as it seems. Glad to know it will come in handy if we go raw!


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## oshagcj914 (Jun 12, 2016)

Spunky said:


> taco seasoning is on todays docket  Then making a few pounds of taco meat for the freezer. We also have a food saver. My husband usually runs it, but he is out of town, so I hope it is as straight forward as it seems. Glad to know it will come in handy if we go raw!


FYI, you really don't need a food saver to feed raw. It only drives your costs way up. I repackage stuff in ziplocks and reuse them until they'd get leaky, or I'll use some reusable freezer containers or even just doubled or tripled Walmart bags. I love my food saver for my food, but you don't need one for raw if you want to keep it cost effective.


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## PlayfulPup (Aug 8, 2012)

oshagcj914 said:


> FYI, you really don't need a food saver to feed raw. It only drives your costs way up. I repackage stuff in ziplocks and reuse them until they'd get leaky, or I'll use some reusable freezer containers or even just doubled or tripled Walmart bags. I love my food saver for my food, but you don't need one for raw if you want to keep it cost effective.


Growing up my job was to wash ziplock bags. I hated that job so much I swore I would always buy new bags. I do reuse the big bags but toss snack bags. I figure that was a happy medium. More to the point... 

The place I was looking into getting some specialty raw items I don't think I can get around here (tripe, and OM and RMB in lamb, goat, duck....), I would either pay through the nose in shipping, or drive 3 hours to a pick up spot. We vacay there every summer, so I thought we could time an annual trip with a year worth pick up. I don't know how I would sort just yet, but for the meat that would be in there longer, food saver would be the way to go. 

How bad is it for food to freeze, thaw and refreeze. I was wondering if I froze a month worth together then thawed each month to split into days and then froze again? I guess a weeks worth might be better, then I would not have to refreeze? Hmmm. Just a few more things to figure out. I also need to see if I know any hunters that would give us stuff they don't want. And by I, I mean my husband. :angel2: Our local butcher already thinks I'm nutty because he sells us beef heart for our fish and tallow for my soap making. Why not add some pancreas and lungs to the mix :lol:


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Jeepers, all that chopping and grinding and mixing and cooking and cleaning up pots and pans in the food factory sounds exhausting! My mouth dropped open when I read the posts that talked about it.

I am so glad he is on a raw diet. I had the problem in the beginning of his wanting to pick up his food and take it somewhere to eat it. I just patiently took it back from him and put it back on his feeding towel, and then again and again if need be. He learned in a couple of days to just eat it there.(I had already taught him to give me anything and everything)

No stress for us. Tonight I will put down on his feeding towel a raw chicken leg quarter (this morning it was pork and different fruit and veggie), banana pieces, a few berries, and some left over cooked sweet potato. In a bowl is a teaspoon of either omega oil or cod liver oil. Very simple. 

Then he comes to me, I wash his face and mouth, and then he goes and drinks his water. The end. There is never even any food bits in his water bowl or on the floor, sometimes a few water drips. Every couple of days I wash the towel and face cloth.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Reusable containers here, every time, and they have to be able to go through the dishwasher, too! The batch of take away style boxes I bought around 6 years ago is just beginning to fail, and I can't find a supplier of small enough ones any more, but the 500cc ones are widely available and would be perfect for bigger dogs. Bit of expense to start, but I have reused mine dozens of times. I recently stocked up at IKEA - the smallest containers in a mixed pack hold a meal for two of mine, middle sized for all four, and the largest I use for loose frozen chicken wings etc.

I started cooking because I was uneasy about defrosting and refreezing, and the meat I bought from the butcher came in massive blocks. The stuff I buy now is frozen and bagged in blocks of around 1lb, which is much more manageable for quickly defrosting, mixing and refreezing.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Spunky said:


> Growing up my job was to wash ziplock bags. I hated that job so much I swore I would always buy new bags. I do reuse the big bags but toss snack bags. I figure that was a happy medium. More to the point...
> 
> The place I was looking into getting some specialty raw items I don't think I can get around here (tripe, and OM and RMB in lamb, goat, duck....), I would either pay through the nose in shipping, or drive 3 hours to a pick up spot. We vacay there every summer, so I thought we could time an annual trip with a year worth pick up. I don't know how I would sort just yet, but for the meat that would be in there longer, food saver would be the way to go.
> 
> How bad is it for food to freeze, thaw and refreeze. I was wondering if I froze a month worth together then thawed each month to split into days and then froze again? I guess a weeks worth might be better, then I would not have to refreeze? Hmmm. Just a few more things to figure out. I also need to see if I know any hunters that would give us stuff they don't want. And by I, I mean my husband. :angel2: Our local butcher already thinks I'm nutty because he sells us beef heart for our fish and tallow for my soap making. Why not add some pancreas and lungs to the mix :lol:


From a microbiological standpoint it is not advisable to freeze that and refreeze, especially if you will fee raw. Every time an item is thawed microbes will have an opportunity to multiply and contribute to spoilage along with the potential for production of toxins. You should minimize thawing and refreezing for both dog food items and human foods.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Acckk too late to fix typos as noted below:

From a microbiological standpoint it is not advisable to freeze *thaw* and refreeze, especially if you will *feed* raw.


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## oshagcj914 (Jun 12, 2016)

From a raw feeding stand point, your dog is highly unlikely to come to any harm from being fed meat that's has been thawed and refrozen unless you're letting it sit out for a long time or doing it over and over again. They are carnivores and their digestive system is meant to be able to handle a bacterial load that ours can't. Of course that doesn't mean that you should be feeding your dogs rotten meat or thawing stuff and letting it sit out all day, but thawing bulk items enough to separate them and then refreezing in smaller packages is fine. I do it with every meat order - I let things thaw enough so that they can be separated and repackaged, then it goes right back in the freezer. I thaw meat in the fridge or feed it frozen. 

Spunky, I grew up washing ziplock bags too, and I HATED it! My mom still does that, and I get yelled at it I try to throw one away  I also reuse the bigger bags but often toss the smaller ones, but I do wash and reuse any ziplocks I use for the pets' food.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Oh groan. My mother also made us wash every plastic bag and then hang it on the line to dry. I too hated it. Now I save, and if at all dirty rinse out any bag that only had things in it that wouldn't be very germy. Like fruit, vegetables, bread, crackers, etc. and only ones with no holes. But the one's that had something like meat that could harbor more dangerous germs I use to toss messy garbage, meat scraps, etc into and throw in the garbage. (I don't have a garbage disposal because I am on a 1905 sewer line that has to be babied along.)

I recently visited my younger sister though and was dumbfounded when she berated me for not washing every one out with soap and hanging it up just like our Mother did! She is worse though. Even ones with holes in them! I tried to take one of them to use for a poop bag and the hole was so big the your know what fell out after I picked it up and tied it!


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## Deblakeside (Oct 2, 2015)

I'll start with "Me too!" I hate cleaning and reusing ziplock bags, but I do it, particularly for the dogs' raw food. I even have a ziplock full of used ziplock in the freezer to be reused. I just keep reminding myself of my grandmother who would carefully clean and fold up aluminum foil, saran wrap, and wrapping paper! She scrimped and saved, as does my mom, both Depression survivors, and me and my kids are the better for it. In many ways. So I wash ziplock and thank them, but I toss aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and wrapping paper (okay, I save bows...) We've come a long way...But not as far as we may think! 

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I solve the bag washing by never buying ziplock bags! As food is rarely sold in ziplocks in the UK there are very rarely any in the house. I do get a slight pang chucking the thick plastic bags the dogs' meat comes in, but they are so messy and greasy that I can't imagine reusing them for anything. It does occur to me that if I could find a block of wood the right size, I could turn them inside out, stretch them over the block, and let the dogs lick them clean... The dogs do an excellent job prewashing the cat bowls when necessary!


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

Oh, I would get into so much trouble from your moms!!!   I am terrible - I toss out the ziploc or freezer bags every time I use one, especially if there were meat in them. I just calculated - it is 6 or 7c per bag, and I really don't want the family to get sick. DH also worries about food safety, so it is a good balance, at least in our family. We buy those surgical gloves when we handle meat too.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

I use a combination of reusable food containers (the glass ones) and ziploc bags, the containers go through the dishwasher and ziploc freezer bags go in the garbage. That may sound irresponsible to some people, but I'm not taking any chances with food handling and storage. Compared to the mess the women's march and pipeline demonstrators left, my ziploc bags are inconsequential. I do try to be concous of the environment but I have my limits.


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