Time to switch...

I store mine in Gladwares. Becca puts hers in a silicone muffin pan, pops it out, and stores the frozen food in a baggie. I like her idea better, but I don't have the freezer space for a cookie sheet, to hold the muffin pans (stupid side by side!).

We celebrate your purchase of a crock pot so you can join those of us who have broken away from canned food!  We welcome you! 

Jennie, I can help you out.  Today I saw individual silicone "cupcake papers" at Wally World.  As much as it pains me to recommend something from them, I realized that would be good for people without much space to spread stuff out in their freezer.  You could just squeeze them in where you could.  I noticed they weren't as flimsy as mine, which actually isn't good - they will stick a bit more (you might could spray them with a bit of pan spray to prevent that).  But, they'd be more likely to stand on their own than the stuff I've got.  I'm waiting for Aldi to offer these pans again  so I can get more, and also replace the ones the cat keeps chewing on when I'm not looking ("dirty muffin pans is num-num!";).

zatchbell322

The wet I use is purina one, I know its not a favorite around here, but it helps keep weight on him.  Which is another problem I am having. I am struggling to keep him at a steady weight. He just wont eat! I tried uping his food to 2 cups am and pm, but he wouldnt not eat more than about half of it. So in conclusion is there any food that is fairly similer and in the same price range? Maybe one for active/working dogs? Oh and no chicken....

     You could try Purina ONE dry, which is 26% protein 16% fat and somewhere in the neighborhood of 445 kcals per cup. Ingredient wise, it probably ranks between the regular Diamond & the Diamond Naturals formulas. It's the feed I use during the winter for the higher protein, although I use plain Dog Chow in the summer for the lower protein levels, and no complaints here, especially in regards to weight maintenance. It's also up there in the kcal content, 430 per cup if I am remembering correctly. It actually keeps weight on my dogs better than the ONE, and coats are very glossy here, not one spec of dandruff.

     FWIW, if you're interested, Purina is once again doing their 30 Day Challenge & will send you a coupon for a free bag of food (8lbs, I think) if you call them and answer a few questions. The number is: 1-800-521-6300. The call is completely automated & was generally painless, lol.
www.purinaone.com

(~L~, I didn't *MEAN* to make 30 servings, but that's a different story. And do you know how hot food is when it comes out of the crockpot? Apparently, very. Say my fingers after making 30 servings!)

Welcome to the dark side, zatchbell. Beware of kale. It stinks, and when you burn it it stinks more. A LOT MORE.

This is a pretty awesome thread, I'm so excited to crockpot now!  And the best part is that all the vegetables and fruits that everyone has suggested are already in my rabbits' diet repertoire, so Honor can just join in!  Thanks for starting this thread, zatchbell.  

Infiniti

This is a pretty awesome thread, I'm so excited to crockpot now!  And the best part is that all the vegetables and fruits that everyone has suggested are already in my rabbits' diet repertoire, so Honor can just join in!  Thanks for starting this thread, zatchbell.  

I know! I am so excited too. I almost didnt start a thread about this and was just going to leave Lex's food the way it has been, but he seemed so bored. I can't wait to try all these food ideas out. =)

Then when you've been crockpotting for a while, you'll say, "I'm doing this with my eyes closed now!  Wouldn't it be cool if I could just fix everything in the crock pot?  Or maybe do some raw meaty bones and steamed veggies?"

I just set up my new system for prepping food for four dogs, plus raw meaty bones for everyone else.  It took one hour, plus putting away was a bit fussy because, thank God, our freezer runneth over.  Once I'm doing the cooking for the working dogs, too, it may take twice that long.  But remember I'm cooking and prepping for ten dogs.  

It takes a long time to get a rhythm so you don't spend hours every week getting stuff together, but then one week it all falls together and your prep time just dwindles.

And the reward you get back in health in the dogs, not spending money on expensive supplements except for acute/chronic conditions, lower vet bills normally - it's all so worth it.  I even save money on toys.  They are perfectly content with their bones - only Cord loves a toy more than a bone.  Well, maybe Ben too.

Well, blah, blah - it's prep day so I spent a lot of time thinking about this, this morning.

 

WHY on earth have I never thought of crockpotting before??

So basically you do 75% meat (with bones? like chicken quarters or something?) and 25% veggies/fruit, Mix up, store the extra and top the kibble?  Very simple.  Could I do a morning meal of the crock pot and an evening meal of kibble?

Can you give me some good meat ideas as to what to use where th bones will mush?

Thanks!

Whatever works for your dogs.... Chicken bones will mush. Rabbit. Softer lamb and pork bones....

You could definitely do a kibble meal and a crock pot meal, if you mixed it up enough. You can use beef, too, if you add bonemeal.

 If you are doing it as part of your dog's diet, you'll want to get a balanced recipe like Glenda's, or consult with someone like betterdogcare.com or Monica Segal (there may be a recipe you can adapt in one of her pamplets).  This would be if you are doing more than 25% every so often, or less than that for daily feeding.

If you are doing it just "for flavor", as most people use canned food, you can literally put anything you like, as long as it's okay for dogs to eat.  So, not grapes, raisins, chocolate, some nuts, or onion.

I put much more veggies in than meat, as I've got ten dogs to distribute this among - well, I did, now it's only six.

I've cooked bones as large as lamb and pork ribs, but it takes a very long time, like days.  What you can do is cook such larger bones until you get some mashing, then squash as much as you can, and remove the bones.  The bones sift out easily once the meat is cooked until it's falling off.  Plus, the connective tissues end up in the pot - this is a great source of glucosamine, which is wonderful for both joints and skin.  When you debone raw meat you lose a lot of connective tissue.

Poultry is the best.  Any chicken will turn mushy very quickly - only twelve to twenty hours.  Turkey takes a couple days, but you can start picking out the big bones long before then.  Those teeny chickens are lots of fun and only cook in about ten hours.  I fyou cook a whole chicken, the mineral balance is very close to ideal and you can replace more of your kibble with it without worrying about throwing things off.

I tend to put only a couple pounds of meat at most in the pot, and lots of starchy veggies to absorb the yummy juices.  This is all so flexible, that it's not even funny.  Think of your dog's favorite canned food and you can probably reproduce it easily in the crock pot.

I have a couple recipes in the recipes section of this forum.  You don't have to do anything that complicated, though.  Dogs don't need veggies at all - I do them because it's fun for me and it's - ahem - cheaper.