tea remedies *updated 10-17

I just threw the whole thing in a crockpot with a little liquid and cooked it. I then took the pork out and used the liquid to cook the buckwheat. It was pretty easy and not horribly expensive.

People wonder how on earth I cook six custom diets each week but this is totally true.  I cook the carbs, and the fruit/veggies, and the rest is pulverizing.  Since I do six big eaters (oh bother, FIVE big eaters :( ) it would be exhausting to do as Callie describes, so I use a food processor.  I find faster ways to do the weekly prep every single week.  I've finally got it down below 2 hours (mostly because I've been having a chronic pain issue treated).  With two more major improvements to the system and after we move to the new kitchen (which is huge), I can probably get it down to just an hour!  That's the same amount of time I typically spend cooking OUR dinner, every night.

Becca I wasn't saying NOT to use a food processor -- I just have a wee tiny house with CRAP electricity and I literally have no where in my kitchen to plug in a food processor and I can't run the food processor at the same time any other appliance is on.  (no joke *rolling eyes*)

So for me -- the potato masher works.  For someone who doesn't have a food processor or who is just trying to start it's do-able.  But shoot yes, there are tons of shortcuts we all find to do what we do. 

(*am grinning as I type this -- I bought a processor a month ago and I darned near killed myself because I tore up my shoulder reaching too high from my chair to push the veg thru -- some days ain't nuffin easy!! LOL BUT it's do-able!!)

Oh no, I wasn't saying because I do it this way, everyone does.  Actually, my last step is to use the potato masher on everyone's mix, too.  Wonderful tool!  I just have six different bowls because everyone's got a different recipe.

Thank goodness the new kitchen has been recently renovated (well, recent as in eighties, lol!), but I hear ya on the outlets.  They are in seriously short supply in the new house.  We are such a geeky family I'm not sure how we are going to survive until we've saved enough to get the wiring upgraded!  We have to do the HVAC first, and then the wiring. 

Well, I might be in trouble -- I have neither a food processor NOR a potatoe masher.  LOL.  I have a mixer and that's about it.  Sammy might be eating chunky food :)  I do have a crock pot, though!  Go me!

 Do you warm their food before feeding or does it come right out of the freezer/fridge?  I'm not sure Sammy has a preference either way, but maybe when he eats its often he will care.

I got the inside scoop from some of the raw feeders I know about where to get reasonably priced meat.... I'm sure it won't be cheaper than kirklands kibble but as long as I'm cheaper than feeding a good kibble I can tolerate that.  And some of the raw feeders buy in huge bulk quantities for cheap so if I stick with it and get a freezer I'm sure I could chip in.  One dog can't possibly eat too much compared to folks with 4, 5, 6 so hopefully it would work out OK.

Although I do buy a lot at Costco, it's not really dirt cheap.  They have really nice meat, but it runs approx the same as a sale at the grocery store.  It's just a really nice quality, 93% turkey, 88-90% beef, hand-trimmed boneless skinless purdue chicken, etc etc.

LOL about the outlets -- a friend of mine, her mother lives in a renovated double wide trailer and she blows at least 2 fuses a week from plugging too many things in.  Thankfully we have decent wiring, although I did have several things plugged into one power strip and it ended up reseting the power strip. 

Cathy, FYI that the kibble looks, feels and smells exactly the same TO ME.  I would never have thought there was an issue if Sammy hadn't started not eating it.  And it's certainly wasn't him being picky about kibble since he's been eating other brands just fine.  Thank goodness he has a stomach of steel and I can switch him all the time if I have to with minimal disruption.  The lamb kind is small little round flat discs whereas the chicken is little balls, and as I said I switch flavors routinely.  Our bag was made in July -- if you look at the productiod code, there are a couple letters followed by 4 numbers -- they told me this is the month and day of production of the food.  Our code started KLV0703 so it was made July 3rd.  I thought that was good to know since I didn't buy it until Sept 20.

NicoleS

Do you warm their food before feeding or does it come right out of the freezer/fridge?  I'm not sure Sammy has a preference either way, but maybe when he eats its often he will care.

I didn't warm the food and believe me, Sassy was so thrilled with the homecooking, she didn't care. When I cooked up a big batch on the weekends, I'd leave enough in the frig for about 3 days and the rest I'd freeze in portion sizes in ziploc bags. I'd take a new bag out about 2 days in advance and stick it in the frig so it had time to thaw.

I checked into some raw food co-ops here too and if I'd stuck with the homecooking, it would've been the way to go to save money.

Thanks for the info on the Kirklands food. I didn't know that about the production date code but that's something I'll check from now on to make sure I'm getting something that isn't too old.

DH and I were joking about homecooking for Sammy and feeding it to my dad.  He's eaten dog carob chips and dog gourmet cookies before, all because we *tricked* him so we keep trying to get him.  The dog cookies I actually was taking a bite of one when he walked by so he grabbed one -- they were peanut butter with sprinkles, they didn't taste nearly as good as they looked.  But, we could trick him again with something made for the pup -- even if it is fully edible for either dog or man.

I was interested to know about the production date as well -- Two months after production wasn't too, too bad since it has a best before date of Nov 09, but I wonder what's happened to it in two months?  The Kirkland's lady made it sound like anything with natural preservatives ran the risk of spoiling if not under perfect conditions, but then again, many, many dog foods and other foods use natural ingredients and don't spoil, so why should that be an excuse?  Esp if a bag *was* on a truck and *was* exposed to high temps -- well, then, why should I trust that ANY of the bags were good if there's all these possibilities?  she didn't really have any good answers when I asked her these things, but I was on the bus between class and work when she called so I didn't have the best time to keep quizzing her. 

calliecritturs

 I can't run the food processor at the same time any other appliance is on.  (no joke *rolling eyes*)

I can relate to that. It took me awhile to figure out that I can't use the toaster oven and the microwave at the same time without plunging half the house into darkness. They're on two different sides of the kitchen - nowhere near the same outlet.  Go figure!

Joyce

NicoleS

 Do you warm their food before feeding or does it come right out of the freezer/fridge?  I'm not sure Sammy has a preference either way, but maybe when he eats its often he will care.

Prissy was the only one I had that ever cared -- and SHE wanted her food warmed up.  None of the rest have ever cared at all so I don't warm it.

A potato masher is cheap -- one of the few 'must haves' in my kitchen.  Not that we eat mashed potatos that often, but my mother always did them on a mixer and I *hate* potatoes done like that ... LOL

 My biggest problem is that I live in Orlando and it gets SO hot here that I never want to heat up the kitchen (because it's too much of a load on the air conditioner to cool the house down again) so the tabletop roaster is something I actually *bought* to do dogfood with so I don't have to leave burners on and it doesn't burn easily and holds a lot.  (It's not the big turkey roaster -- smaller than that.)

But it's like I said -- it's one of those things that everyone finds their own shortcuts that work for them.

You may want to haunt produce stands and bodegas -- far cheaper and often if they only have a few of something left you can make an offer and get something cheaper still

We have farmer's markets, but sometimes they aren't much, if any, cheaper than the grocery store.  I do like fresh produce though, and we did find one place that's pretty good and reasonable, although its a wee bit of hike. 

I think variety will be the hardest thing -- we don't eat much in terms of variety so it will have to be an effort to actively buy varying things.  Ahhh, at least *I* don't have to be the one to eat it all! LOL.

The more I read about it, the more I'm getting used to the idea, so it will probably just be the case of some trial and error to see what works and how long to cook things and such.  At least I'll get more practice cooking! *grin*

NicoleS

The more I read about it, the more I'm getting used to the idea, so it will probably just be the case of some trial and error to see what works and how long to cook things and such.  At least I'll get more practice cooking! *grin*

I actually enjoyed it and would've enjoyed it more with an extra freezer and more playing with different things. Because it was an elimination diet, I couldn't add anything. I love to cook and kind of see cooking as one of those homey, nurturing things, so it was nice. The appreciation factor was huge too. Sassy thought I was a gourmet cook

The fact that *I* wasn't reared to know "variety" in veggies is why I always tell that "Chicken, mashed potato and corn" story on my family -- shoot, I thot corn, peas and mashed potato were the ONLY veggies there where for years!

LOL -- I grew up with more variety, I just didn't like it!  I'm definitely a very plain person -- we avoid "fancy" restaurants since I usually don't like the things they do to food -- fancy sauces, fancy sides, anything like that.  My mom is more like me but not as bad, but dad literally eats *anything* -- he likes some things more than others, but he grew up in a large family where if you didn't eat what was put in front of you, you didn't eat that night. 

The one weird thing is that I like brussel sprouts.  For some odd reason, since almost no one likes them or eats them on purpose, other than me!  ha ha.

I don't like to cook, but it's a necessity and we can't afford to eat out all the time (nor can we do so in a reasonably healthy way) so DH and I have a deal -- he HATES to cook so I cook but he does all the dishes.  I haven't washed a dish in months.  It's nice :)

I'm so glad Sammy eats anything -- like Sassy, he'd probably think I was a gourmet chef!  And if veggies cook long enough in meat juices, even his hound nose might be fooled and maybe he would eat them.  I swear, this dog is going to eat better than we are :)

Today I used FROZEN veggies - I wanted okra and my Publix didn't have it fresh. Lemme tell ya, okra is GROSS. It's...all...slimey! But you don't have to chop it up, so no prep today! I just threw my veggies in the crock. Well, I lied. I had to chop up a sweet potato.

NicoleS

The one weird thing is that I like brussel sprouts.  For some odd reason, since almost no one likes them or eats them on purpose, other than me!  ha ha.

ooohhh, I love them too! Now I'm hungry for some :)

Oooh, mini food processor?  That shouts Christmas to me, everyone seems to have little kitchen gadgets... and I do have a birthday coming up as well ;) 

How small does everyone chop everything?  I'm wondering if I just chopped somewhat small if I really need to mash much?  Maybe if I cook them long enough they will mash OK with a fork, for now?  I'm just playing here, we don't really eat mushed veggies so I bit out of my element here.  DH eats broccoli as his main veggie and I'm a corn or peas person more often than not.  Rarely potatoes or carrots or anything exotic like Okra (what is that, anyway?  I don't know if I've ever seen it?!?)

As a side story, my folks drove in last night and stayed overnight....  and Sammy just finished 3 days of the highest pred doses and is on the middle dose, so he's peeing pretty much all the time.  For some reason, he goes to my mom when he has to pee rather than me -- so he woke her up 3 times over the night to go out! LOL, that will teach them to not take our bedroom when it's offered, and sleep downstairs in the living room.  He would get up from our bed, and go downstairs to wake her up.  Goofy dog!