New to Homecooking

pelow · #1 02-01-2009, 06:30 PM

I knew this was the place to come to with this question. Everyone was so helpful when my 9 1/2 year old ended up with cancer. I am currently feeding two 7 month old boxers and a 4 year old pitbull. What with the cost of grain free food it is costing me an arm and a leg. I am thinking about homecooking but was wondering with the food prices will it be cheaper? I also have no idea where to start and how much to feed and what to put in it. Also wondering if you start feeding say chicken and rice do you stay on it or will changing to chicken and potato with veges give them the poos. As far as rice do you use long grain instead of minute rice and do you use oatmeal? I am at a total loss and just trying to save some money. It is currently costing me about $270 to feed them a month. Sorry to ramble on just coming up with ideas so someone please have mercy on me.

kathysboxer · #2 02-02-2009, 05:16 AM

You could start out with chicken and rice if you want. Or use potatoes, or oatmeal. At Walmart they have 10# of chicken leg quarters for like $6. It is in a (I believe) an orange (or red) bag. The rice is just regular rice (not instant). I personally used brown rice. You can buy the cheap kind, as long as it's cook kind. If you have a pressure cooker, throw the chicken in it and cook for around a couple hours. This will make the bones really soft, so they can chew it. I cook the rice seperately then add to the chicken I've pulled apart. Not sure how much to feed, but maybe eyeball it. I put the "leftovers" in zip lock bags (1 meal in each bag) and freeze all but a couple days worth. There is a ton of info on here in the homecooking forum. You can buy meat on sale and cook it up then. Hope this helps you out some. Someone with more experience will chime in. One thing to remember, premium food may cost more, but they eat less and less vet trips. So in the long run, it is actually cheaper. I am feeding Tyson TOTW and it is about $42 for a 30# bag, but he only eats between 2-3 cups a day. He gets raw meaty bones all the time, plus if I'm cooking, he gets small samples of that and fruit once in a while for a treat. Another thing to do is call the company and request some coupons. Explain to them that at this time, you need some, have een a loyal customer and would like to continue using their food. Also, Petco does the buy 10 get one free. Natural Balance also does this, so that would be 2 free bags per 10.

bayleighmom · #3 02-02-2009, 11:10 AM

I use a pressure cooker too. I buy the 10# bags of leg quarters at Walmart and pressure cook for 2 hours at 15 # of pressure. You can also use a crockpot.

I use brown rice, not minute rice. I have tried oatmeal but Bayleigh didn't seem to like the texture. I also use macaroni.

I would start out slowly with chicken and rice. Add things as you go to make sure there are no food allergies. I feed pretty any veggie I can find, except onions, mushrooms and green pepper.

I feed 1.2% of Bayleigh's weight twice a day. For example: Bayleigh's weight x 1.2% (65 x 1.2% = .78 pound twice a day) I weighed a one cup measuring cup of her food and it was approximately 8 ounces. I feed 3 cups of "stew" a day. One cup in the morning and 2 cups in the evening. You may have to feed the pups more depending on their energy level.

I didn't have any problems with stool when I switched to homecooking. She poops less and her coat is usually pretty shiny.

Homecooking may cost less than premium kibble. You can look for sales on meat and freeze for later use. Most grocery stores have a reduced section in the meat department. Same goes with veggies. I use fresh and/or canned veggies. But homecooking can be time consuming.

kayboxer · #4 02-02-2009, 11:23 AM

In my experience it cost more than Wellness Core and was more time consuming. I have two boxers. I now do both. I do kibble in the a.m., and mix a bit of kibble with the homecooking in the p.m. I was doing chicken with offal, veggies, sweet potatoes, blueberries and apples in my stew. Now, I usually just do meat. I pressure cook my chicken and/or beef and mash it up. I sometimes add veggies if I have some on hand, but my main aim is the protein. Everybody has their own way, you just have to find what works for your lifestyle. I am all for homecooking, it just got too much with two boxers and a family. I didn't have time to constantly cook for them, and I made huge batches and froze them, but they seemed to get eaten awfully fast with two meals a day.

MKAD · #5 02-03-2009, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayboxer

In my experience it cost more than Wellness Core and was more time consuming. I have two boxers. I now do both. I do kibble in the a.m., and mix a bit of kibble with the homecooking in the p.m. I was doing chicken with offal, veggies, sweet potatoes, blueberries and apples in my stew. Now, I usually just do meat. I pressure cook my chicken and/or beef and mash it up. I sometimes add veggies if I have some on hand, but my main aim is the protein. Everybody has their own way, you just have to find what works for your lifestyle. I am all for homecooking, it just got too much with two boxers and a family. I didn't have time to constantly cook for them, and I made huge batches and froze them, but they seemed to get eaten awfully fast with two meals a day.

I do a similar thing- homecooking was more expensive & took a lot of time. Sam & Sally get kibble in the AM and then I suppliment home cook with the kibble in the PM- this combo was really worked for both- especially Sam (my rescue).
Good Luck

LILYLARUE · #6 02-03-2009, 02:21 PM

I can understand the financial dilemma. When I was feeding my two kibble, it was reasonable. Then I adopted a pit with severe allergies to commercial food, I then switched all three to RAW. With donated meats and the sales on meats in stores, I only spend about $200 a month now. Big Savings!!!

I was gonna try homecooking, but heck, I don't really cook for myself! It seemed to be a lot of work and time consuming. Now, it's a skinned chicken leg in each bowl and off to do those things I wouldn't be able with homecooking. It turned out to be not only easy, but very good on my dogs. They look and act like puppies again!