Making Delicious and Nutritious Food for My Dogs
As many of you know my schedule is very busy, but every few months I always set aside time to make my beautiful dogs a big batch of home-cooked food.
I've been preparing my own dog food for years. It has many benefits - fewer preservatives and additives, more varied and better ingredients and, of course, more of what I know my dogs like to eat. I also know the food is from wholesome, organic, reputable sources - and that is very important to me. This past weekend, I prepared a giant amount of food filled with excellent quality quinoa, beef, fish, poultry, and lots of nutritious vegetables.
Enjoy these photos.
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- It always makes me so happy to be able to provide the best meals for my pets – they love all the fresh vegetables and meats I cook for them. I currently have four dogs – my Chow Chows, Emperor Han and Empress Qin, and my French Bulldogs, Bête Noire and Crème Brûlée. Having multiple dogs means there’s a lot to prepare. Here are two of the sweet potatoes – great for digestive health because they’re high in dietary fiber. They’re also low in fat and contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, and manganese, and they’re rich in the powerful antioxidant beta-carotene.
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- The butternut squash is cooked until soft and then cut into chunks. Butternut squash is also filled with antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene.
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- Here’s a giant bowl of peas and quinoa. Quinoa is an amazing gluten-free superfood with high levels of essential amino acids. It is a high protein grain type food, so give it in small amounts. When preparing homemade diets, be sure it is well-balanced. Always be sure to research and discuss with your veterinarian what your pet needs.
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- These broccoli heads are cooked until fork tender and placed in the big stainless steel bowl. All my food is completely organic and full of flavor.
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- Here are the added carrots. My dogs love carrots. They are low in calories and high in fiber and vitamins. Occasionally, crunching on raw carrots can also be good for their teeth.
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- On top of this bowl of vegetables is some cooked fish. And watch out for bones. While some of the bones will be ground in a processor, it is a good idea to always carefully check for potentially dangerous bones.
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- Here, more vegetables including cabbage and turnips.
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- All the foods are cooked thoroughly and distributed into the large bowls. Look how much we’ve prepared.
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- Next, everything is run through a food processor. This step may seem extraneous; however, I have found that my dogs prefer their food ground up rather than in big chunks.
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- For my dog food, I use quart-sized containers. This step of filling the containers is done in a production line process, so it can be completed quickly and efficiently. Can you guess how many containers we filled? If you saw my Instagram post @MarthaStewart48, you know…
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- 40-quarts in all! It’s very important that dogs also get adequate amounts of calcium, and omega-three fatty acids – add supplements if needed. And, whenever changing a dog’s diet, it’s a good idea to do it over the course of a few days.
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- I freeze my containers until they are ready to use. If planning to freeze, only fill up to the first line around the container so it has room to expand. Here, the quarts of food are left to cool a bit before securing the lids.
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- Each lid is marked properly, so there is no confusion.
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- Here are the quarts ready to freeze.
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- This quart was put aside in my fridge, so it’s ready for the next meal.
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- Here’s Enma scooping some food into the dog bowls for supper. We mix high quality kibble with a scoop of their home-prepared food. Enma mixes it thoroughly with the dogs’ additional vitamins and supplements.
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- And then it’s meal time! My dogs eat two meals a day – once in the morning and once in the evening. Splitting meal times is good for their digestion. Cooking for one’s dogs is a personal choice, so if you have time, and are interested in giving it a try, I know your pets will love every meal. Han, Qin, Crème Brûlée, and Bête Noire are always excited to eat!
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- And from above, one can see that Han is in excellent shape. With a healthy body weight, one should be able to see its waist tucked behind the ribs – one can see that on Han, even with his dense coat.
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- For Crème Brûlée and Bête Noire, I use dish drying trays under their bowls in case any food spills out – but they always clean it all up.
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- Within minutes every bowl is licked clean.
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- Han even checks out Qin’s bowl to see if there is anything left – even my dogs don’t let anything go to waste.
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- Next, it’s back inside for a nice evening nap before I return home from a busy day at work. Cooking nutritious and delicious food for your dogs… it’s a very good thing.
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