How to Make Gourmet Dog Food

Making gourmet dog food is as easy as cooking for the rest of your family. It is made with fresh meat and vegetables and is full of nutrition and flavor. Make a large batch and freeze it in zip top bags for quick meals. Your dog will thank you!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fresh meat, your choice of beef, chicken or turkey
• Fresh or frozen vegetables such as carrots, peas or broccoli
• Rice, potatoes or oatmeal to use as a binder and filler
• Mild seasonings to enhance flavors such as parsley
• Chicken or beef broth
• Gravy to go with your choice of meat, used as a thickener
• Olive oil, vegetable oil or bacon grease for browning meat
• Large stockpot or crock pot for stewing

Prepare Beef

1. Select cuts of meat that are inexpensive yet nutritious. Beef ribs or a chuck roast is a good choice for beef. Ground beef is fine as well; any inexpensive cut is fine.

2. Cut the ribs apart or cut the roast into small cubes

3. Place a small amount of oil in a heavy skillet and quickly sear the meat

4. Remove the meat from the pan.

5. Add just enough water to the pan to stir up the brown bits.

6. Add 2 cups of beef broth, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes to enhance the flavor.

Prepare Poultry

7. Wash a whole stewing chicken or small turkey inside and out.

8. Remove the giblets.

9. Place the chicken or turkey in a large stockpot, add six to eight cups of water and bring to a boil.

10. Add 2 cut up carrots and 2 stalks of celery.

11. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.

12. Remove chicken or turkey from water and de-bone, saving some fat and skin with the meat.

13. Save the water as a base and add chicken broth or bouillon for flavoring.

14. Add the boneless giblets to the stock.

15. Discard the celery stalks.

Prepare the Remaining Ingredients

16. Transfer the beef or chicken broth into a large stockpot or crock pot and bring broth to a boil.

17. Wash the vegetables and cut into bite-sized pieces.

18. Add the vegetables and browned meat or boiled chicken to the stock.

19. Bring the stock to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.

20. Add the potatoes at this time but not the rice or oatmeal.

21. Simmer approximately 1½ hours on low heat.

22. Add the gravy for more flavoring and thickening.

23. Add the prepared rice or oatmeal at this time if not using potatoes.

24. Cook for 30 minutes more until flavors "marry."

Tips & Warnings

• Visit a local butcher shop and ask for scraps. These scraps are not all fat, they have gristle and tough meat that humans can eat, but do not want to. Scraps will either be free or cost a nominal amount of money. Gristle, skin and even fat are healthy additions to your dog's diet and are delicious (to him). He will think he's getting gourmet dog food!
• Cool the stew for approximately an hour. Use a hand held potato masher and roughly mash the stew to thicken it even more. When completely cool, place in zip top bags and store in freezer.
• Add ground beef or hamburger to the stew at the last hour. Brown the hamburger first then set aside or it will disintegrate if cooked too long in the stew.
• Try this easy recipe using half the stock. Put the cooked ingredients in a food processor, then put it into a large bowl. Add enough mashed potatoes or cooked oatmeal to thicken the mixture; form into mini meatballs and freeze.
• Rice is sometimes used to stop diarrhea in sick dogs; too much rice may constipate your dog.
• Take care to remove all bones when de-boning the chicken or turkey, dogs can choke on them
• Add a daily vitamin to your dog's diet if your vet thinks it is necessary.

[wesleyhubbard]

on 3/17/2008 I have been cooking for my 3 year old Boxer since day one. In the proposed recipe the suggestion that green vegtables, especially peas, be used in dog food makes me uneasy. I did a lot of research into cooking for my dog and found several articles which said peas are poisonous to dogs. I normally boil a combination of chicken gizzard, chicken liver, either chicken breast or turkey along with a either a handful of rice or one shredded carrot or one shredded potato. I try to feed her (she is 60 pounds) a one pound meal, twice per day. I usually cook each meal fresh but will sometimes make a double portion at dinner so that the next morning breakfast is ready (if I need to leave for work early). Along with moderate exercise she is trim and very healthy. As a treat I sometimes add one can of sardines to her food (don't cook the sardines). She loves sardines so I mix them well with the other

[PawNaturaw]

on 12/13/2007 Save yourself the trouble of making your own food. Check out Paw Naturaw, America's first line of certified organic, frozen, raw diets for dogs. It is a family owned and operated company with a dedicated passion for the health and well being of dogs.

FREE shipping is available anywhere in the USA with Amazon.com or localharvest.org.

www.PawNaturaw.com

[tltfaas]

on 11/15/2007 This is a fantastic helpful article. You also need to be mindful of human food that is poisonous to dogs. The internet has information on this.

http://www.dog-and-cat-food.com