DIY Dog Food
I'm not sure if this idea will be of interest to anyone else, but my spoiled chihuahuas certainly approve!
We cleaned out our freezer and the biggest item was a 2-year-old frozen turkey, about 16 pounds. I wanted to cook it up but wasn't sure what the quality would be so I made a plan to make dog food. Wanting to balance out the nutrients, I also thawed out a large pork liver, about 4 pounds. My idea was to make a terrine-style loaf using gelatinous stock to bind it together.
I started with parting out and roasting the turkey parts. Once it was cooked, I shredded all the meat into chihuahua size and put it in the fridge to chill while I made bone broth. I put the bones and turkey skin in a pot with some salt and some "Greens Tea" from Gathered Threads -- I essentially wanted to provide mineral nutrients to the broth. While that was simmering, I braised the pork liver in the oven.
At this point, the liver went in the fridge and I simmered the broth overnight. In the morning, I strained it and then cubed several sweet potatoes and cooked them in the broth with a cup of mixed brown rice. While that final component cooked, I prepared my loaf pans by loading them with turkey and liver. Much to my surpise, the turkey tasted great after 2 years in the freezer! But I was on my mission already with the dog food. I ladled the broth, rice, and sweet potatoes over the meat. I refrigerated, and then froze the majority. I've been taking it out as needed and serving up slices to the dogs. They LOVE it and I may have created two monsters.
I wanted to work up a would-be cost scenario for this project (even though for me I had it on hand):
16 lb turkey @ $7/lb = $112
4 lb pig liver @$5/lb = $20
3 medium sweet potatoes = $6
1 cup rice, salt, greens tea from GT = less than $2
= $140 grand total
The dog food yielded over 13 lbs of food, or over 3 weeks x 2 chihuahuas x 2 meals a day!
It's not the cheapest but I honestly felt great about the value given I was not interested in the turkey (or the liver really) for myself. I also had extra broth from this project that I used in human food soups. My pampered pups will continue to devour their decadence!
Braised pork lover, pulled roasted turkey, bone broth (with rice & sweet potatoes) prepped and ready to make a terrine style loaf for Michelle’s two spoiled chihuahuas!
You can tell by Hattie’s blurry tail that she was definitely excited about this project.