Homemade Dog Food

People are usually very surprised to hear that I cook my Boston Terrier Jade's meals. The truth is, it takes me less than 5 minutes to get her meals ready, twice a day. What does take a long time though, is when, every few months, I have to cook the vegetable and grains mix that I just store in the freezer. I made a batch last week and it took me exactly 4.5 hours from start to finish. It takes a long time because I have to wash, peel, cut and steam everything (well not the grains).

Here are the veggies and grains I used (I also had some zucchini but forgot to include them in the picture):

In this picture you can see the winter squash in the steamer in the background. Each batch of veggie required about 25 minutes in the steamer.

I mixed in some cranberries along with the couscous, lentils, rice, oats and quinoa.

Once everything was cooked, I used the immersion blender to make a nice and smooth "paste".

Then I just put it all in containers to go in the freezer!

Then, everyday, all I do is cook up some turkey (once in a while she gets beef, chicken, or even salmon), and add a tablespoon of the veggie mix.

I also add some steamed bone meal as a supplement for calcium (that really grosses me out, but you have to do what you have to do...)

Result: a happy dog!

I am sure Jade would be happy with kibble too if that's what she were used to, but I figured, why not? It doesn't cost me more to do this. I have not calculated yet but I am pretty sure that this is costing me less than a good quality kibble would!

Other result: dishes almost up to the ceiling! Oh well, that's why I love my dishwasher!