It doesn't have to be that hard. I admit, once a month or so are "meat days" where I get quantities and spend a while breaking them all down to manageable portions, putting them in ziplocks and freezing. I'm not fond of meat days.

On a daily basis, I put the three bowls on the counter, plop in the appropriate amount of whatever meat I am feeding from the fridge (I have one drawer that is my meat drawer, I thaw it in), plop in the supplements (I only use kelp/alfalf/ C, salmon oil & E) place the bowls in the crates.

Maybe I'm messy, but I don't even wash out the crates every day. We have never gotten sick.

The whole process takes less than two minutes.

wow-i just thaw out some chicken backs, cut what needs to be cut, walk to crate and give to dogs.
Now of course, that is not the only thing i give them, but even then, i open bags of ground goat/rabbit/whatever, but n large mixing bowel, add stuff, and put in doggy dishes.

With 6 dogs, i can say that it has never taken me more than 10-15 minutes total to feed them.

I only supplement a few times a week, if that, and only when i am feeding ground meats. So all the other times, it is literally thaw and serve.

when i feed kibble, i have to measure out the kibble, add supplements, break open all the vit e capsules, add broth/warm water, but not too much because then it will get nasty......

i have, and still do occasionally feed veggies. It is less than twice a month if i do, and it is generally because i am running low on meats and won't be going to the market for another 2 days.

Then it does take more time, so i can see that getting old if i was doing it every day.

i also try to do all my prep(cutting) when i buy the stuff, then freeze it in smaller portions. So one day of playing butcher, the rest ease.
i feed mine in their crates, so no mess.

hahaha, it's really sad, i am also a bit of a slob, and really don't sanatize anything. I mean, when i clean in general, i'll spray some bleach water....but after every meal, no way.

oh well, i guess it doesn't take me long at all to prepare raw...

Mallory,
Just curious - why do you break open the Vit E capsules - I've always just put them in whole with the yogurt, salmon oil, etc with no problem.

Diane,
I cannot answer for Mallory, but my Dutchie eats around them and I have even tried sticking them in hunks of beef, chicken and turkey. He just seems to know they are there.....the other 5 eat them like candy.

because my dogs eat around them-every single dog will pick them out of the food-canned food, ground meat,canned fish,you name it.

I haven't tried tripe, but i can't go buy tripe everytime i want to give them vit e.

 Quote: mallory kwiatkowski

wow-i just thaw out some chicken backs, cut what needs to be cut, walk to crate and give to dogs.
Now of course, that is not the only thing i give them, but even then, i open bags of ground goat/rabbit/whatever, but n large mixing bowel, add stuff, and put in doggy dishes.

I just broke it down more.

So here's what you do.
- Remove chicken backs from freezer to thaw
- Cut (organs, meats) to size - which involves getting out knife cutting board and washing them after
- Open and discard packaging from ground meats
- divide into portions (I weigh them to help divide properly)
- Add to mixing bowl, mix (and washing the bowl after)
- Feed to dogs.

Now If I had been doing it for years and didn't have to measure, weigh, or mix... however as a beginner, I can honestly say that prep time is a major deterrent from keeping me from switching to raw. (Yes, I'm lazy).

I do have to do "fancy things" - like you - to kibble of one of my dogs; that is, add can food and mix it up - the others its literally scoop and feed.

I would definitely spend the money for pre-made raw, as then I would have no prep time other than thaw and feed. However, there is no supplier of raw food anywhere near where I live.

Wow, I dont do any grinding or mixing except when I feed veggies (I use ground turkey and mix in grated veggies) other than that I just leave em' with a chicken thigh, or maybe give organ meat in a bowl with the chicken... or open a can of fish....

It seems more time consuming right now for me since I just switched from feeding kibble in the am to feeding raw- so I'm trying to figure out how much for each of the 3 - sampson needs more than the others cuz hes bigger and a pup, major needs less cuz he needs to lose a few pounds, Fero is active but smaller so how much? and I have to remember to thaw enough out in advance. I think once I get down how much is enough and the whole thawing in time thing it will be pretty easy. and I ran out of turkey necks so I've been kinda out of sorts on what to feed them this last week-its been chicken quarters morning and night till they come in- I dont know why this bothers me since when they ate kibble it was the same thing all the time- anyway, I dont think it will be that big of a time consumer once you get it down....

Just last night Angela, I cut up a partialy frozen 5Lb chicken into 5 semi equal parts with my shears. Bagged it, fed one part with some of the organs,cleaned my shears,cutting board and his bowl and that took about 10-15 minutes. I have four more meals ready to go. That Chicken was .69cents a pound.

 Quote:

I would definitely spend the money for pre-made raw, as then I would have no prep time other than thaw and feed. However, there is no supplier of raw food anywhere near where I live.

I don't know about the prices from some raw suppliers, but the cost of the raw diets from companys like Nature's Variety is pretty expensive.

The thawing was one place I had difficulty at first. But I have started thawing enough for several days. It keeps fine, you can feed a dog meat that has been in the fridge that you wouldn't want to eat yourself. And I also now don't worry about feeding partial frozen, or even frozen. I just run it under slightly warm water for a second to soften the very outside, and my dogs don't mind. Even the Chi's will eat frozen.

And leg quarters are a staple here, they are so easy to get and feed.