RAW: Tips, tricks and cost saving measures

[Spyglass Sally]

I'm curious how other RAW feeders prepare their food and what they use.

1. Do you guys stay with the 80/10/10 of meat/bone/offal or do you add grains and veggies?
2. Do you feed it in whole pieces or a grind?
3. If you grind, do you do it yourself or work with a butcher?
4. If you, or your butcher, can't/won't grind bones how much bone meal (from a company like NOW) do you use?
5. Any other tips, tricks or cost saving measures you've discovered?

Now that I'm over the hump of actually giving Buddy a piece of raw chicken () I'm working toward walking this out on a daily basis and looking for tips, tricks and cost saving measures.

[bruinsBoxers]

1 . I try and stay with the 80.10/10 . But I never feed grains ( as it seems to be a link towards cancers ) . I do feed fruits & vedgies as the other 10%

2. Whole pieces or cut up in chunks , never ground .

3. don't grind .

4. don't use bone meal.

5. The best way I have found to save is to but in bulk . I get cases of backs , necks from a butcher . Shop sales for meats and stock up .
Check grocery stores to see if they can get you organs . I have found that my local grocery store can order me organs cheaper then the butcher .

[KeeperBoy]

1. 80/10/10. Depending on my ambition I add in potato, eggs, veg
2. Grind from a local tiny company
3. A woman in our area grinds and delivers
4. Don't use bone meal
5. Buy in bulk. That's really the bottom line for us.

Keepers does get bone in pork ribs, but that is only once in a while. I prefer the grind because Keepers has very bad teeth (we think he chewed rocks or chains before he made it to animal control).

[daisy'smom]

1. I plan on doing the 80 10 10.
2. Whole or chunks maybe some ground I purchase.
3. Not going to grind
4. No bone meal
5. I found a large raw coop I may join. Hopefully I can find someone who hunts. Marked down meats in the store work also.

[Ruby Red]

Personally, I don’t grind anything, I don’t grind bones or meat– nor do I add bonemeal – as long as you are feeding boned meat throughout the week there is no need to add extra bonemeal.

I don’t stick strictly to the 80/10/10 rule – sometimes more, sometimes less depending on what I got for them – I am careful with offal amounts though – too much isn’t good for them or their guts!

Yes, I do add grains [rice, quinoa, millet],– a cupful here and there, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Same with fruit and veg, I give a carrot or a courgette, or a handful of beans, sometimes add half an apple [no pips] or pears – all blended, 2/3 times a week. Oh, NO grapes OR raisins – I forgot to mention the fruit in the post I made about fruit/veg. I also give cottage cheese and yoghurt – a couple of spoonfuls here and there, 2/3 times a week.

Tips, tricks, cost saving measures – get a good deep freezer if you haven’t got one already. At the supermarket, look for 3 for 2 [freezeable] offers, look at what’s going reduced because of date expiry – you can get some nice bargains on meat lines because of this. I buy my chicken livers, lamb hearts and livers from the supermarket – it’s cheaper for me than the butchers. I can only get recreational bones, lungs and gizzards from the butchers [find out what days they have them available]. Try 2/3 different butchers the first few times to check what they have available or what they can order in [and to compare prices as well].

It’s also cheaper for me to buy fish from supermarket than the fish shop - look for what’s seasonal as the prices are cheaper [sprats are a steal here at the minute!].

Other than this, I guess you could club together with other friends or family members and buy meat in bulk [from a wholesalers?] and divide it out.

Lastly, LABEL and DATE what you put in the freezer – I got stuff in there – haven’t got a clue what it is! And weigh it out before you freeze it so you have the meal all ready to feed when it’s defrosted.

Hope this helps!

[AussieGirl]

1. 80/10/10 with fruit and veg added to some meat portions, I have been giving rice once/twice a month (I mix the puree veg, fruit and sometimes rice in with the ground meat then freeze), but when the last of what I already have is gone I don't plan adding the rice - too much effort for no benefit

2. Both, ground is cheaper (for beef and kangaroo anyway) so I use it to try and keep the cost down but still provide her variety in protein, but whole pieces are important so I would never feed solely ground.

3. Get my ground from a pet shop vacuum sealed already ground comes in
500g, 1kg, 5kg, 10kg bags. When I first introduced offal I ground (well DH did) that up and mixed it with her ground meals, but have been giving diced chunks lately

4. Don't give bone meal, give necks and frames etc

5. Have a spare freezer, buy in bulk, buy on special, get friends and family to give you their freezer burnt meat (I have some in my freezer at the moment), buy different things from different shops eg. frames and necks are cheaper from my butcher, there is a chicken shop that always has some kind of special or buy 2 and save deal so I get chicken from there, I go to chicken factory when I can, my grocery store is better to get offal from, suss out when the grocery store marks down their meat (over here it is late Sunday night) and go and buy up, DH and his friends give me all the bunny's they shoot when they go to the farm (though that hasn't been very many up to this point), every time I go somewhere new and see a butcher or pet shop I go in and see what they have on offer (always looking for new suppliers)