I am making homemade dog treats and want to ship them to friends, family, and customers. I would think cooking the treats, letting them dry out, and then vacuum sealing them would be the best option for optimal freshness and structure when shipped. What do you think of this idea? What about treats that need to be refrigerated, what do you recommend in this case in terms of shipping?Chefs Answer ~ I think the vacuum sealing is a wonderful way to preserve the dog treats while in transit. I would also highly recommend vacuum sealing them in sturdy stacks or layers to ensure minimal breakage of the dog treats while theyre being shipped. Your refrigerated dog treats will be a little more tricky. Depending on how fragile or perishable they are, you may want to use a foam box with dry ice to mail them. You would also want to ship them within one or two days and ideally have someone to accept the package so that it does not sit outside too long. I hope this helps. 🙂 I have a list of tips regarding how to ship homemade dog treats that you may also find helpful.
How do you keep homemade dog biscuits from getting moldy?
Aside from anti-molding compounds (which you may or may not want to add… some customers get picky about this), your biggest concern is moisture. A dehydrator is a very good option and it adds extra crunch to your product, so you’d do well to invest in one as well as our next recommendation, a vacuum sealer.
Vacuum sealing your product will keep the air and moisture out, provided that your careful about sealing as little in as possible when you package it. For extra care, a dehumidifier in your preparation area is a good idea.
Best Place to Store Homemade Dog Treats?
For the majority of homemade dog treat recipes, for the majority of the time, the best storage option is an airtight container in your refrigerator.
This way your creations will stay fresh for longer, saving you money (less waste) and eliminating any worries about treats which may have gone off.
There are lots of reasons why you might want to keep your dog treats for longer than a week or so (for example – your dog cant/shouldnt eat them all that quickly, or you want to make a big batch so you dont have to go through the process again in a week). For longer term storage the best thing to do is to pop the treats into your freezer.
Obviously make sure theyre either in an airtight container, or are wrapped tightly in foil, so that they dont get freezer burn. Stored this way most homemade dog treats are good for several months.
Using a vacuum sealer is also a great way to extend the storage life of all sorts of dog treats. Popping vacuum sealed bags filled with treats into your freezer can keep them fresh for up to a year.
Depending on the treat you can either defrost treats completely before offering them to your dog, or give them to him while frozen. Big and/or thick treats are best defrosted first, thinner ones are often enjoyed frozen as theyre super crunchy. However, frozen treats dont taste as good as thawed ones do!
You can also freeze uncooked dog treat dough and defrost it to make more treats later on. Why not make up a double-batch of dough to save yourself prep work next time? Or maybe divide a regular recipe in half if your dog is tiny, or youre only offering treats occasionally.
Always double-wrap uncooked dough before freezing it and defrost it thoroughly in the refrigerator before using.
Making frozen dog treats or dehydrated dog treats is a great way to make sure you always have some tasty goodies on hand, because they stay fresh for extended periods of time.
This is the last, and least important factor when it comes to how you store your homemade dog treats, but it can still play a role. So can seasonally changing temperatures.
Perhaps you live somewhere thats very hot, but your A/C is super-efficient and you like to keep your home temperature at around 65F (brrrr!). In this situation treats which are normally okay to store in the larder for a few days will be just fine.
But what if your A/C isnt that great, or perhaps you dont have A/C and theres a heat-wave, in these cases you need to put your treats into the refrigerator because theyll spoil faster than normal in a warm environment. If its also humid, thats even worse for them.
Of course, if you live somewhere cold (or its the middle of winter) and your heating is keeping your house at a toasty 75F at all times, then treats are still better off in the fridge!
Finally, light can also play a role in treat storage because bright sunlight is going to make those goodies spoil faster than they would otherwise. This is why keeping your treats in an airtight container in the larder or pantry (which is naturally dark most of the time) is the best option outside of the refrigerator.
Dog Treats Packaging
It can be a bit of a mind-shift when it comes to learning how to store homemade dog treats, rather than commercial store-bought treats.
One of the things I LOVE about making my own dog treats is that I can control what goes into them, and there are only healthy, nutritious, natural ingredients in all the dog treat recipes on this site.
This means you wont find any chemicals or artificial preservatives, which is really good news for our dogs, but it does mean that those goodies you created with love wont be okay sitting around on the kitchen counter or in the pantry for weeks.
Luckily, there are a few simple tips that will help you to keep your DIY dog treats fresh for days, weeks, even months. Honestly, in my house a batch of treats is usually eaten long before they have a chance to go bad, but I have two large dogs and an extended family of doggie grand-kids all eager to play their part in eating my creations!
At the end of every recipe on my site youll see the instruction to allow to cool completely. That little sentence is hugely important when it comes to how well, and how long, you can store homemade dog treats.
Even the tiniest bit of residual warmth in your treats will cause condensation if theyre put into a container or bag. This will make the treats damp – spoiling the crunchiness (if theyre crunchy treats) and causing them to go bad much more quickly.
Always allow your treats to cool, preferably on a wire cooling rack where the air can circulate freely around them, for at least three hours (longer for large or thick treats), before putting them into storage containers.
The ingredients in a specific dog treat recipe have a big impact on where you should store the treats, and how long theyll stay fresh.
Recipes which include fruits and/or vegetables tend to stay softer, even once theyre completely cool. Treats like this, or soft dog treats in general, will have a shorter lifespan.
You can probably keep crunchy treats wrapped loosely in a tea towel or muslin cloth (to prevent them getting too soggy) in your larder for a few days, but after that they must go into the refrigerator. As a rule of thumb, you can use an airtight container in the fridge to keep treats like this fresh for one to two weeks maximum.
Always look at the treat youre about to give your dog before you pop it in his mouth. If it looks at all suspect (soggy, discolored, moldy), dont feed it to him and throw the remainder out.
Dog treats which contain meat/fish or a meat-based broth or bouillon should be stored in the refrigerator as soon as theyre completely cool. Use an airtight container and they should be good for around five days that way.
Ive found that treats made with gluten free flour (especially if the recipe also contains fruit/vegetables) tend to stay soft and dont store as well, or for as long, as those using wholegrain flour. Keep gluten free treats in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to a week (depending on individual recipe) and inspect them regularly to make sure theyre not going soggy, or showing any signs of going bad.
If youve used butter or margarine in a dog treat recipe, those treats are likely to spoil a little faster and should be refrigerated.
There are natural preservatives you can use to make your homemade treats last longer. Vitamin C and vitamin E are the most common. You can also buy mold inhibitors (these are great for gummy dog treat recipes because these treats tend to keep for very short periods) to use in your recipes but I personally dont think these are necessary unless youre baking treats for commercial reasons and need them to be stable/fresh for longer periods.
If youre simply making up a batch of treats for your dog/s, the chances are theyre either going to be gobbled up before they have a chance to spoil, or your refrigerator will do the job.
In general, the drier and crunchier the treat the better it will store and the longer it will stay fresh.
For most treat recipes you can increase the crunch-factor by drying them out a bit more at the end of their recommended baking time.
If I want to do this I turn off the oven, open the door a crack, and leave the treats inside while the oven cools. My oven takes about 30 minutes to cool down this way and thats enough time to crisp up most treats.
Alternatively, when the timer goes off to signal your treats are ready you can turn the oven down to a low temperature (around 150 – 200F) and continue baking your treats for another twenty minutes or so.
Dry treats (that dont contain meat or fish) can usually be kept in an airtight container in the larder for a week . In the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Finally, you can always opt for frozen dog treats which last a LONG time in your freezer.
These are a great option for hot summer days, but you can offer them at any time of year. An added bonus is that frozen treats usually only contain two or three ingredients and are a snap to make.