The Farmer’s Dog Review – Trying it Out Getting started with The Farmers Dog is easy.Just
Based upon your answers, The Farmer’s Dog will determine a daily caloric requirement for your pup, and give you a handful of recipe options that vary in price. Choose as few or as many as you like, in order to add some variety to your dog’s diet.
All of their food has been carefully crafted by their team of board certified veterinary nutritionists and formulated to AAFCO standards.
We enjoyed going through the customization process for each dog and seeing how their nutritional needs varied based on activity level (Charlie is a runner, Harley is a relaxer), their age (Charlie is 3, Harley is nearly 11), their size (Charlie is about 65 lbs, Harley is about 82 lbs), body type (both are optimal weight, not trying to lose or gain), and special considerations (ie. allergies, intolerances, etc).
Just take a look at those ingredients in the screenshot above…this is real food we are talking about! Once prepared, your dog’s human grade food is frozen and never processed for shelf stability, keeping the food you serve nutritionally sound and safe!
You can! But recent research found 95% of recipes online to be lacking in crucial nutrients for dogs. Serious complications from nutrient deficiencies (and, more commonly, overdosing) could arise if a recipe hasn’t been properly calibrated. For those interested in home cooking, The Farmer’s Dog DIY program (in development) provides pre-mixed nutrient packs formulated by our veterinary nutritionists to use with suggested recipes — subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on our DIY program.
Our meals are prepared in USDA kitchens, where each recipe is gently cooked at low temperatures according to USDA-facility standards. They’re then quickly frozen (never deep frozen!) for safe shipping and your storage convenience. Since we package and deliver your meals on a convenient subscription, your food is truly made fresh and never contains preservatives which allow kibble to sit on a shelf for years at a time. Sometimes things just work out to be a win-win.
It’s true that most existing pet food options contain the right balance of vitamins and nutrients for a dog to survive — but we believe there’s a big difference between surviving and thriving. As pet obesity, cancer, and diabetes rise at alarming rates, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that points to the health benefits of a fresh food diet, and to the dangers of many commercial pet food manufacturing processes. And whether your dog is a picky eater grappling with a particular health issue or perfectly healthy and willing to eat just about anything, we’ve seen first-hand the positive impact of feeding fresh to our own pups and our customers’.
This planet gave us dogs, so taking care of it is a priority. We pack our boxes with the environment in mind. You can recycle the cardboard box the food is delivered in and our insulation is biodegradable. You can compost it, or even just put it in the sink, run some water over it, and it will dissolve right down the drain. The food storage container that comes in each shipment is also biodegradable, and all of our packs are made from BPA-free materials and are non-toxic.
Yes! Since our food is truly fresh and we donʼt use any preservatives, itʼs essential that you treat it like real food (because it is!). Keep the food at a safe temperature in a refrigerator or freezer. Your box will also include an easy guide on how to store and feed the food properly (it’s very simple!).
How to Prepare the Farmer’s Dog Food
Since each order comes frozen, it will need to be thawed before use. The simplest method is to rotate your stock into the refrigerator a day or two ahead of time and let it thaw in there. Remember that The Farmer’s Dog does not use any preservatives in their food, so you will want to treat it just like human food – because it is!
If (like us) you are not always on top of things, don’t fret – These packs can be defrosted in warm water in just a matter of minutes! Once your packs are adequately soft, all you need to do is squeeze out the appropriate amount and you are good to go.
Each sleeve has been packaged to meet your dogs daily caloric needs, so you will need to divide it up into however many meals you typically feed in a day. In our house Harley and Charlie eat twice a day, so we simply weigh out each pack on our kitchen scale and save half in a plastic container for dinner time. If you don’t have a scale, no problem-I think its easy enough to simply eye ball the amount and serve the second portion for dinner! As long as your dog is getting the whole pack in one day-you will have met his or her nutritional needs!
TIP: Sometimes there will be a bit of remnant stuck on the inside of the plastic sleeve after squeezing. We recommend adding in a bit of water and giving it a good shake. This will loosen any remaining pieces and allow you to get all of that tasty goodness out of each pack! Don’t worry about adding a bit of extra water into the food – most dogs could use some extra hydration anyway!
Now doesn’t that look good?! And trust us, it smells amazing too!