Can you freeze opened wet dog food? A Step-by-Step Guide

The benefits of wet dog food

Wet dog food is often more appetizing to dogs than dry, which can encourage picky eaters to get a full serving with nutrients. If you make your own dog food, this option can open up your dog to a well-balanced, nutritious diet.

Wet foods come in a large variety of flavors and ingredients, which can help you choose foods your dog loves or foods that don’t aggravate your dog’s allergies. You can also provide meals that can pivot with your dog’s needs, including changing nutritional density for pregnancy or seasonal changes like hunting or sporting season.

Wet foods are harder to store and harder to portion out. Few dogs eat one single can of wet food, which means you’ll probably be storing foods in your fridge or freezer to make up the different portion sizes.

Wet food doesn’t stay good as long as dried food does once the package is opened. You’re on a ticking clock the moment you pop the seal, so you’ll need a realistic plan for preserving your dog’s food.

The short answer is yes. Wet food does well in the freezer for a far longer period of time than it would at room temperature. This could be a good solution for ensuring you get the most out of your wet food cans or pouches.

You’ll need to figure out how to store and why you’re storing your wet food, however. A good plan can make sure you don’t waste food and that you can store your dog’s food conveniently while removing some of the hassles of serving wet food in the first place.

You can’t just freeze the cans. Wet food has high moisture content, and when that freezes the food expands. It could explode out of the can as a worst-case scenario or leak out as the best-case scenario, leaving you to clean up a huge mess.

Instead, open the can and portion out based on your dog’s serving sizes. Use freezer-safe bags or plasticware to ensure your food is safe and airtight. It helps to use things that will stack easily and thaw quickly to keep your food situation convenient.

Freezing a hunk of food is going to cause problems later as you desperately try to thaw it out. Instead, consider how you’ll serve it and freeze it to facilitate that method.

  • Take your wet food from its packaging and divide it into the portion sizes your dog needs. Freeze these portions separately so that when you thaw them out, you’re thawing an entire portion on its own.
  • Another method is to freeze bite-size pieces into something like a silicone ice tray. You can pop out just enough to thaw for a meal each time.
  • Freeze portions in flatter forms, such as in plastic bags. The flatter they are, the easier they are going to thaw.
  • Place food in the fridge to thaw 24 to 48 hours ahead to help keep food safe. You can also place the food on the counter at room temperature a few hours before you serve it to finish thawing.
  • If your dog prefers warm food, you can thaw food gently in the microwave, taking care not to overheat it. Stir thoroughly and allow it to sit before serving to ensure there are no hot spots.
  • Follow all the right precautions to ensure your dog’s food stays good and develop a system so that you always have food ready for your dog to eat.

    Remove the food from the freezer and thaw meal portions in either warm water or in the microwave. If you pop them into the microwave, heat them so that theyre lukewarm at most. Stick your finger in the food at a few different spots to make sure its barely warm throughout. If you plan on tossing bite-sized treats into your pups mouth, or giving him a food-stuffed bone, dont worry about thawing anything. Hell enjoy the snack frozen.

    Cut the food into meal-sized portions if you plan on freezing it for your pups future meals. The portion size depends on your little guys feeding requirements. Slide the portions into a plastic bag. You can separate each portion into separate bags or stuff as many as you can into as few bags as possible. If you take the latter route, leave enough space between each portion so they dont fuse together and make your life miserable later on when youre separating them for you pups mealtime.

    Sometimes those big cans of dog food prove to be too much for your pup to finish in short time. Rather than tossing them in the trash after a few days, storing the food in your freezer can save you some cash, but only if you do it properly.

    Slice the wet food into small bite-sized pieces and put them into ice cube trays. This works well if youre planning on feeding you’re your little guy his food as frozen treats. You can also stuff the food into a bone and put that into the freezer, or even place the bite-sized pieces into bags, separating them as you would his meal portions.

    Located in Pittsburgh, Chris Miksen has been writing instructional articles on a wide range of topics for online publications since 2007. He currently owns and operates a vending business. Miksen has written a variety of technical and business articles throughout his writing career. He studied journalism at the Community College of Allegheny County.

    What happens if canned dog food freezes?

    When commercially canned foods freeze, the food inside expands and the can may bulge or even burst. Throw cans in this condition away, without tasting (don’t even give it to your dog). Even if the can is not bulging, there may be microscopic openings in the seams due to stress. … If any leakage occurs, discard the food.

    Storing Dog Food Kibble and Wet Food

    It may happen due to several reasons: the holiday season, lack of time, too long walk that led to closed pet stores, and so on and so on… Responsible dog owners knows that this lack of food may happen occasionally, and should never be an everyday occurrence.

    To avoid similar situations people should be 100% sure that they can afford to own a dog.

    Getting a dog is the easiest thing in the world, but caring about living being as you should is a completely different level of responsibility and investment.

    Proper nutrition is what keeps dogs healthy, strong, and happy. Just feeding your dog any food, anytime, isn’t enough.

    Small size dogs eat less, and dog owners choose to buy food for them in smaller bulk so they don’t run out of food. But… When your dog is a large size dog such as a Great Dane who eats frequently and a large amount of food, can you bulk enough food?

    Well, in most cases this will depend on your living space and if you have enough space to store food anyway.

    This is why many dog owners choose to test new storage ideas and do their best to not run out of food. This is why many dog owners want to know – can you freeze dog food?