The Best Fresh Dog Foods: Doggo Dinners That Look Like Yours!
There are a ton of fresh dog food options currently on the market, which can make owners feel overwhelmed. But we’ve handpicked the top options available to make things easier on you.
About: Ollie is a subscription-based fresh dog food manufacturer that delivers tasty, nutritious meals to your door on a pre-set schedule. The dog food is shipped frozen, allowing you to thaw according to your dog’s feeding needs.
Features:
Lamb, butternut squash, lamb liver, chickpeas, kale…,
rice, cranberries, green beans, potatoes, tricalcium phosphate, chia seeds, salmon oil, salt, zinc gluconate, taurine, vitamin e supplement, ferrous sulfate, calcium pantothenate, thiamine hydrochloride, manganese amino acid chelate, vitamin d3, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin b6), potassium iodide, folic acid.
Protein Content (for lamb): 11% min
Options:
Best Overall Fresh Dog Food Option
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About: A Pup Above is a versatile provider of fresh dog food, that offers a subscription-based service, an on-demand ordering option, and in-store availability at a limited number of stores.
A Pup Above is uniquely positioned among canine competitors in the fresh dog food space due to the fact that they cook their dog food using sous vide techniques — a slow cooking method that some contend preserves more nutrients than standard cooking procedures.
Features:
Options:
Pork, Pork Liver, Sweet Potatoes, Pork Bone Broth, Green Beans…,
Pineapple, Turmeric, Thyme, Parsley, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement.
Protein Content (Porky’s Luau): 19.81% Best Slow-Cooked Fresh Food Option
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We had the opportunity to try A Pup Above ourselves, so Remy was lucky enough to dig into a sampler pack.
It’s no surprise that Remy loved the food, and I even noticed his itching subsiding a bit (although it’s hard to say for sure that the food was what had an effect).
One particularly interesting thing I found was that, for me, the gross-out factor was much lower with A Pup Above than other dog foods – even other fresh ones.
The consistency of A Pup Above’s food was a bit more sturdy and retained its structure, not breaking up as much as other foods. I’m assuming this is due to the sous vide cooking, although it’s hard to say for sure.
In any case, and for whatever reason, I found it much easier for me to handle this fresh food without the ick factor – I even used my hands to stuff this food in a Kong toy!
You can try A Pup Above’s sampler pack for 50% off with code K950 for a no-commitment trial to see if your dog is a fan.
About: Restaurant-quality ingredients and single-serve sizes are hallmarks of Nom Nom, a fresh dog food delivery service.
And in addition to their impressive ingredient lists, Nom Nom makes it easy to serve up dinner, as there’s no need to measure — you can just pour the dog food in your pup’s bowl for him to enjoy.
Features:
Ground beef, russet potatoes, eggs, carrots, peas…,
dicalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, salt, natural flavor, citric acid, calcium carbonate, taurine, vinegar, fish oil, sunflower oil, choline bitartrate, water sufficient for processing, iron amino acid chelate, zinc gluconate, vitamin E supplement, copper gluconate, niacin (vitamin B3), manganese gluconate, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2), cholecalciferol (source of vitamin D3), potassium iodide, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement.
Protein Content: 10% Min
Options:
Most Convenient Fresh Dog Food Option
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Want more info about Nom Nom’s foods?
Get all the details by reading our full Nom Nom review!
About: JustFoodforDogs is a premium pet food brand who offers several different types of dog food for Fido, including custom diets, veterinary support recipes, pantry fresh dog foods, DIY kits, and fresh frozen meals — the option we’re focusing on here.
Like all of JustFoodforDog’s recipes, their fresh frozen options are designed by a team of canine nutritionists, made with some of the best ingredients available, and prepared in the brand’s unique open-to-the-public kitchens.
That’s right — you can actually watch a culinary team prepare these dog foods in several U.S. cities.
Features:
Options:
Chicken Thighs, Long-Grain White Rice, Enriched, Spinach, Carrots, Apples…, Chicken Gizzards, Chicken Liver, Fish Oil, JustFoodForDogs Nutrient Blend.
Protein Content: 8% Best No-Subscription-Required Fresh Food Option
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About: Pet Plate is another worthy fresh dog food option for owners seeking fresh, high-quality dog foods, shipped directly from their USDA-approved facilities.
These dog foods are made in small batches and flash-frozen to prevent spoiling during shipment. But once you’re ready to serve dinner, these foods defrost easily in the microwave for ready-to-eat meals.
Features:
Options:
Ground beef, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beef liver, carrots…,
apples, peas, pumpkin, dicalcium phosphate, natural flavor, safflower oil, calcium carbonate, salmon oil, minerals (ferrous fumarate, zinc oxide, manganese gluconate, magnesium oxide, potassium iodide, sodium selenite), vitamins (vitamin E supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride [vitamin B6], thiamine mononitrate [vitamin B1], vitamin D3 supplement), mixed tocopherols (a natural preservative), taurine, salt.
Protein Content for Barkin Beef: 7.9% Min Best Eco-Friendly Packaging
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About: Believing that “a happy and healthy life starts with good food,” Spot & Tango offer two different kinds of dog food, including one that’s pretty darn revolutionary.
But let’s start by looking at their flagship product line, which is comprised of fresh, ready-to-serve meals that are made with human-grade ingredients and shipped directly to your front door. These meals are crafted to suit your dog’s specific dietary needs by a team of veterinarians and animal nutritionists, and they’re made using some of the highest quality ingredients available.
Spot & Tango’s other product line is known as Unkibble – the world’s only fresh dry dog food.
In many ways, Unkibble is quite similar to the other fresh dog foods discussed here. It uses human-grade ingredients, it’s customized in several ways to suit your specific pooch, and it’s shipped right to your door.
But unlike most fresh options, this is a shelf-stable product – it doesn’t require refrigeration, and you can just store it in the bag right by your doggo’s food bowl (assuming he can be trusted not to help himself!).
Unkibble is gently dried at low temperatures to maintain maximum pooch appeal and it has a very attractive price tag, which brings it within range of many owners who can’t quite afford fresh-frozen options.
Features:
Options:
Protein Content: 13.69% (fresh Turkey & Red Quinoa Recipe)
Ingredients (Fresh Turkey & Red Quinoa Recipe):
Turkey, Red Quinoa, Spinach, Carrots, Peas…, Apple, Eggs, Parsely, Apple Cider Vinegar, Safflower Oil, Vegetable Stock, Vitamins & Minerals
Protein Content: 26.58% (Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe)
Ingredients (Unkibble Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe):
Chicken, Brown Rice, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Apples…, Kale, Sunflower Seeds, Ginger Root, Kelp. Most Innovative Fresh Dog Food Brand
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Be sure to enter the code: K9OFMINE50 when checking out to earn special savings as a K9 of Mine reader!
Remy and I were lucky enough to test out Spot & Tango ourselves.
Remy loved his fresh food, eagerly awaiting it every morning and evening. In fact, when it was near meal time, Remy would rush over to the fridge as soon as I opened it, eager for his tasty new noms!
At first, I was a little confused by Spot & Tango’s “dry fresh food” – Remy adored it though! While the dried fresh food didn’t have uniform shapes, making it incompatible with Remy’s favorite Bob-A-Lot puzzle feeder, it seemed to taste just as good as the wet fresh food since Remy had no qualms about gobbling it down.
Initially, I thought I wouldn’t be inclined to keep using Spot & Tango’s Unkibble, since it couldn’t fit properly in Remy’s puzzle feeder, which is how I would normally dispense kibble to Rem.
But I ended up finding that Spot & Tango’s Unkibble works fantastically as a training treat!
The difficulty with training treats is that dogs really like stinky treats. Freeze-dried treats work great, but they can be pricey. Spot & Tango’s Unkibble is more affordable than standard freeze-dried treats. Plus, since it’s designed to be a normal food, it contains fewer calories than a whole big helping of freeze-dried treats.
While we were out on walks practicing loose leash walking, Remy was very motivated by the Unkibble. He’s been making some really stellar progress since I started using Unkibble as a training treat. Plus, I don’t need to worry about how much I’m giving him on our training walks since it can easily be subtracted from his daily meal quota – definitely a big plus!
About: The Farmer’s Dog is a subscription-based company that brings fresh dog food to your door in ready-to-serve, biodegradable pouches.
Best of all, these meals are custom-crafted for your doggo to suit his specific, individual needs, leaving the guesswork out of things like allergy and weight management.
Features:
Options:
USDA Pork, sweet potato, potato, green beans, cauliflower…,
USDA pork liver, fish oil, Vitamins & minerals [tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, vitamin B12 supplement, taurine, zinc amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, vitamin E supplement, copper amino acid chelate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, potassium iodide, pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid]
Protein Content for Pork & Sweet Potato: 11% Min Best-Tasting Fresh Food Option
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About: FreshPet is a line of fresh dog food offered in most big-box and pet stores in the U.S.
But despite the fact that FreshPet meals contain fresh dog food just like the other options we discuss here, they’re made in much larger batches. This means that you won’t be able to customize it to suit your canine, but you won’t have to spend as much on it either.
With a wide assortment of flavors and formulas including grain-free and grain-inclusive choices, there’s a FreshPet for most doggos.
Features:
Options: FreshPet has several lines that cover a host of dietary concerns from limited-ingredient to grain-free. They offer most proteins as well, with the exception of pork.
Chicken, Carrots, Chicken Broth, Peas, Eggs…,
Chicken Liver, Brown Rice, Rice Bran, Carrageenan, Natural Flavors, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Celery Powder
Protein Content: 9% Min Most Affordable Fresh Food Option
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With any new canine craze, it’s understandable (not to mention wise) to question its safety. The limited shelf life of fresh foods might give some owners pause, but fresh dog food is just as safe for your pooch as traditional kibble (provided that you practice good food safety and storage practices).
Additionally, most fresh foods are typically designed by a veterinarian or canine nutritionist (or team thereof), ensuring a high-quality, well-rounded diet.
And in some cases, fresh dog food is made with human-grade ingredients in USDA-approved kitchens, which you could argue makes them even safer than regular dog chow.
What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Fresh Dog Foods?
Fresh dog foods are no-doubt revolutionary in the canine nutrition arena, but they do present some benefits and drawbacks you should consider, such as:
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Our team went out into the field looking for the best canine nutrition products in the world. Our winner for this year is Pupper, which topped our charts in terms of ingredient quality as well as science
11 Best Fresh Dog Food Brands (in 2022)
What we feed our dogs can have a big impact on their overall health. There are hundreds of brands out there, but many pet parents are wary of the processed ingredients used in them. Have you ever considered making homemade food for your dog but didn’t have enough time or knowledge to do it? If so, the best fresh dog food brands might be for you.
Fresh dog food is a great way to give your dog a balanced diet with human-grade ingredients, but how do you know which brand is the best for your pup? Let’s take a look at the qualities of fresh dog food along with some popular brands.
Fresh dog food usually refers to pet food that’s made with natural ingredients cooked at a lower temperature to preserve the nutrients. Thus, it doesn’t contain the additives and preservatives that are often in kibble.
Most fresh dog food brands will make a custom formula for your dog based on their lifestyle, and it’ll get delivered right to your door. Most formulas are made from scratch shortly before shipping, hence why it’s called “fresh” food.
Some dog parents are hesitant to try fresh dog food because it can be pricier than processed dry or wet food, but it makes up for it because of the quality ingredients and the personalization.