Adding fresh raw food to your dog’s diet doesn’t need to be expensive or time-consuming. If your dog is an adult, you can swap up to 20% of her kibble for fresh food without having to worry about nutritional balance. This means if your dog eats 14 meals/week, you can feed 1-2 meals of homemade fresh food without needing to stress about including every needed nutrient.

This is not applicable to puppies — adult dogs only!

Here’s an easy nutrient-packed recipe to get started. You’ll want to feed 2% of your dog’s body weight for this recipe per day, meaning 1% of her body weight per meal if your dog is fed 2x/day. For example, my dog is 50 pounds so he eats 1 pound (16 oz.) of raw food per day or 0.5 pounds (8 oz.) per meal. I’ll be using his weight as an example of how to portion out the ingredients.

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80% Animal Protein (for my dog this is 6.4 oz/meal)

4 oz of any type of ground or chunked raw and unseasoned meat (Use lean meat if your dog is not used to fresh food.)

1.5 oz sardines in water, no salt added

1 raw egg with shell (You can smash up the shell into tiny pieces if your dog is unsure.)

20% Lightly Steamed or Finely Chopped Vegetables (for my dog this is 1.6 oz/meal)

Carrots, broccoli, peas, kale, spinach, and cauliflower are all good choices. Stay away from starches like potatoes.

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Voila! An affordable and easy fresh food meal your dog will love and appreciate. I used this recipe to build my dog’s bowl below using ground turkey as the base. This is a great way to use freezer burned or expired meat rather than throwing it away. 🙂

Note: If you want to get fancy, add in a little bit of liver (or another animal organ) for an *extra* boost of nutrients. Freeze-dried organs meant for treats work, too! My dog also loves raw goats milk, and I love that it provides live probiotic cultures. Both of these are pictured in my dog’s bowl below + a raw chicken foot for teeth cleaning. A spoonful of cottage cheese, sugar-free greek yogurt or pumpkin also make excellent toppers.