Does Feeding Raw Really Save Money?

[1 bruce 1]

Whelp I screwed up a bit.

There were chicken breasts for $1.69/ lb, so I bought a pack (4lbs). I decided to do the partial cook thing, and I was feeling incredibly optimistic, so I stuck all 4 breasts in the oven. Well, I've never made chicken before besides boiling some for my dog when he has tummy troubles. I nearly fully cooked the chicken! I didn't want to waste it so I figured since I know she likes cooked chicken, I'll still use it and this way I can tell if she likes the Alnutrin or not. I followed the Alnutrin directions with the sample pack, water, 1 lb of chicken, and chicken liver. My optimism had been worn down a bit by the overcooking, but it wasn't dead yet. I presented her with a teaspoon of the mix. She wouldn't even sniff it. Ok, too much too soon. I took that away and mixed a tiny bit with her canned food at dinner time. Nope. Nope nope nope. She is not impressed. She won't even try it. Sigh. I wish I knew which part she didn't like. Is it the Alnutrin? EzComplete is expensive! Is it the raw liver? Would she prefer homemade cooked? What to do, what to do...

This is JMO...
when adding cooked or raw foods (short term) to a canned diet, I would scrap the liver and scrap the alnutrin and including more canned than cooked/raw (again, assuming this is a short term way of feeding.)
When you go full cooked/raw, yes, include alnutrin or whatever mix.
Can you freeze the recipe and offer it later?

 

[sabrinah]

I froze all of it except a small portion. I'll keep trying and hopefully, she'll at least give it a try. Maybe if I do a pea-sized amount of my failed mix coated with bonito flakes, then slowly use less and less flakes, she'll realize it's not so bad. I'm worried about her not liking the taste of Alnutrin so I was hoping to be certain she likes it before I order a full bag.

 

[orange&white]

I remembered this thread about the cost of raw. Hopefully I'm not off topic as much as perhaps not fitting this comment in with the current line of conversation. I just made my first "meat haul" of the spring buying season yesterday and today. Prices are so high all winter that the freezers were looking a little barren. The cats are eating the last of the "holiday turkey" mix. Prices are best in spring.

So I had to shop a "Friday, Saturday, Sunday Only" sale price at one store yesterday after work and got:

35.58lbs chicken breasts @ .99/lb (on sale all week)

15.43lbs bottom round beef roast @ 2.49/lb (3-days only sale)


Then this morning, I headed out early for a "Saturday Only" sale at the Mexican market and picked up:

33.8lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs @ .99/lb (Saturday only sale)

1.6lbs pork liver @ $1.09 (regular price) They usually eat chicken liver, so the pork is a "trial run".

13.15lbs pork kidney @ $1.09 (regular price)

"The Meat Haul" was a little over 99 lbs of meat for $118.00. I'm very happy!

I still had about 20lbs of pork loin I bought at $1/lb and 2-3 beef roasts that I paid a bit more for ($2.99), but I've got the freezers stocked up again for "cheap eats" for the cats and dog.

Anyway, sorry for butting in, but I get really excited about the start of the stretch of good meat sale prices!

 

[sabrinah]

Butting in is always welcome! Those prices are absolutely amazing! I'm so jealous! You have such lucky kitties! Do you do a partial bake or just feed fully raw?

 

[orange&white]

Thank you! As much as I hate any shopping on weekends, the store specials forced me out of my weekday shopping routine.

I do all raw. I used to rotate a pork mix, a beef mix, and a chicken mix (with turkey only after the holidays), but one of my cats thinks "all chicken" is boring. Lately I've been mixing 50/50 chicken/pork mixes rotated with 50/50 chicken/beef mixes to make fussy-kitty happy.

You might be able to find good sale prices from time to time and stock up, if you could figure out a space for even a small upright freezer. For many years, my little freezer was a noisy end table and/or nightstand when I was in tiny 1-bdrm apartments.

 

[Tobermory]

Thank you! As much as I hate any shopping on weekends, the store specials forced me out of my weekday shopping routine.

I do all raw. I used to rotate a pork mix, a beef mix, and a chicken mix (with turkey only after the holidays), but one of my cats thinks "all chicken" is boring. Lately I've been mixing 50/50 chicken/pork mixes rotated with 50/50 chicken/beef mixes to make fussy-kitty happy.

You might be able to find good sale prices from time to time and stock up, if you could figure out a space for even a small upright freezer. For many years, my little freezer was a noisy end table and/or nightstand when I was in tiny 1-bdrm apartments.

Those are terrific prices! I just placed my first order from Hare Today (ground rabbit and ground turkey) but will be shopping for good chicken thigh prices locally this week for my next batches. I haven’t tried pork because I wasn’t sure which cut to buy and, also, I understand it has more fat. Lily has a weight problem and is restricted to only 3.5 ozs. a day. That keeps her at just under 11 pounds which is about right for her frame. So which cuts or pork and beef do you get?

 

[sabrinah]

So which cuts or pork and beef do you get?

Yes, do tell! There's pork on sale now but there are a few different cuts and I don't know which ones are ok to get, or if it even matters. Are there any cuts of any kind of meat that you don't recommend using?

I'm pretty sure I asked this before but I want to double check. Most people seem to use boneless, skinless chicken thigh, but if I can get chicken breast for cheaper is it ok to use instead?

 

[orange&white]

I have to watch the fat calories in my mixes because Tangent just went through a year-long diet and lost 4 pounds (after I took away the processed foods and started on raw again). Still I buy what's on sale and mix fatty cuts with lean cuts.

Pork butt, often very cheap and very fatty. I mix pork butt with lots of gizzards and chickens breast to lower the fat.
Pork loin chops very lean and cheap 2-3x per year. I usually add a little fatty meat, like chicken thighs with the skin.

Beef brisket, usually the cheapest beef, particularly Memorial Day and July 4th. It's also the highest fat cut of beef, so I use it sparingly and cut with chicken breast, gizzards and/or leaner beef cuts.
Leanest beef = eye of round roast. It's surprisingly low fat, so I'll use up a little chicken with skin or combine with brisket.

Also with beef, the grade usually indicates fat content: Select beef is usually low fat, Choice has a little more fat running through the meat, and Prime beef is usually well-marbled with fat. So what we humans like, Prime beef, is most expensive because all the fat tenderizes the meat and adds flavor. Select meat is tougher, chewier, leaner and cheaper...great for kitties!

Chicken thigh with bone and skin sell year-round for $1/lb here. I was taking off half the skin though (and using the bones for calcium), so I was happy to get the boneless/skinless today at the same price. Now I can use those with the skin-on and not be tossing a bunch of chicken skin.

Anyway, I like to use a mixture of meat cuts and just buy what's on sale. The exterior fat gets trimmed off fatty cuts. Usually I make a mix with one fatty meat and one lean meat to balance out calories and fat.

 

[Tobermory]

Very helpful, orange&white . Thank you! It’s taken me so long to get Lily from 14 to 11 pounds (I had been free feeding dry because I didn’t know, at the time, that it mattered) that I want to be careful about how often I feed the fattier meats. Iris and Mocha don’t have a weight problem, and in fact, I have to work hard to keep Iris’s weight up to just under 9 pounds...and she and Lily are sisters. Don’t you hate it when your sister can eat anything she wants and stays skinny?

sabrinah , I do use some chicken breasts because they’re lower fat than thighs, again, because of Lily. Cats sometimes like thighs better because they are higher in fat content and more appealing. If you use a lot of breasts, keep track of your kitty’s weight.

I also buy chicken breasts and use as treats. I do a partial bake (the inside is still raw), cut them into small chunks, and freeze them in a ziplock. I thaw and give each cat two a day. I’ve weighed the chunks to make sure I’m not giving more than 10 percent of their total food for the day. Lily’s chunks are smaller because it doesn’t take much for her weight to creep up. Poor thing. She looks at food and gains weight.

 

[orange&white]

Yes, poor Tangent. His brother/littermate was a scrawny little cat who ate and ate and looked like skin and bones to me. I was free-feeding to keep Cosine's weight up and unfortunately did not pay enough attention as Tangent's weight climbed up to 16.5 lbs!!! Cosine crossed the bridge before I realized that I let Tangent get that overweight. I feel awful. Anyway, he's back to weighing between 12.5 and 13 pounds now.

During his diet, I ended up looking up nutrition data for all kinds of meats, and started tracking calories per ounce and calories of fat per ounce, along with grams of protein. It was tedious, but I learned a lot.

 

[Tobermory]

During his diet, I ended up looking up nutrition data for all kinds of meats, and started tracking calories per ounce and calories of fat per ounce, along with grams of protein. It was tedious, but I learned a lot.

Anyone who names their cats Tangent and Cosine is probably really good at tracking and calculating data.

 

[orange&white]

I always wanted to get into a creative job. Companies kept pigeon-holing me into that dark corner in the back where numbers get crunched to pieces.

 

[Tobermory]

I always wanted to get into a creative job. Companies kept pigeon-holing me into that dark corner in the back where numbers get crunched to pieces.

Then you were clearly good at it and it has come in handy with your kitties! I told spouse-who-got-his-undergraduate-degree-in-math your cats’ names. He laughed. “Math nerds,” he said proudly. I (who majored in English) always have him double check my calculations.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Anyone who names their cats Tangent and Cosine is probably really good at tracking and calculating data.

Agreed!! Really cool names =)

 

[sabrinah]

orange&white Thank you so much! I think I'm actually going to print out your post so I can bring it with me when I shop! I also agree that the names are awesome! The chicken thigh with bone and skin here are $2.50. Since I'm not grinding any bone it would be a waste at my price, but if I could get it at your price I would totally take the time to get everything off the bone! Boneless and skinless is $3 Since chicken breast is low fat it sounds like I don't have to worry about removing any little bits of fat on it? The reason I got it so cheap is that it was from a local farm, thus it wasn't really trimmed super neatly. I figured a little fat wouldn't hurt so I left it on.

Tobermory She gets dry throughout the day so I'm not too worried about her dropping weight. I usually keep track of how she's doing based on how she feels. I think I'm kinda obsessed with making sure she doesn't turn into a skinny old kitty. She'll be 15 in May!

I gave away my fully cooked failure to my parents since I wasn't going to eat it, and they brought me more today! Unexpected, but very much appreciated. I cut it up and tossed it in the freezer while I try to get her to eat the failed mixture. If I decided to try the partial bake again, how long should I bake the stuff I already chopped up?

 

[orange&white]

Thank you both. ....errr, thank you three. Geez...there go the math skills!

 

[orange&white]

orange&white Thank you so much! I think I'm actually going to print out your post so I can bring it with me when I shop! I also agree that the names are awesome! The chicken thigh with bone and skin here are $2.50. Since I'm not grinding any bone it would be a waste at my price, but if I could get it at your price I would totally take the time to get everything off the bone! Boneless and skinless is $3 Since chicken breast is low fat it sounds like I don't have to worry about removing any little bits of fat on it? The reason I got it so cheap is that it was from a local farm, thus it wasn't really trimmed super neatly. I figured a little fat wouldn't hurt so I left it on.

No, the little bit of fat on chicken breast won't hurt. Chicken breast, by itself, is too lean for cats. I mean if you were making a balanced recipe only using chicken breasts as the main source of protein...you would need to add fat. As treats, it's really great. Very high protein will help an older kitty keep muscle mass.

Boneless/skinless thighs are usually $3 here too, so the $1 "Saturday Only" sale was well worth the drive across town.

If you'll watch the grocery ads, I bet you'll see some good prices come up starting this month. Sometimes you have to do a little driving and jump through hoops like "1-day only" pricing. Then you just have to figure if the gasoline and your time are worth the sale price.

 

[sabrinah]

The closest grocery store is Safeway, and it's 10 miles away. Anything else is 20-30 miles. With how much gas I go through I won't go anywhere else but Safeway unless I'm already over there.

If I mixed in something like thighs and didn't remove any skin, would that work? Or fatty pork?

 

[orange&white]

Safeway is called Randall's here. That's where I picked up the 2.49 beef and .99 chicken breasts. They do run some very good sales. Stuff that's not on sale is really high priced though (sometimes insultingly so).

Yes, you could mix breasts with thighs, or breasts with pork butt to get a high protein, moderate fat mix. Breast meat really has almost zero fat, except that little bit between the skin and the muscle. It's also lower in taurine than thighs or pork.

The Mexican grocery here is about 20 miles from me. That's the only store that carries kidneys, so I go twice a year and freeze enough kidney for 6 months...and hope they have some other meat on sale when I make the trip.

Do you not have any nook or cranny where you could wedge a little freezer? That really makes the longer trips worthwhile when you can stock up and not have to keep making trips back to the store.

 

[sabrinah]

The electricity bill is already absolutely insane and there are extra charges for a handful of things (tiny town that's redoing just about everything, so there's an extra $100 or so added on to most bills right now), so there's no way to swing a little freezer. Maybe in a year or two... or three... when the town rebuilds and redoes everything and the extra charges are gone.

I put a pea-sized amount of the mix in her bowl and covered it in bonito flakes. She was not amused. I tried covering it in Stella & Chewy's freeze dried (her favorite), and she wouldn't go for that either She won't even eat it if there's a super duper tiny amount mixed in with her normal amount of canned Maybe S&C, bonito flakes, and a bit of cheese all on top of a tiny bit will get her to try it...