How Long Does It Take You To Make Your Raw Food?

[saleri]

Heard some people say it takes only half an hour...And I don't understand. Cutting the meat, putting it into the blender, putting the vitamins in a bowl, mixing it all, packaging it into containers, and cleaning everything almost always takes me close to an hour and a half.

I try to do as many shortcuts as I can, but even then it still takes that long.

Everyone else?

 

[mschauer]

What quantity of food are you talking about? That will matter.

Also, what form the meats and organs you start with will matter. Mostly what I make these days is chicken and pork. For both all I have to do is open the packages, chicken thighs or pork carnitas (cut up pork shoulder), and drop the pieces down the grinder chute. No cutting. Plus, you say you use a blender. That will be a lot slower than using a grinder. You have to do small batches right?

Packaging is what takes the longest for me and, of course, the more food I make the longer it takes. I like to package everything into enough for a meal for 3 cats. And I'm a bit anal about it in that I measure each 7.5 oz meal/package. I don't guess.

45 minutes including clean up would about right for me to make ~12 lbs each of chicken and pork.

 

[saleri]

What quantity of food are you talking about? That will matter.

Also, what form the meats and organs you start with will matter. Mostly what I make these days is chicken and pork. For both all I have to do is open the packages, chicken thighs or pork carnitas, and drop the pieces down the grinder chute. No cutting.

Packaging is what takes the longest for me and, of course, the more food I make the longer it takes. I like to package everything into enough for a meal for 3 cats. And I'm a bit anal about it in that I measure each 7.5 oz meal. I don't guess.

45 minutes including clean up would about right for me to make ~12 lbs each of chicken and pork.

I make around 24 pounds every month for my two cats.

 

[mschauer]

I started a thread some time ago about how long it takes to make raw. I can't find it now. There used to be a way you could list all the threads you have started. I can't find how to do that in the newest incarnation of the web site.

 

[saleri]

I started a thread some time ago about how long it takes to make raw. I can't find it now. There used to be a way you could list all the threads you have started. I can't find how to do that in the newest incarnation of the web site.

Yeah couldn't find anything.

Search Results for Query: how long to make raw food | TheCatSite

 

[lalagimp]

I make around 24 pounds every month for my two cats.

3 hours approximately
1 hour for deboning thighs, partially cooking the thighs, and then cooled enough to handle comfortably
1 hour for the slurry (cutting open fish oil capsules if you don't have a pump), cutting up part of the thighs, using the grinder, opening up all the rabbit, mixing thoroughly
1 hour to portion all the mix into ice cube trays

 

[mschauer]

Found the thread:

raw ground: how much does it cost, how much time does it take - my experience

 

[saleri]

3 hours approximately
1 hour for deboning thighs, partially cooking the thighs, and then cooled enough to handle comfortably
1 hour for the slurry (cutting open fish oil capsules if you don't have a pump), cutting up part of the thighs, using the grinder, opening up all the rabbit, mixing thoroughly
1 hour to portion all the mix into ice cube trays

That's tough. Last week when I made my most recent batch, I was able to save time by pouring a large amount into a pouring container, and pour them into 16 ounce containers, instead of the regular 6 oz containers I use. Saved a good bit of time, but it still took a while.

 

[orange&white]

By the time I'm ready to make a batch, I usually have all the ingredients cubed, weighed and bagged.

I spend quite a bit of time prepping for future batches. Like today, I have a 2lb package of boneless skinless chicken thighs defrosting. Those will get cubed, weighed in freezer bags, then popped back in the freezer. That will only take about 10 minutes or less. Tubs of liver get run through the blender and poured into 7.5 oz storage containers and frozen. Hearts and gizzards get chopped straight from the store, weighed and bagged. Prepping a little of this and a little of that doesn't feel like much work.

The day before cat food day, I write my recipe in Excel to balance meat/bone/organ and protein/fat/kcals and pull already prepped bags of ingredients to thaw in the fridge. At that point, it's simply a matter of checking weights, mixing supplements and stirring all together. Probably one hour or less. I'm storing food in liver tubs which hold about 20oz of food. I don't bother weighing every one. I make 160 oz of food to fill 8 tubs. The 3 cats eat 15 oz of food every day in 3 meals, so I just want a tub of food to last a day plus most or all of a 4th meal. When a tub is 1/2 full, I pull another to defrost.

Not sure how much time I spend altogether, but breaking the work up into little chunks is less overwhelming for me than trying to prep everything from scratch and mix food all in one session.

It would probably go faster if I ground everything, but I cube all the meats and only grind bones and run the liver through a blender.

 

[Gizmobius]

I use Alnutrin so that cuts my time significantly. Most times I have liver on hand that was previously blended when I made a last batch so I just take that out to thaw. Sometimes I use the blender to do a grind, other times I cut the meat into chunks. Sometimes I'm partaking in a drink or two while I make it so that factors in as well. Usually takes about an hour.

 

[sophie1]

Like orange & white, I try to break up the work so it doesn't feel so onerous. Saleri, I think your biggest timesaver will be getting a grinder...maybe watch for one on craigslist?

Cutting meat into chunks is quickest with kitchen scissors that are kept sharp. Invest in a good pair and get them resharpened as needed. I also worked out a way to avoid having to freeze more than one container at a time, by making small batches on the fly and feeding the grinds & meat chunks sequentially.

Another big timesaver is to get Iceland unscented salmon oil in a pump bottle, instead of capsules. It was awesome when Amazon started carrying it at a really good price. Getting taurine powder rather than capsules is also mildly helpful.

 

[saleri]

Like orange & white, I try to break up the work so it doesn't feel so onerous. Saleri, I think your biggest timesaver will be getting a grinder...maybe watch for one on craigslist?

Cutting meat into chunks is quickest with kitchen scissors that are kept sharp. Invest in a good pair and get them resharpened as needed. I also worked out a way to avoid having to freeze more than one container at a time, by making small batches on the fly and feeding the grinds & meat chunks sequentially.

Another big timesaver is to get Iceland unscented salmon oil in a pump bottle, instead of capsules. It was awesome when Amazon started carrying it at a really good price. Getting taurine powder rather than capsules is also mildly helpful.

I have a grinder. Also cut the meat into chunks to fit into the grinder with a heavy duty scissor.

 

[Tobermory]

I make four 3-pound batches at a time (Dr. Pierson’s recipe). Each batch is half chunks cut up with kitchen scissors and half ground. I weigh and apportion the food in 6 oz. amounts. I end up with about 40 containers of food which feeds my three cats for about 20 days. It takes me about 3 1/2 hours including clean up.

I prep the meat and liver when I buy it, freezing the meat in three pound amounts and the liver in about 3.5 oz. amounts. I try not to stack the meat because otherwise it takes forever to defrost.

 

[ritz]

The only tip I'll add is this: I pre-print labels so I don't have to hand write them as I am packaging the food into plastic containers. And to limit the time Ritz and Dahalia "help" me by trying to taste a batch first.
I feed mostly pork, beef and chicken. I buy the boneless variety versus bone-in; it takes me too long to debone meat and hurts my wrist/arm. Like others have mentioned, when I buy liver and/or kidney, I portion both into ice cube trays, freeze, pop-out the cubes, and then store them in a Zip-log bag for future use. I use egg shell instead of bone; small bones are really hard to source. Every two or three months I buy frozen quail; I do use those bones.

 

[abby2932]

for two cats, it would take me 2 hrs a month to prepare, store into meal size portions & clean. Right now I only have one cat so it takes about 2 hrs every 6 weeks.

It takes me 1hr 15min to weigh & prep Prey Model Raw (and clean up after myself), which is what I feed for breakfast. The other 45 minutes is how long it takes me to add supplements, mix & store Hare Today meat/bone/organ chubs into glass jars for dinner meals.

I usually do the PMR prep on a Saturday and the Ground meat/bone/organ chubs the next day. I absolutely hate making cat food but I've been doing it for 4 years now and I would never go back to canned. I can't imagine how much longer it would take me if I had to grind the food myself. I know I pay extra for the pre-ground chubs but I already dread making the food at the end of every month. I won't add on to the time lol

 

[Tobermory]

I can't imagine how much longer it would take me if I had to grind the food myself. I know I pay extra for the pre-ground chubs but I already dread making the food at the end of every month. I won't add on to the time lol

I’m jealous. I wish I didn’t have to grind. The Hare Today grinds are excellent. One of my three, though, refuses anything that I haven’t made from scratch and will eat only chicken. No commercial raw, no HT grinds. Just chicken thighs that I grind with supplements added. No amount or variety of toppers will change her mind. She’s lucky she’s so cute!

 

[abby2932]

Tobermory Kali eats everything I put in front of her. Beef, Rabbit, Turkey, Lamb, Pork, Cavies...you name it. I just lost my boy Malibu 13 weeks ago to cancer and he was also a garbage disposal that would eat anything. I was blessed with the best cats in the world.

I recently acquired a kitten on Wednesday (I'm still dealing with the loss of Malibu but I like having two cats in the house) I'm hoping that the new kitten has an adventurous palate as well. Fingers crossed