Healthy Dog Food

Pour water into a large pot and turn the heat to high. Add the meat (if using hamburger, use a potato masher to break the meat into smaller pieces) and vegetables and bring to a boil. Add rice. Stir well and bring back to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once a full rolling boil is reached, decrease heat to medium and continue to stir occasionally until “rice eyes” start to form, generally about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and put a tight-fitting lid on the pot. Let that sit without removing the lid for at least 15 to 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and stir the mixture again to incorporate all of the ingredients together. The rice seems to settle on the bottom and needs to be mixed in so there is a good balance and distribution of all the ingredients. BE CAREFUL—THE RICE STAYS VERY HOT!

At this point, you can just transfer the mixture from the cooking pot into portion/serving sizes. You can use sealable freezer bags or a container large enough to hold it all. It just depends on how much your pet will eat in a week. Note: I have a Lock-n-Lock container that holds most of the food and what doesn’t fit in there, I put in a gallon size bag. My girl eats 4 cups of food a day. If you need smaller portions that would not be used in a week, be sure and place them in the freezer.

If you have the time, you can transfer the rice onto cookie sheets and let it air dry and cool for a while before placing it into the storage containers. Be careful not to let it sit out too long though so bacteria doesn’t start to grow.

I buy boneless chicken and cook it in my pressure cooker, then use a food processor to grind it up before putting it in the cooking pot. I have also found that processing raw chicken in a food processor works well too. I get it to the consistency I want and then add the chicken to the water and bring it to a boil. Since the chicken does not have a lot of fat in it, I usually use chicken and some hamburger for a combination dinner. I use more chicken than hamburger, probably 2 pounds chicken and 1 pound of hamburger. Other cuts of meat can be used as well. Just keep the amounts the same. I also add more vegetables too. Sweet potatoes are very healthy and a lot of dogs love them.