Question for raw feeders...

[PWCorgi]

I'm wondering how you store everything.

I'm planning on buying a metric buttload of meat sometime between march and mayish and putting Frodo back onto frankenprey instead of the premade he's been on. I'd be buying about 120 pounds of parts.

I was wondering how you all store the meat? I have a pop top freezer that it will fit in, but do you all portion everything when you get it? Or do you freeze the large hunks of meat (I would be buying some whole beef hearts, and lots of boneless pork pieces) and then portion them down when you are about ready to feed them?

I'm guessing I would just portion them into ziplock baggies, probably enough for like 4 days in each bag since that's what I do with the premade?

Last time I did my own raw Frodo could have poultry, I had more money, and no dog dedicated freezer, so I'd just buy chickens and the grocery store and hack them up!

TIA

[Fran101]

I bring home the haul and portion everything into daily baggies (which, IMO is the worst part of it all )
I personally can't/don't freeze large chunks of meat because I don't have the space to be defrosting/keeping large chunks of anything lol everything is portioned out/cut up.

Every night I switch a baggie from the freezer to the fridge, serve the next day.

ON RARE OCCASIONS I let him self-regulate on a large..thing. that he will get offered at his regular meal times until he finishes. He had a huge deer leg that took him like half a week lol but that is rare.

[JessLough]

When we fed the ferrets raw, I'd portion into baggies, daily amounts, right away. Keep out 3-4 days worth, freeze the rest.

Mainly because I won't thaw and refreeze.

[SizzleDog]

In the fridge, I have a large tupperware container that takes up the entire lowest shelf of the fridge. It fits 30lbs of meat, which lasts about a week.

Liver: I puree this, and store it in 1lb deli containers.
Chicken Necks: Ziploc bags, 24 necks per bag
Chicken Backs: Ziploc bags, 8 backs per bag

My ground chicken is prepackaged in 1.75lb tubes.... very convenient!

[Shai]

Depends on what it is. Some comes pre-packed in 2-5lb portions and I leave those alone. Other stuff comes in 30lb blocks and those I break into portions. Rabbits and quail I leave whole and cut down when I serve as needed. Organ/veggie puree I make fresh then freeze in ice cube trays then dump the cubes in big dated tuperwares and scoop then out to thaw/serve as needed. Chicken I cut up then freeze into big (~3 meal) bags.

So basically I fill my chest freezers with portion sizes but those "portions" generally range from one to three meals for all the dogs...not into individual dog portions.

[Southpaw]

When I did raw I tried to package for 3-4 days worth, and then that could thaw and hang out in the fridge. The key word here is TRIED though. Because even though that was the "easiest" way to do it... it was such a pain to do.

[Greenmagick]

For me, I dont bother doing daily portions but I will at times make smaller portions depending on the size. When I get 50lb flats I will break those up for example, or cases of heart etc.

I think for a smaller dog I would consider doing daily or smaller portions though.

I also have no problems thawing and refreezing....most meat I am getting has already been thawed and and will be refreezed by me anyways. Plus, I will feed off meat to my dogs with no concern

[sassafras]

It depends on what it is.

For something like wings, necks, or backs that typically come in a big frozen 20-30# block, I will thaw just enough to separate into gallon sized ziploc bags and refreeze. There is more than one portion per bag but once they are separated it is easy to take one or two out at a time.

The grinds I get typically come in 5# chubs. I store them as is in a chest freezer, thawing 1-2 at a time in the fridge just until I can cut them into daily portions, then store the portions in the freezer until the day before I need them.

[Flyinsbt]

Originally Posted by Fran101

ON RARE OCCASIONS I let him self-regulate on a large..thing. that he will get offered at his regular meal times until he finishes. He had a huge deer leg that took him like half a week lol but that is rare.

This amuses me because, though I don't feed raw, I know if I did, and I tried to do this with my dogs, they'd stick to the large thing until it was entirely gone. And that reminds me of the "Dogs in Elk" story.

[kady05]

I pretty much just store everything and pull out and thaw & repackage as needed. This is what my freezer looks like when it's completely full:



I'll thaw the big stuff then portion it out into baggies. I do one meal per baggie, just easier for me. And I try to have 7-10 days worth of meals done at a time.