Question for raw feeders...

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

I bring home the haul and portion everything into daily baggies (which, IMO is the worst part of it all :rofl1
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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

For things like bones and parts, I leave it out to thaw enough to break up, and then as I break parts off I toss them into a bag in the freezer. So I'll do 40 pounds of beef bones that way, they're stored in one or two big bags inside a tub in the freezer (chest freezer). Breaking them up when mostly frozen they freeze quickly and as I add more I break up the bones again so when I need some I can take out what I need to thaw.

Big blocks of ground I take out and use up so they'll have that for a few days in bigger meals, then a smaller meal of something else. Though I've been getting the ground in bricks that break apart so that's not bad. The blocks are much cheaper though....

I put several days worth of portions in a bag. Then pull a bag out when needed. Right now though the meat I'm getting my 3 already comes portioned out. I need to put in a big meat order until I do. I've been buying the boys chicken quarters in a 10 pound bag and miss picky her boneless skinless chicken thighs.

For Teagan I cut everything up in 1-2 ounce chunks and then put then in 5 L plastic rectangle containers and put labels on them of what kind of meat it is, and stack them in the freezer. And then I take out at least three days portions and put them in the fridge.

I keep chicken feet and smaller bones like that in the freezer upstairs so I remember to give her one every couple days or so. The liver also stays upstairs because I only giver her a small piece cause she cant handle a lot of liver.

A bigger freezer is also in our future when we get pup, because Lord knows where gonna need a bigger freezer.

I don't feed raw, and have no suggestions other than everyone needs to read the "Dogs in Elk" story.

If anyone hasn't, they can find it here:

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/dogsinelk.html

I find that every single plastic baggie iv ever used leaks like crazy when its thawing. So i use dollar store tupperware and thaw it as soon as i get it and repackage as much as I can fit in each bin. ends up being 3 or 4 days of each item (backs, necks)/(other)

I also dislike thawing in plastic bags because then I end up sticking it in tupperware anyways! I've bought the cheap (Cub) tupperware and designated a whole design for raw feeding (they used to be written on in sharpie... that's since faded). When I was feeding Woody's to Buzz I'd let the tub thaw then put it into half pound portions (because that was a meal for him). Since I feed twice a day, I'd rotate after each meal. I'm not sure what I'll do with my cats since they'll be eating a lot less!

We do that, too. I just bought a specific shape of a cheap tupperware knockoff with a specific color lid so we know those are all designated for dog food.

The grinds I get come in a chub that is wrapped in plastic, but they do sometimes leak. I just put them on a puppy housetraining pad or a paper towel over a plastic shopping bag in the fridge until they are just soft enough to slice up, then keep the slices in the tupperware. The parts (wings, necks, backs) that I keep in ziplocs, I just feed frozen.

I use the cheap ziploc tupperware knock offs and break things down into those. Blue and red lids.

I do both. If I buy it frozen I don't portion out til I'm ready to use it..then I'll use what I need for that day and portion out the rest. If I buy it unfrozen I'll portion it out before I freeze it. I'll portion out for larger meals or smaller meals for each dog. I am not consistent on the amount I feed per day...just kind of averages out as I plan and feed each week.