There's a gigantic pot of moose meat boiling on my stove. I've just finished cutting a 5 gallon pail of moose meat scraps (not suitable for human consumption, bloodshot, sinewy, harbouring a few pieces of grass - residue from hunting) into cubes so I can process quart jars of it in my pressure canner or freeze packets outdoors. It's been a 2 day project. By the time I neared the bottom of the pail, filled with blood as well as meat, my knife was getting dull, my feet were beginning to hurt, and I was beginning to question my resolve to preserve "found meat"* for making dog food for our 6 dogs.
I was also thinking about hungry people - how this bonanza of "waste" meat would be sufficient to provide meals for a small village - that is if it were clean. Sadly, desperate people might not care.
I was concentrating so hard on my cube cutting I let the wood stove go out. 90 minutes in a pressure canner, hmm, I wonder, should I really be using propane to cook this meat when the wood stove should be going to keep us warm? Better get on it! Then again, my poor back, should I be carrying a full canner of meat across the room from one stove to another to save a bit of gas?
All of this brings me to a realization, well not really a realization because I have always known - economizing, conserving, avoiding waste - it can become an obsession, and it's hard work!
So here I am, in the 21st century in a fully modern western country where I could easily avoid much of this work, but I do it anyway, for an ideal... Maybe I need to give my head a shake, maybe I've gone OCD over all this subsistence, off the grid life-style. Ahh well, nice to know what you can do I guess, especially when you know you don't have to. And I'm sure the dogs appreciate the effort, the oldest Border Collie especially. She hardly eats at all unless her store bought kibbles are mixed with the specialty of the house.
Some dogs eat better than people. Some people eat dog food.
My dog food recipe:
Amounts of all ingredients listed are approximate and quite jiggle-able. Also the size of your dog(s) play(s) a role along with available fridge/freezer space. Amount of water used is dependant on need. Try for a very thick stew when done.
1 quart of meat boiled until tender - do not trim off the fat**
Add:
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt
a handful of dried parsley (1 Tablespoon)
a couple good shakes of granulated or powdered garlic
1 quart potatoes (skins too), cubed
1 quart carrots, cleaned not peeled, cut in pieces
1 quart zucchini or any type of squash, cubed, not peeled
1 cup dried beans (black, pinto, soy, lentils, white, peas, etc...not pre-soaked)
may add a few green beans, and/or peas
Boil until nearly tender then add:
2 cups uncooked rice
1 cup oatmeal, optional
Boil until the rice is soft.
The dried beans should be just tender enough to provide a bit of crunch to the finished dog food. Store in appropriate sized containers to facilitate the way you feed your dogs. Keep cold, freeze if kept more than a few days.
Notes:
I have never had this dog food analyzed so I cannot make any nutritional claims for it. I use this food along with a portion of good quality kibbles, not as a complete substitute for commercial feed.
This dog food is not a money saver unless you use "found meat" and have a surplus of garden vegetables available.
*My definition of "found meat":
Meat for dogs (who have excellent garbage eating abilities and stomachs of iron if they are treated more or less naturally and not treated like citizens of the realm) which has for one reason or another been deemed unfit for human consumption. Examples are wild or domestic butchering scraps, freezer burnt or stale dated meat, fresh road kill, animals trapped for their fur, fish heads, old farm animals, restaurant or catering leftovers. Some of these are more pleasant to deal with than others.
** Dogs require a fair amount of fat (especially if they live outside). Feed should contain about 18% fat.
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