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  1. #11
    Senior Dog shellbell's Avatar
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    I don’t bag out individual meals, I put things in either gallon or quart sized Ziploc bags and freeze, and then pull those out to put in the fridge. And then I just feed from there and measure out the meals at each meal time. A lot of the things I buy come in 2lb bags, so I might just pull a couple of those out to put in the fridge.

    That sucks if your trash pick-up is every two weeks, I get maggots in my trash can after just one week during the summer. The trash can is outside though and away from the house, so I don’t really worry too much about it.

  2. #12
    Senior Dog doubledip1's Avatar
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    What about glass storage containers or aluminum foil? You might need to do fewer meals at a time but glass is really easy to rinse out and reusable.
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  3. #13
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    I have a set-up like charliebbarkin. But besides not loving all the bags, sometimes my dogs need something different than what is currently thawed if they have loose stool or their poop is too hard. I'm enjoying having options for them.

    I've decided to rinse out the bags and stick them back in the freezer for now, and keep looking for square containers that hold 2-3 days worth of food for the boys. Also, at some point in the not too distant future, Linus' needs will decrease (he has a tendency to get fat, just like Sam) so I might wait a bit to determine packaging size for that reason as well.

  4. #14
    Senior Dog charliebbarkin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Georgie View Post
    I would love a freezer like that! Also, I would definitely use it to my advantage and do exactly like this, separate plastic bags. I would then just freeze empty bags to rubbish day or wash out the bags and recycle, which wouldn't be much if I was able to have such a meat system operating.

    Raw feeding does require you to work out an operating system. It's taken me a year to work out a system that I'm really happy with and still using only the small freezer of my fridge. Keep experimenting until you work out a system that works for you!
    Yes!

    I hope you find yourself a freezer like that soon! For future reference, I was able to pack about 650 lbs into that freezer, it's 24.6 cubic feet. I've got an overflow freezer at my parent's it's smaller, 14.8, and of course the entire freezer part of the fridge and lower shelf of my fridge is dedicated to raw.

    I was just like you. I was going to the raw store every week, filling up my fridge-freezer to the gills with prepackaged raw because I didn't have the space for a big freezer. When we moved, we ordered the freezer and set up a delivery date for the day after we had the keys in our hands for our new house! Now I keep extra prepackaged in the freezer, but always store the fridge-freezer with prepackaged so I can just bring a few containers at a time to thaw. My whole meats are all stored in bags, either half lb or one pound bags. It makes it easy to just grab and go.
    Charlie and Burton


  5. #15
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    Can you zip by a store or your office's dumpster and dump it that way?

  6. #16
    Senior Dog charliebbarkin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Labradorks View Post
    I have a set-up like charliebbarkin. But besides not loving all the bags, sometimes my dogs need something different than what is currently thawed if they have loose stool or their poop is too hard. I'm enjoying having options for them.

    I've decided to rinse out the bags and stick them back in the freezer for now, and keep looking for square containers that hold 2-3 days worth of food for the boys. Also, at some point in the not too distant future, Linus' needs will decrease (he has a tendency to get fat, just like Sam) so I might wait a bit to determine packaging size for that reason as well.
    I just put one half to one whole pound of a protein/item per bag. That gives me more flexibility. I used to do days, one day per bag then put all those bags in a bigger bag for the week, but that got old pretty quickly. I've not had a problem with maggots, but my trash comes every week. Also, I usually feed stuff frozen, that's how Charlie prefers it. So there's less residue in the bags when I throw them out.

    I also have two larger plastic containers that I thaw things out in if they are in plastic bags and need to be divided up. Then the container can just be washed and reused. Right now, if they are bloody, I just gather the bags together into one ziplock and close it up then throw them in a plastic bag and tie it up tight, then throw it in the trash. If I were you (since you don't have plastic bags) I would just rinse the plastic bags and either save them for next time or throw them out rinsed.

    Here is the larger plastic container I was talking about. It was just some cheap thing I found at the grocery store. It has a lb of gizzards, a pound of hearts and a pound of liver thawing in it. But Charlie only needs half of each for one meal and then he will get the other half later in the week.


    I know, I feel super wasteful with the ziplocks. A lot of people I know reuse them. I just don't like dealing with cleaning and collecting them, though it would save me money and reduce waste. I try to find them on sale or buy an off brand (just be careful because not all freezer bags are created equal!). It is something to think about though...saving the bags.

    Good luck figuring out your new packaging system. I hope you find something that works.
    Charlie and Burton


  7. #17
    Senior Dog doubledip1's Avatar
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    They sell nice square plastic containers at Dollar Tree.
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  8. #18
    Senior Dog CraftHer's Avatar
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    Let me start off by saying we don't feed raw and I have no idea about the logistics. So my suggestion may be way off. We just bought a Foodsaver that vacuum packs bags that we use to freeze stuff. It also has an attachment for wide mouth mason jars. If you used the jars, it would eliminate the bags and trash but increase the dish washing. It would take an initial investment of the foodsaver and jars.

    Don't know if this is a possibility, but just trying to think outside the box....or the bag in this case

    Here's a link
    FoodSaver® Wide-Mouth Jar Sealer at FoodSaver.com.

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by CraftHer View Post
    We just bought a Foodsaver that vacuum packs bags that we use to freeze stuff.
    This is what we use, the machine uses it's own type of bags that you can size accordingly to what you need.

    However, between our garden vegetables and the amount of meat that we package for ourselves, I think we've done worn out our food savor. It's hanging on by a thread, literally - but it's been the GREATEST thing, they really DO work.

    Until we can afford to get the newer, upgraded version, I started using quart size freezer bags for the dogs food.

    In the beginning, I was using small plastic containers to freeze their portions in - however, those take up much more space in the long run. We do have a 25 cubic ft freezer out in the barn, and another upright 18 cubic ft chest freezer in the house; along with the freezer on the newer refrigerator - so we have a lot of room.

    However, truth be told, we run OUT of room very quickly at end of summer when we're blanching/freezing all the vegetables our garden grows in the summer. Soon as I can afford too, I'll be getting another chest freezer for the barn strictly for the dogs stuff - we buy our meats, for human and k-9, in huge bulk when we can, so having another one will help with that too.

    We live out in the country; nearest *decent* store is over 50 miles one way - so yes, we tend to pack the food.

  10. #20
    Puppy ljowilly's Avatar
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    Years ago when I started feeding raw, I used the gallon size plastic bags. I have since then switched to freezer container (bought at Wal-Mart) and others from the raw food suppliers I would just keep their containers and re-use them. Feeding 3 large dogs I had to find a way to save on packaging, plus on the food. I have since then bought a meat grinder (which I grind most of my meats/bone since one has teeth issue) and package food like chicken backs in freezer containers. I buy in bulk, I mean a lot of food that will last me 3 months, and I spend a day grinding and packaging my meat. The only time I use the plastic bags is when I buy turkey necks, then I usually stuff enough in there to last 2 feedings. I know that some people my not be able to do this, but I have found this to be the easiest and economically the best for me.

 



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