How many containers for freezing food?

For now, I'm feeding my cats commercial raw and canned foods, so I don't really need freezer containers yet. But I'm thinking about getting some ground meat from Hare today and also trying home made in the future. I got several rubbermaid freezer containers for 1.5 cup and 2 cups. I think my two cats eat about 1 to 1.5 cup a day, so these containers are probably good sizes. Those of you who cook cat food, how much do you cook at once and how many freezer containers and what kind of containers do you use? 

I feed Fed prey model raw, so I apologize if my reply isn't directly on point. I use a variety of plastic containers, most of which I pick up at thrift stores. I tend to have a three week supply in the freezer,one container per day. I feed around 3.5 ounces of meat, liver and kidney, so really small containers are fine.

Thank you, Ritz. 

How many small containers do you use per pound of food? Or how much food do you buy or cook at once?

I also feed Prey Model style, and I have 5 animals on the diet, so I package stuff in daily portions as opposed to meal.  So, my daily meat-bone portion is 1 lb 8 oz, and organ is 3.5 oz.  Anyway... all that is to say, I don't actually use containers, because I package portions with my foodsaver. 

I use 1/2 cup Rubbermaid containers. I posted a picture here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/286962/what-containers-storage-methods-does-everyone-here-use Two pounds of raw meat wtih premix and water added fills about a dozen or so containers.

I don't cook or prepare raw food, but I use Rad Cat, which comes in a 24-ounce container. I partially thaw it, just enough to scoop, and portion it into 4-ounce jam jars (2.5 ounces of food by weight). The jars freeze well and one of those jars is one meal for Tim. I use the same jars for pre-thawing the frozen raw "nuggets" he also eats. Occasionally I use small plastic containers (I've saved all the 8 ounce Rad Cat containers I ever purchased), though my preference is to use glass for raw food storage.

Oh, and I fill up 9 or 10 of those jars each time I portion a container of Rad Cat. For the nuggets, I weigh it out the day before and leave it in the refrigerator to thaw for the next day.

We are also feeding Tim some smallbatch rabbit blend without vegetables. Right now, it's a small amount only because I'm not sure if it's balanced. This food comes in a two-pound chub. I hate to admit to this because it's wasteful, but I portion about one pound at a time into ziploc snack bags. Before I purchase another chub, I am going to find something small that I can wash and re-use. I might end up using the jam jars for this, too.

Thank you everyone. 

So, from what I read so far, many of you feed 4 oz per day for a cat. Is it weight or volume? Our vet recommended feeding as much as 2 small cans (6 oz in weight) a day for a cat. Did you find you need to feed less with raw?

I look at calories, and yes, I've been able to decrease the amount of calories I feed Tim as I increase the percentage of raw.

I look at calories because foods are so different and some are more calorie-dense than others. And Tim needed to lose weight; he went from almost 16 pounds to currently about 14.75. I'd like to see him lose another ~0.5 pound. When I transitioned calorie for calorie, Tim initially gained weight, so I had to really drop calories (gradually, and much to his dismay) to even get him back to where he was, let alone lose weight.

Tim eats around 3 ounces of rabbit each morning, 2.5 to 2.75 ounces of turkey in the evening, and 0.5-0.75 ounce of turkey or pork as a bedtime snack. Abby, who weighs about 10 pounds, looks perfect where she is, and does not eat raw, gets around 2.5 ounces of rabbit in the morning, 2 ounces of turkey in the evening, and 0.4-0.6 ounces for her bedtime snack. If I change up foods for either cat, I might adjust the ounces up or down to stay in the calorie range that is working for each cat. I find that I am feeding them a bit more food now that the seasons have changed and the weather is just a bit cooler, such as it is in southern California.

For prey model raw, as well as most other types of raw feeding, I feed by weight, not volume.

Thank you. I think I'm going to try calculating calories, starting from 200 kcal a day. 

ankitty said:

 
Thank you everyone. 

So, from what I read so far, many of you feed 4 oz per day for a cat. Is it weight or volume? Our vet recommended feeding as much as 2 small cans (6 oz in weight) a day for a cat. Did you find you need to feed less with raw?

Click to expand...

My Aby eats 3 oz per day while my DMH eats just 2 oz a day. That's by weight. Raw seems to be more filling than other foods so you may need to feed less but every cat is different