How much U-Stew?

I just got a trail size of U-Stew to try and the direction on the back say to use 1/3 a cup for 2lbs of meat (makes 3 total). The directions on the flyer that comes with the U-Stew say to use 1/2 a cup for 2lbs of meat. So i have no idea which one is accurate. I actually only want to make 1lb of meat to try, does anyone else that uses this know how much U-stew to use for 1lb of meat? I guess this has something to do with the egg issue. 

I emailed the company but i thought I'd ask here too. I really hate it when companies don't give out this kind of information. 

Thanks. 

Duplicate post

LisaMarie12 said:

The note regarding the egg shortage and recipe is the accurate one.

I've had a few back and forth emails with Dana at KBPF, she is very nice and helpful although I agree the note is confusing.

Follow the recipe via the note bc the U-Stew does not contain any egg yolk even though the bag says it does.

I guess KBPF cld not afford newer bags with the ingredient list not including the egg yolk, maybe they figured it wouldn't be worth the cost since it is only a temporary issue-the egg shortage.

I've been doing 1 lb of meat batches, hence half of 1/3 cup would be 1/6 or two tablespoons and two teaspoons and only one egg yolk instead of two.

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Thank you! After i posted this question i looked around more and i figured it was related to the egg. I don't mind adding my own egg yolk because I have chickens anyway. 

Oh wait, I got the flyer as well but did you get a white piece of paper talking about the avian flu and the egg shortage? If not then I'm not sure whether you should do the flyer recipe or not, I would wait to hear back from Dana.

I followed the recipe that was on a white piece of paper that discussed the egg shortage.

LisaMarie12 said:

Oh wait, I got the flyer as well but did you get a white piece of paper talking about the avian flu and the egg shortage? If not then I'm not sure whether you should do the flyer recipe or not, I would wait to hear back from Dana.

I followed the recipe that was on a white piece of paper that discussed the egg shortage.

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I did not get a flyer with mine. The package itself has the updated recipe on the back saying to add eggs. The flyer/pamphlet has what appears to be the old recipe. I'm going to wait until i hear back from them though.

Thanks for your help. 

Dana's response to my email

Sorry for the confusion with the measurements.  We have had to change the recipe to 1/3 cup of powder, along with the addition of 2 egg yolks.

The change in recipe is because the egg yolk powder is currently unavailable, due to the avian flu in the US.
 
So, for 1lb. of meat the recipe would be:
 
1 lb. meat
½ cup water
Half of a 1/3 cup (or 2 ½ Tablespoons)
1 egg yolk
 
The water, meat and egg yolk can all be cooked together for 5-7 minutes just until the meat has browned.
 
Then once this has cooked, the U-Stew can be added.
 
Please let me know if you have any questions.
 
Warm regards,
 
Dana
Know Better Pet Food

missmimz said:

 
Dana's response to my email

Sorry for the confusion with the measurements.  We have had to change the recipe to 1/3 cup of powder, along with the addition of 2 egg yolks.

The change in recipe is because the egg yolk powder is currently unavailable, due to the avian flu in the US.
 
So, for 1lb. of meat the recipe would be:
 
1 lb. meat
½ cup water
Half of a 1/3 cup (or 2 ½ Tablespoons)
1 egg yolk
 
The water, meat and egg yolk can all be cooked together for 5-7 minutes just until the meat has browned.
 
Then once this has cooked, the U-Stew can be added.
 
Please let me know if you have any questions.
 
Warm regards,
 
Dana
Know Better Pet Food

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Interesting, I've been adding the egg yolk after the cooked meat cooled down.  And usually half of 1/3 cup is two tablespoons and two teaspoons.

If you get a chance, drop a line here and let us know how the kitties liked the food.

LisaMarie12 said:

 
Interesting, I've been adding the egg yolk after the cooked meat cooled down.  And usually half of 1/3 cup is two tablespoons and two teaspoons.

If you get a chance, drop a line here and let us know how the kitties liked the food.

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Yeah i think she probably just gave me the wrong measurements. No big deal i can do math 

My kittens liked it okay, but they basically like everything. My older cats turned their nose up to it, but i kind of expected that. For some reason no one loves home-cooked (I've made it with Alnutrin before too), their preference is def raw. I might use it once and awhile for variety but I don't think my cats liked cooked meat all that much. 

missmimz said:

 
Yeah i think she probably just gave me the wrong measurements. No big deal i can do math 

My kittens liked it okay, but they basically like everything. My older cats turned their nose up to it, but i kind of expected that. For some reason no one loves home-cooked (I've made it with Alnutrin before too), their preference is def raw. I might use it once and awhile for variety but I don't think my cats liked cooked meat all that much. 

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Oh well hey, if  your cats prefer raw then all the better.

I have one cat that prefers the cooked with U-Stew more than the other cat (who, like yours, will eat just about any raw) but I haven't been able to get The Fussy One to eat any frozen thawed raw, just FD.

I'm about to get the free sample of Alnutrin and try it along with a Bravo rabbit chub I ordered, see how that goes.

I'm thinking about trying U-Stew. Do you think it has a strong taste? I am worried after I buy some my cat is not going to eat it. Also I don't have a meat grinder so what do you mix it with. I am trying to do this as inexpensively yet still nutritious. I haven't decided yet if I am going to go this route or not because I worry it will get to be a lot of work.

So can you mix it with cut up chicken or does it have to be ground up turkey or ground beef? 

catlover100 said:

 
I'm thinking about trying U-Stew. Do you think it has a strong taste? I am worried after I buy some my cat is not going to eat it. Also I don't have a meat grinder so what do you mix it with. I am trying to do this as inexpensively yet still nutritious. I haven't decided yet if I am going to go this route or not because I worry it will get to be a lot of work.

So can you mix it with cut up chicken or does it have to be ground up turkey or ground beef? 

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If you did chunks you'd probably have to put it in the food processor after its cooked because the liquid likely wouldn't mix up well otherwise. I do think U-stew/Better in the Raw has a stronger taste than Alnutrin does. I tried Better in the Raw back when i first started feeding raw and my cats did not like it as a supplement, i then tried Alnutrin and my cats liked it no problem. My kittens aren't picky but even they don't love the U-stew, so I probably wont use it regularly. I might just make cooked with Alnutrin, even though its not meant to be used with cooked foods, i feed other food too so I'm not that worried about it if its slightly off nutrition wise. 

Cooked, IMO is less work than making raw. I wish my cats liked it more because its easier for me, but alas, i gotta go with what they want. 

catlover100 said:

 
I'm thinking about trying U-Stew. Do you think it has a strong taste? I am worried after I buy some my cat is not going to eat it. Also I don't have a meat grinder so what do you mix it with. I am trying to do this as inexpensively yet still nutritious. I haven't decided yet if I am going to go this route or not because I worry it will get to be a lot of work.

So can you mix it with cut up chicken or does it have to be ground up turkey or ground beef? 

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I have two cats, one very fussy, the other not so. The Fussy One really loves U-Stew, even when I open up the bag, she's on the counter wanting to stick her head in.   The other cat likes it but not as enthusiastically as my other cat. 

I've been using grounds which makes the prep time much shorter. I did try baking and cutting up meat, it was more time consuming, however, U-Stew mixed up fine, no problem. Mainly you have to remember to let the meat cool down after cooking before adding the mix - very important. For grounds, all you need is 10 minutes on med/high heat. I let it sit at room temp for a bit and sometimes put it in the  refrigerator for a few extra minutes to speed up the cool time. Then I add the mix (and egg yolks - you'll have to see if the trial size you are sent, if you decide to order the trial size, is egg free or with yolks as there has been a problem with egg sourcing).

Mix it all together and then portion into daily servings and freeze - easy peasy.  All together it takes me less than an hour but a good portion of that time is just waiting for the meat to cool down.

You can use whichever meat you'd like. I've been using turkey.  The organ meat in U-Stew is beef liver.

The sample trial bag yields 6 lbs of meat, not bad for $14.  Give it a try and see how it goes.

missmimz said:

 
I might just make cooked with Alnutrin, even though its not meant to be used with cooked foods, i feed other food too so I'm not that worried about it if its slightly off nutrition wise. 

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I contacted Know What You Feed about this actually - if Alnutrin could be used with cooked meat, the Alnutrin w/o organ / bone.  Liver would need to be added (which I don't really want to deal with so I've considered using chicken liver powder, from Feline Instincts) and the email I got back said it was fine to do it this way, add the liver powder plus Alnutrin supp (and a separate fish oil).

I will think about trying either one of these. I just am concerned about what kind of meat will be the easiest without using the same thing over and over. Although he is overweight and doesn't seem too picky. I don't know the price of ground turkey but I guess that is a start.

Not too sure how well ckn would grind up in my food processor. But I guess after it is cooked it would do well especially if a little liquid is added.

I wonder if this would help him be more satisfied and not beg for food as much. He is very overweight and has slowly lost several pounds but seems to always be hungry.  I was pretty shocked he even got this way as I never left food out for 'free feeding'.

The Alnutrin premixed packets are for 16 lbs of food. About how long would that last and how much should I feed him? I don't know how much he weighs now. He could weigh as much as 25 lbs I am ashamed to say.

catlover100 said:

 
I will think about trying either one of these. I just am concerned about what kind of meat will be the easiest without using the same thing over and over. Although he is overweight and doesn't seem too picky. I don't know the price of ground turkey but I guess that is a start.

Not too sure how well ckn would grind up in my food processor. But I guess after it is cooked it would do well especially if a little liquid is added.

I wonder if this would help him be more satisfied and not beg for food as much. He is very overweight and has slowly lost several pounds but seems to always be hungry.  I was pretty shocked he even got this way as I never left food out for 'free feeding'.

The Alnutrin premixed packets are for 16 lbs of food. About how long would that last and how much should I feed him? I don't know how much he weighs now. He could weigh as much as 25 lbs I am ashamed to say.

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There's really excellent advice over in the home-cooked foods thread  as well as this page with resources about making your own food and other supplements. I am def not the expert in this realm but there are people over there that know more and can answer your questions better. 

Can other people report how their cats have taken to U-Stew?

My brother is visiting with his six month old baby, and as many here are aware, my cats are free fed raw food from a chilled bowl.   Crawling babies and raw cat food are a bad combination, so I wanted to try a cooked alternative.

My cats are definitely fans of raw food, but they go insane for the occasional canned food so I thought they might take to cooked food.  Canned is not an option though, because it makes their poop stink and also makes it stick to their long hair so it ends up getting dropped in random places around the house.  I've tried Honest Kitchen, and one cat loves it so much it is seriously his favorite treat!  He even comes running whenever he hears someone mixing something in a bowl with a spoon because he thinks he's going to get his HK.  The other cat, however, won't touch it

Other suggestions of course are welcome.  Backup plan is for someone to keep eyes glued to the baby at all times, which probably isn't a bad idea anyway.

sophie1 said:

 
Can other people report how their cats have taken to U-Stew?

My brother is visiting with his six month old baby, and as many here are aware, my cats are free fed raw food from a chilled bowl.   Crawling babies and raw cat food are a bad combination, so I wanted to try a cooked alternative.

My cats are definitely fans of raw food, but they go insane for the occasional canned food so I thought they might take to cooked food.  Canned is not an option though, because it makes their poop stink and also makes it stick to their long hair so it ends up getting dropped in random places around the house.  I've tried Honest Kitchen, and one cat loves it so much it is seriously his favorite treat!  He even comes running whenever he hears someone mixing something in a bowl with a spoon because he thinks he's going to get his HK.  The other cat, however, won't touch it

Other suggestions of course are welcome.  Backup plan is for someone to keep eyes glued to the baby at all times, which probably isn't a bad idea anyway.

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Well if your cats love canned food I would def consider feeding that still. You might need to try some different brands/types because it is possible that their tummies just didn't agree with the one you fed them. You can add a probiotic to their wet food which will help with stinky poo and help digestion. I give it to all my cats daily and seriously their poo doesn't even smell anymore. My kittens were having some really soft stool and it cleared up completely with the probiotic. I have 3 long haired cats and I shave the fur around their rear-ends to prevent anything from sticky to it, but if they have properly formed stool that shouldn't happen. 

sophie1 said:

 
Can other people report how their cats have taken to U-Stew?

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Several weeks now using U-Stew as part of the their diet and doing fine still .... I like that I know I'm feeding human grade meat relatively fresh and a gum free food.  The Fussy One likes variety so we have a little Weruva as a back up although I'm not thrilled with xanthan gum but we use it on occasion as well as FD raw; U-Stew is working like a charm.

Thanks for the suggestions!!!

Missmimz - to be clear, my cats have zero problems with poop until the moment they eat a can of food, and then you can count on the odor & cling-on problem to show up the next day.   I've tried several brands and it's all the same - or worse, as with some brands one of my cats gets outright diarrhea.  I think it must be the thickeners, like carrageenan and guar gum, because Honest Kitchen contains pretty much the same ingredients otherwise and does not cause these problems.  

Probiotics with canned sounds like it's worth a try though.  In any case, I'm going to try the U stew tomorrow.  There's already been a positive sign in that one of the cats got extremely interested in the package when I pulled it out of the envelope.  With any luck, he at least will eat the stuff since he's the one who won't touch Honest Kitchen.

sophie1 said:

 
Thanks for the suggestions!!!

Missmimz - to be clear, my cats have zero problems with poop until the moment they eat a can of food, and then you can count on the odor & cling-on problem to show up the next day.   I've tried several brands and it's all the same - or worse, as with some brands one of my cats gets outright diarrhea.  I think it must be the thickeners, like carrageenan and guar gum, because Honest Kitchen contains pretty much the same ingredients otherwise and does not cause these problems.  

Probiotics with canned sounds like it's worth a try though.  In any case, I'm going to try the U stew tomorrow.  There's already been a positive sign in that one of the cats got extremely interested in the package when I pulled it out of the envelope.  With any luck, he at least will eat the stuff since he's the one who won't touch Honest Kitchen.

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Good luck! Yes it's entirely possible there's some additive giving your kitties upset tummies too. I think probiotics are great for cats no matter what.