I just finished making 4 batches of raw ground for my crew of 4. Since people frequently ask how much feeding raw costs and how much time it takes I thought I'd post my results for this go round. I didn't include the cost of supplements except for the eggs because their cost is pretty minimal. I do give a cost per day when using MCHA as the calcium supplement since it is pretty expensive and it is what I use.
Summary for 60.7 lbs of finished food:
time : 2 hr 45 minutes
cost : $2.57/lb or $0.72 per cat per day ($0.90 if MCHA used as calcium supplement)
Details:
All meat and organs were bought at my local grocery store. Some people have access to much cheaper sources but I think grocery store prices are more representative of what most of us have access to. The ingredients: beef chuck & shoulder roast, beef liver, beef heart, beef kidney, boneless/skinless chicken thighs, chicken hearts, chicken liver, chicken gizzards, pork tender loin, ground turkey breast.
I grind all my meats and organs at once divided into what goes into each batch and then mix and package each batch.
Time break down:
grinding: 30 mins (total all meats and organs)
mixing : 40 mins (10 mins per batch)
packaging: 1 hr 16 mins (24 mins per batch)
Grinding time includes trimming meat, cutting into pieces that will fit into the grinder and clean up. Mixing time is measuring supplements and mixing them into the ground meat and organs. Packaging is weighting 9 oz of food into baggies and flattening and sealing each baggie to squeeze out air and to make storing them more efficient. I don't include any clean up time for the mixing and packaging steps because it is minimal.
I ended up with 108 baggies with 9 oz of food per bag. This will last my 4 cats 54 days.
Summary for 60.7 lbs of finished food:
time : 2 hr 45 minutes
cost : $2.57/lb or $0.72 per cat per day ($0.90 if MCHA used as calcium supplement)
Details:
All meat and organs were bought at my local grocery store. Some people have access to much cheaper sources but I think grocery store prices are more representative of what most of us have access to. The ingredients: beef chuck & shoulder roast, beef liver, beef heart, beef kidney, boneless/skinless chicken thighs, chicken hearts, chicken liver, chicken gizzards, pork tender loin, ground turkey breast.
I grind all my meats and organs at once divided into what goes into each batch and then mix and package each batch.
Time break down:
grinding: 30 mins (total all meats and organs)
mixing : 40 mins (10 mins per batch)
packaging: 1 hr 16 mins (24 mins per batch)
Grinding time includes trimming meat, cutting into pieces that will fit into the grinder and clean up. Mixing time is measuring supplements and mixing them into the ground meat and organs. Packaging is weighting 9 oz of food into baggies and flattening and sealing each baggie to squeeze out air and to make storing them more efficient. I don't include any clean up time for the mixing and packaging steps because it is minimal.
I ended up with 108 baggies with 9 oz of food per bag. This will last my 4 cats 54 days.
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