How do I make temporary recipes for my dog at home if I run out of food?Updated 6 months ago

If you've run out of My Perfect Pet food for your furry friend and are still awaiting your next delivery, we recommend using our store locator linked here to search for a retailer near you that carries our blends. This way, you can pick up your pet's food in store and continue feeding their favorite without skipping a beat.

If there are no My Perfect Pet retailers in your area and your pet is at risk of going without their favorite fresh food, you can prepare a few days’ worth of homemade recipes to tide them over until their next order of complete and balanced My Perfect Pet food arrives at your door.

While it’s OK to home-cook in a pinch, it’s important to note that these recipes are for short-term feeding only. You should be feeding these homemade options for no more than 3-5 days as they don’t provide the same complete and balanced daily nutrition as My Perfect Pet's blends, which are carefully formulated to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles. Feeding improperly balanced food long-term can lead to nutritional deficiencies and serious health issues.

Below you can find a list of ingredients you can use, ones to avoid, and instructions for preparing your furry friend's temporary homemade diet. When selecting ingredients, you can mix and match with the suggestions below, but we recommend choosing at least one option from each category. 

Ingredients

Choose at least one meat, fiber and vegetable from each list below. 

Meat

• Ground beef
• Ground turkey
• Ground pork
• Ground chicken

Use fresh or frozen, ~85% lean meat with no added seasonings or other ingredients.

Fiber 

• Sweet potato puree
• Pumpkin puree
• White or brown rice

Cook white or brown rice. Use canned or cooked, plain purees with no added seasonings or other ingredients.

Vegetables 

• Spinach
• Green beans
• Broccoli
• Zucchini

Use fresh, frozen, or canned veggies with no added seasonings or other ingredients.

The Basic Recipe

We recommend a mixture that is 1/2 meat, 1/4 veggies, and 1/4 fiber.

1. Gently cook the ground meat in a pan.
2. Cook the veggies by boiling or steaming. The veggies can be fresh, frozen, or canned—just look for plain vegetables with no added salt, seasoning, or other ingredients. 
3. Chop the veggies or puree and add to meat. 
4. Add your choice of fiber along with your chopped or pureed veggies, into your pan of gently cooked meat and stir for a few minutes until veggies are tender.
5. Allow to cool before serving. 

*Food can be kept covered in your refrigerator for two days. 

Ingredients to Avoid

It's best to skip these extras when preparing food at home:

• Extra salt
• Spices and seasoning
• Onions or onion powder
• Garlic or garlic powder
• Spicy peppers
• Butter
• Fat trimmings and cooked bones
• Bacon
• Human vitamins 
• Cooking oil
• Table scraps

How Much to Feed

You can estimate your pet's portions based on the amount of My Perfect Pet food they typically receive. For reference, each bar of food is 8 oz for our dog blends and 4 oz for our cat blends. If you’re not sure where to start, a rough portioning guide is to feed 1/4 pound per meal for small dogs, 1/2 pound for medium dogs, and 1 pound for larger dogs, but please tweak the amount to suit your dog’s needs.

Don’t worry about making the recipe to any exact measurements, or adding any extra vitamins or supplements. While feeding your dog the right quantities of nutritionally complete and balanced food is extremely important in the long term, it’s safe to give your dog just meat and vegetables for a few days. 

Sample Homemade Recipes

Beef Recipe (like Knight's!)

• Brown ground beef.
• Boil or steam green beans and cut into small pieces or puree.
• Boil a sweet potato and cut into pieces or mash (or look for plain, canned puree).
• Add all veggies to meat and stir to combine.

Turkey Recipe (like Tino's!)

• Brown ground turkey. 
• Boil or steam broccoli and cut into small pieces or puree. 
• Boil a sweet potato and cut into pieces or mash (or look for plain, canned puree).
• Add all veggies to meat and stir to combine.

Chicken Recipe (like Snuggle's!)

• Brown ground chicken.
• Cook white or brown rice.
• Add rice to meat and stir to combine.

 Pork Recipe (like Sweetheart's!)

• Brown ground pork.
• Sauté spinach and cut into small pieces or puree.
• Boil a sweet potato and cut into pieces or mash (or look for plain, canned puree).
• Add all veggies to meat and stir to combine.