Time-Saving Meal Prep Guide for Busy Dog Parents

Between walking your dog or dogs, raising a family, managing your career, and keeping up with life’s demands, meal prep might feel like just another task on your endless to-do list. Here’s how to make it work while juggling everything – including those puppy dog eyes begging for attention.

Combine Dog Care with Meal Prep Planning

While walking your dog, use this time to mentally plan your meals for the week. Many dog parents find that their daily walks are perfect for brainstorming. Use a voice notes app to record meal ideas that pop into your head during these walks – it’s easier than trying to write while holding a leash!

Strategic Shopping Ahead Of Time

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It’s helpful to always have enough food in the house for the next batch of meals.

• Root vegetables keep well so these can be purchased in advance
• Costco and Sam’s Club have vegetables you can buy that are already pre-chopped. If you won’t be cooking for quite some time you can freeze it and then defrost it the day you will cook it
• If you buy your meat in bulk, store them in the portion amounts that you need for your recipes.
• If you grind your own meat, grind them the day you purchase them and again, store in the portions you need for your recipes
• Have any supplements you need on the subscribe and save settings. And if you run out, don’t fret. Continue as planned and order it so that the next batch will have it.
• If you need a quick guide on supplements I use for my own recipes, you can visit the Supplement page on my website.

Cook While You Sleep

Use your time strategically:

• Use a slow cooker to cook meals. Set it for 9 hours on low overnight so you aren’t tied to the stove or oven (for those that make home-cooked meals).

When we place that tough cut of meat into the slow cooker, we initiate a cascade of molecular transformations. The protein molecules begin their slow dance of unfolding.

Cooking meat at low temperatures for long periods (over 8 hours) breaks down the connective tissues in meat, creating collagen and gelatin. Gelatin is rich in amino acids, such as glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, which are essential for maintaining healthy skin fur and helping contribute to stronger nails.

The gelatin-rich meal provides healing occurs on multiple levels:

• Emotional: The act of preparing healing food creates a bond of care
• Physical: The gelatin coats and soothes inflamed gut tissue
• Cellular: Amino acids provide building blocks for repair
• Microbial: The matrix of nutrients supports healthy gut flora

For dogs struggling with:

• SIBO: The gelatin helps restore proper gut motility and barrier function
• IBS/IBD: Anti-inflammatory compounds soothe and heal
• Leaky Gut: Collagen provides the building blocks for repair
• Microbiome Imbalance: The matrix of nutrients supports beneficial bacteria

Remember that meat cooked in slow cookers need to be lean. If you haven’t read about the FAT FACTOR be sure to do so after this article.

Meat is also combined with the vegetables and other ingredients in the slow cooker to form new savory flavor compounds. Picky dogs tend to love food cooked in slow cookers.

Lastly, one other benefit of using the slow cooker vs. cooking in pans and baking is there will be fewer dishes to wash.

Quick-Assembly Ingredients

Choose ingredients that require minimal prep time:

• Pre-cut vegetables (the slight extra cost is worth the time saved)
• Very lean ground proteins
• Quick-cooking grains like instant brown rice, millet or quinoa for those that have grain in their recipes

Staging Ingredients The Night Before

Line up your ingredients ahead of time:

• Measure out your vegetables the night before
• Defrost your protein the night before
• Cooking grains (if your recipe calls for them) the night before

The Power Hour Method

Designate one hour to meal prep on a slower evening. When you get into the kitchen, start off with.

• If your recipe calls for grain and you have not cooked them in advance, let this be the first thing you do. If you don’t have a rice-cooker – they come in very handy. The one linked is a small-sized appliance. If your recipe calls for grain, for the most part it will be a tiny amount.
• Use a food processor to mix and combine your organs, eggs, and supplements together. It helps to add a cup or three to this mix to allow for ease in distribution when you combine it with the meat.
• Use the same food processor to cut up any root vegetables
• Use a large mixing tub to mix your supplements with your meat

Storage

I used to weigh out each meal’s portion and store it in pyrex dishes. I have since just purchased larger storage containers which for my dogs, fit about 3 different meals worth of food. Instead of weighing out the food before I store it, I weigh it out at the time of feeding.

Food Safety Tips

It’s always good to prioritize safety when handling food.

• Defrost in the fridge instead of in the counter
• Read up on safety in the kitchen

Food Temperature

The spleen/stomach likes it when food is fed at room temperature or warmer.

This means when you take out their food, you can add a splash of hot water to it “to cut the cold) or let it sit out for 15 minutes before feeding or my preference… you can gently warm it in a pan for no more than 20 to 30 seconds on each side.

Or place it in a pyrex dish, and place the dish in the oven in the broil setting for a minute or two while you’re getting their food bowl ready.

It doesn’t have to be “warm” it just can’t be cold from the fridge.

Avoid the microwave as it alters the cellular structure of the food.

Alternatively – let it sit on the counter to bring the temperature up.

Emergency Backup Plans

Always have a Plan B for hectic days:

• Keep one container of a days’s worth of frozen food in a different part of your freezer (be sure to feed it before one year to optimize freshness)
• Stock healthy shelf-stable options like Base Mixes to save time
• Know which local pet stores carry cooked meals. Even your grocery store will carry cooked meals. While it may not be your regular go to, it’s there for you an option.

Weekly Time-Saving Routine

Sample Meal Prep Routine

Once a Month:

• Buy enough meat to last you a month. Freeze it in portions that are called for your recipe.

Friday Night

• Move protein to the fridge on a plate. Depending on where you live, and how cold it is, it may take two days in the fridge to thaw.
• Chop up root vegetables
• Move frozen green vegetables into the fridge to thaw

Saturday Night (Approximate prep time one hour)

1. Prep Grain if your recipe calls for it
2. Combine and blend organ meat with supplements in food processor and add 1 to 3 cups of water
3. Combine this with your protein
4. Prep root vegetables in food processor
5. Combine this with your protein
6. Mix everything together
7. Move this mixture to the crockpot, set it for 9 hours to cook overnight

Remember, it’s okay if some weeks aren’t perfectly planned. The goal is to create a flexible system that works for both you and your lifestyle. Some weeks you might be crushing your meal prep game, and others you feel you don’t quite all have it together. Remember to give yourself grace.

Bonus Tip: Make It Enjoyable

Turn meal prep into quality time:

• Play your favorite music or podcast
• Position your prep station near where your dog likes to relax
• Reward both yourself and your pup with treats when tasks are complete
• Create a calm, positive atmosphere that both you and your pet can enjoy

By adapting these strategies to your specific situation, you can create a sustainable meal prep routine that accommodates both human and your dog’s needs while maintaining your sanity in the process.

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