Hi There Dog Lovers,
My awesome vegan Danish friend Lotte has so graciously shared her vegan dog food recipe with me and all of you! Plus extra tips and a bit of story that, if you’re a dog lover will most certainly appreciate! Here’s a photo of Lotte and her sweet dog/child, Ruby from this winter!
Here’s what Lotte wrote and shared with me:
Hi Nina,
OK so a little time again to finish the recipe saga for you.
We typically shop at Trader Joe’s for best deals on organic produce for Ruby and we make food for an entire months- so approximately 60-65 of the glass sizes I gave you, plus we got a small freezer just for her food. I expect that number one, you would need to only make 30 –40 for a month supply for Pippa because she is quite a bit smaller. Ruby is 70 pounds. I also expect you don’t have as much room to store her food or all the containers you would need, so I will give you the recipe for what I would think is the smallest amount you would want to make at a time.
We don’t add salt to Ruby’s food. We buy all organic and get everything at Trader Joe except the oatmeal, dried beans and lentils, the flax and the turmeric which we buy at PCC.
The starches:
One 5 pound bag of TJ organic potatoes – cooked and diced (we don’t peel) – save cooking water (See tip #1)
One 5 pound bag or TJ sweet potatoes – Cooked and diced (We don’t peel) – save cooking water
One bag of TJ Quinoa – use potato/sweet potato cooking water to cook
1 – 2 cups brown rice – optional but economical– use potato/sweet potato cooking water to cook
4 cups of dry oatmeal – use potato/sweet potato cooking water to cook (See tip #2)
5-6 cans of beans or similar amount soaked and boiled beans. – mashed (See tip #3) (we use combination of kidney and black beans)
1 cup Red lentils –optional – cooked and blended/or mashed
The veggies:
One bag of green peas – defrosted and mashed
One bag of frozen green beans- lightly cooked and cut into smaller pieces
3-4 zucchini- raw and grated in food processor
1 bag of broccoli florets (the tips) – lightly steamed and chopped.
Juicing pulp- if you juice. – optional (see tip #4)
The supplements:
3/4 cup of flax seed – freshly ground up – for omega 3 (we use Vitamix for grinding)
1/4 cup turmeric (we use because it should help against fatty tumors and potential inflammation conditions.
#1 We found that Ruby loves to drink the cooking water from potatoes and sweet potatoes, so we either mix it into her drinking water or we use it when we cook the rice, oatmeal or quinoa. This way we don’t lose the vitamins etc. that boiled out into the water.
#2 We found oatmeal really easily digestible for Ruby and it sits well with her. It has a lot of protein. To save space in the freezer, we make the base food without the oatmeal, and then we cook up about a 1/2 cup dried oatmeal a day and mix it into the de-frosted food. (we cook oatmeal for ourselves so we just make extra) . Oatmeal is also a very economical ingredient and I think a really good way to introduce whole foods to a dogs diet when you first start out. You could simply start by giving Pippa a bowl of oatmeal each day- possibly adding flax to it.
#3 Ruby can not break down the skin of the beans and lentils so they come out whole unless we pre-mash the. You could blend them too.
#4 I try to juice carrots right before we make Ruby’s food so I can save the pulp by mixing it into her food. Dogs can not break down these harder veggies – but they can digest pulp and will benefit from the fiber and vitamins left in that. If you juice regularly, leave the pulp out of her frozen food and add some of it to her food whenever you juice so it is ultimately fresh and nutritious.
OK this is it finally. Let me know how it goes. Remember to transition her unto this food over a period of at least a couple of weeks so her body develops the necessary enzymes to digest it.
Take care,
Lotte
***Also See Part Two of Lotte’s Letter!
Here’s a link of the containers that Lotte freezes Ruby’s food in:
http://www.prunedanish.com/arc-h6809-3fba/
Thank you so very much, Kære Lotte! You Rock!
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You are very welcome Nina. I really hope this can inspire not only you but some of your readers to try their hand at making their own dog food. It may look more complicated than it really is and a bigger commitment than it is. You can also ways start slow and you could also make it really simple and just add some boiled potatoes or oatmeal to the commercial dog food. Let me know how it goes.
THIS IS AMAZING! sorry, i got really excited there ahah. But for real now, this is the best news eve, as one of the things that has been preventing me from getting a dog is what they eat. I never thought to do my own food. Thank you very much!
You’re welcome, Carol! Glad that you found this helpful! There’s no reason why you shouldn’t get a dog. However, cats cannot and should not be vegan!!! They are carnivores!