[AussieLass]

So, until now I've been hauling myself to the butcher, buying bits of this and bits of that i.e. "Chuck Steak, 2kg for $16" - full of horrible fat that takes forever to trim off, then I mince it, pack it freeze it. Lamb, hmm, the cheapest way was to buy crummy chump chops, 6 cost me over $15 and was no-where near 2kg even. The only other butcher's meats I could get fresh was Kangaroo, more expensive than beef and chicken.

Then it occurred to me, Dr. Ian Billinghurst's B.A.R.F. frozen boxes that contain 12 individual sachets (1 will feed 3 Chi's 1 meal) are just shy of 3kg a box, and I can get all but a couple of the varieties for $19.50 ea, the exxy ones are $23ea. They're completely balanced, contain organs & ground up bone and, therefore, a heck of a lot cheaper and easier than what I'm currrently doing and the dogs love them - they've got a little extra in the way of a small amount of vegetables and fruit from memory, but all raw.

So, tomorrow I'm off to buy a box of lamb, a box of duck and a box of beef and maybe rabbit whilst I'm at it.

They'll still get their chicken wings but only one a week from now on, a recreational bone every day, and ZiwiPeak for their evening meal.

Yaaaaaaay, no more messing for moi!!! Except when it comes to making their liver, kidney & beef jerky, oh boy, is that ever messy, but well worth it, we save a fortune. Still, with this new bought BARF mix I don't even need to feed organs so could do away with that as well if I wanted to, hmm life just got a whole lot easier

 

[Brodysmom]

That's why many people do pre-mades Dee! Just a heckuva lot easier! Your Dr. Billinghurst is the pioneer of the raw diet. He was way ahead of his time. If you ever get a chance to go hear him speak, it would be awesome!

 

[AussieLass]

Hi Tracy - well I didn't know that about Billinghurst being the pioneer, bless his little Aussie cotton socks that were probably made in China as is everything we get over here!!

I've got to do some more research though, I remembe a regular poster on dogzonline (an Aussie purebred forum) rang him several times about some ingredient or other and Dr B ended up screaming, swearing and hanging up on him (allegedly) so I'm a bit interested to find out what all that was about. However, as I said to a friend who feeds it yesterday, it doesn't really matter what Dr B puts in it, nothing can be as bad as what the other clowns put in theirs!!!!

Interestingly, we went to several huge (by our standards) pet stores yesterday and everyone kept offering my kids treats. My standard response was, "So long as they're not made in China". Without exception, quick checks of the packs revealed they WERE indeed made in China, with one pack being made in Taiwan, pfft and double pfft!!!! It tears me apart when I think of how many dogs are ingesting melamine, lead and heaven only knows what else!

 

[OzChi]

That's what I would do if it wasn't for the big Asian market 10 mins walk from my house. I only pay between $3 and $7 per kg for beef, lamb, pork from there if I go late in the afternoon when they're selling it off and they have chicken wing tips for $0.60 per kg so it works out cheap for me but if you're buying from the supermarket or butcher it is $$$.