Meal Prep
Cooking homemade means nothing if it takes over your whole week. The point of batch cooking is simple: cook once, portion it out, and let the freezer do the rest.
Batch Cooking
Most of the meals on this site scale up easily — double or triple a recipe like Gordie Loaf or Turkey Stew and you’ve got weeks of food from one afternoon in the kitchen. Pick one or two recipes to rotate on repeat rather than cooking something new every time — it’s less shopping, less cleanup, and the dogs don’t seem to mind eating a favorite twice.
Freezing Tips
- Cool completely before freezing. Warm food raises the temperature inside the freezer and can affect everything around it.
- Portion before you freeze, not after. Freeze in the amount you’ll actually thaw and serve — a single day or single meal — so you’re never thawing more than you need.
- Freeze flat when you can. Portions in flat freezer bags stack neatly and thaw faster than a solid block.
- Don’t refreeze thawed raw meat or a fully thawed meal. Thaw only what you’re about to use.
- First in, first out. Newer batches go to the back; oldest gets used first.
Container Recommendations
Nothing fancy required — freezer-safe glass containers or BPA-free plastic both work fine. What matters more:
- Portioned to a single serving or single day, not one giant block
- Wide-mouth, so a frozen portion pops out or thaws quickly
- Stackable, so the freezer stays organized instead of a game of Tetris
Freezer Life at a Glance
Storage times live on each recipe page, but most haven’t been filled in yet. What’s confirmed so far:
| Recipe | Fridge | Freezer |
|---|---|---|
| Gordie Loaf | 5 days | 3 months |
As storage times get confirmed for the rest, they’ll show up here and on the recipe page itself.
Label Template
A little labeling now saves a lot of freezer archaeology later. Simple format, works on masking tape or a sticker:
[Recipe name]
Made: [date]
Use by: [date]
For: [dog name]
Portion: [e.g. 1 day / 1 meal]Shopping
No separate shopping list here — whichever recipe you’re making that week is the shopping list. Pull it up, read the ingredients, buy those. Rotating the same one or two recipes for a month (see Batch Cooking above) means you’re shopping for the same short list on repeat instead of hunting down something new every time.