# Weekly Shopping List



## bize13 (Aug 16, 2012)

How much of what does everyone feeding a BARF diet get at the market or order from the butcher?


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## Ronda (Aug 23, 2010)

From the regular store I generally buy my beef heart (trimmed and sliced!), my whole mackeral (they special order for me), beef liver, sometimes chicken hearts/gizzards/liver, and if they are having a great sale or they are marked for quick sale on something like roasts, hamburgers, or even steak then I buy those too. 

I go to a small mom and pop butcher and buy their ground "dog food" mix...its a beef blend of heart, liver, kidney, spleen, and other odds and ends of beef cuts. It has no bone content. 

I go to a great family butcher/meat processor type place that along with traditional butcher stuff, caters to hunters for game processing and more ethnic varieties of meats and cuts. I call them when I need fresh, whole green tripe and they let me know if they have a cow being processed that day. If they do, I get whole stomachs for super cheap. Now the suck part is that I have to cut it up myself but its so economical (last time I got over 30lbs of useable meat for 20 bucks) that I have to suck it up and play butcher.

For my chicken backs and turkey necks I go to a poultry place that is family owned and raises hormone, antibiotic free, free range chickens and turkeys. I order my backs in cases of 40lbs and my necks in 30lb cases. I will also buy chicken hearts/gizzards/livers from them as well. Oh and I get ground turkey from them too.

Lastly, for variety of organs, I go to an ethnic grocery store that does Middle Eastern, Asian, and Hispanic type of foods so I can get just about any part of the animal there. This is where I get beef sweetbreads, lamb kidney, they have brain but I was too grossed out, etc. If you want a body part they will probably have it!

I feed beef, chicken, turkey, and fish regularly...I add sheep/lamb, goat, rabbit when I can get it. For some reason, pork grosses me out and I don't eat it, so Saphira doesn't get pork either. Too bad, its a reasonably priced muscle meat source but I can't get past the ick factor.


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## bize13 (Aug 16, 2012)

you must have a huge freezer, about how long does all that last you? and is it cheaper than the higher end kibbles like Blue Buffalo?


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## Ronda (Aug 23, 2010)

bize13 said:


> you must have a huge freezer, about how long does all that last you? and is it cheaper than the higher end kibbles like Blue Buffalo?


I have a 7 cubic foot chest freezer for all of Saphira's raw food. I originally started out just using some space in our regular fridge/freezer but I quickly realized that to do this I would need a dedicated freezer. 

Saphira eats about 1.5lbs a day (she weighs 71lbs). I do adjust up or down as needed but that is the general amount. It breaks down to 1.2oz Organ, 12oz Muscle, and 10.8oz RMB approximately....although it doesn't always perfectly match up...she may eat a 14oz turkey neck so she may get a bigger helping of muscle that night so we don't get chalky poop...the next night she may get a smaller meal. So a case of turkey necks (30lbs) and a case of chicken backs (40lbs) will theoretically last me about 3 plus months.

I was originally paying about $90 with tax for a 29lb bag of Orijen. So to me, if I can feed Saphira for less than $3 bucks a lb than I am paying less than I was for kibble. I have never really done the math out but chicken backs are $0.49 a lb, turkey necks are $0.99 a lb, ground turkey $2.00 lb, chicken hearts $0.69 a lb, beef heart is $1.49 a lb (trimmed price) to give you an idea. I'm sure its probably less than I paid for dog food but I could probably do better if I hunted prices more but I'm happy with what it costs and don't want to feed her meat that I wouldn't eat (except the tripe, that's disgusting)


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## TimberGSD2 (Nov 8, 2011)

I buy my raw food about 200-300lbs at a time. I will change it up and buy hearts, ground, chunks, chicken (different cuts), pork necks, turkey necks and rec bones. I have 3 dogs and feed roughly 4lbs a day. 

I have a 7 cu foot freezer for the dogs and the top of a regular fridge/freezer for overflow. I pay roughly $1.00/lb depending on what I buy.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

I buy everything at a local grocery. I try to spend around $1.50 /lb or less. I watch the sales on an on going basis and try to pick up what I can when I can. I am only feeding one dog so it is not that bad from a budget stand point.


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## bize13 (Aug 16, 2012)

I can definitely see a need for a large freezer, luckily we have one used for our slaughter animals in the past. We don't grow our own beef anymore so I could use the freezer to buy in bulk. Thanks for the replies.


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