# Has anyone tried The Honest Kitchen freeze dried food?



## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

What did you think? I picked up a 10 lb box of the turkey variety today. It makes 40 lbs of food, which ends up being about $1.57/lb, which is less than I'm currently spending on home-prepared raw. It might be worth adding to my rotation.


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

There used to be a vendor at the Harriman shows, and I bought two tubs every year at that show. I mostly bought it in case something happened and I didn't thaw but I promised myself I'd use it all up before the next year's show and I did every year, even though I usually used it that month- to use it- the dogs weren't so crazy about it, and while they'd eat it, I often would find myself w/ a tub and a half come a month before that show so I'd mix it with ground meat and they did like that a lot. I loved the idea, and it was super convenient for the times I forgot to put something out to thaw in the morning- but I'd not use it for everyday just because the dogs weren't so crazy about it.


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

Frankly I didn't like the look or texture of THK and Tayla wasn't overly enthusiastic about it. We use Grandma Lucy's which is a similar type product. Freeze dried and as it rehydrates, you can see actual pieces of veggies and chunks of meat. They have several varieties that use chickpeas instead of potatoes. Similar priced.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I almost always have a box in my kitchen. I don't really feed it for a full meal, but add it in if I'm feeding something premeasured and feel like they need a little extra food. Or I'll add it to a kibble meal for a little extra something. My dogs love it.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

I also have a box in my cupboard, but I only use it as a treat, an extra topping twice a week. The girls love it....


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## Beanie'sMom (Jul 7, 2007)

I've always done home cooked. It appears you all know a lot about these products. Could you tell me more about them? Where do you buy them? What are the ingredients? What do you put in your home cooked?

I do chicken, salmon, rice, oatmeal, peas, sweet potato and then suppliment with The Missing Link, adding chicken livers, cottage cheese, cheese, and Zuke's as treats -- and vitamins. I'm always concerned that I'm making a good balance for Nellie. Any suggestions?


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## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

Glad to hear the positive reviews - Kea ate some for dinner tonight, so we'll see what it looks like coming out the other end  

Here's a link to the website - you can see the products and ingredients if you're interested. All Natural Dog Food - Dehydrated Pet Food | The Honest Kitchen

I have been doing home prepared raw for Kea and have been sourcing my meat locally at between $2-4 per lb, veggies and fruits much cheaper. Now, with a fast growing boy puppy in the mix and getting more involved in field training and obedience, I find myself needing a way to make this more affordable and thus sustainable over the long term. 

The freeze dried would also be really convenient for traveling, and we will be heading out next weekend for a trip. 

Neither of my two are picky. They will eat anything, and I mean anything - with gusto. I did notice that the pieces of THK are very small, so when it's reconstituted, it's very mushy. It would be important to continue the raw knuckle bones every so often for teeth cleaning purposes if a dog is eating this long term, I'd think.


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## samralf (Aug 11, 2012)

My Sheltie has been eating thk since 2009 and he loves it!!! He has a lot of health issues so I had to go with thk as opposed to making a homemade diet. I think the reason he is still here and doing so well at the age of 13.5 is because of this food. I fed my other Sheltie a homemade diet and it was a pain getting the right amount of food, grinding, vitamins, etc....thk is so much easier!


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## goldlover68 (Jun 17, 2013)

One of our Golden's developed a problem with his pancreas, therefore a low fat diet was the only option we had. After tons of research I found Honest Kitchen Zeal (Fish Formula). Our dog loved it and we kept him on it for a few months. It smelled really fishy, hard to take sometimes for us people, but he thought it was wonderful. And his health improved remarkably. We are cooking him a special diet, but I keep KZ on hand, just in case....


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

How did it "come out"?


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## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

lhowemt said:


> How did it "come out"?


Hahaha! I kept meaning to come back here and report. 

Kea ate two full meals of THK the other day and her stool volume was a little higher than what I normally see with her on raw, but it's probably because the proportion of meat to veggies was different from what's in my stuff that I make. 

Definitely two thumbs up for convenience and cost!


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

KeaColorado said:


> What did you think? I picked up a 10 lb box of the turkey variety today. It makes 40 lbs of food, which ends up being about $1.57/lb, which is less than I'm currently spending on home-prepared raw. It might be worth adding to my rotation.


I have fed mine Honest Kitchen Love and Honest Kitchen Zeal as topping, but I make a huge mess with it. No one licks their dishes clean, so little pieces of what looks like grass are everywhere. Now I just do the same topping thing, but with Ziwipeak. Honest Kitchen does seem like a very good food.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

Thanks. I am looking for something to use along with our homecooked and kibble diet. It will be nice to have an alternative when wenrun ouy of homecooked and I don't have time for a big cook and I am out of canned salmon. I also like the benefit of raw without the mess of being eaten outside of a bowl. ziwipeak has heart, which Pearl doesn't tolerate, so we will give HK a try.


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## KeaColorado (Jan 2, 2013)

I think the variety I have is Keen. It's a turkey-based formula. I have good local sources for raw beef, bison and chicken but not turkey. I am definitely planning to try the zeal as well, it would be great to get some fish in their diets. 

The puppy (5 months) is still on kibble until we get the digestive issues figured out. I am pretty sure he was sensitive to something in the Fromm LBP for some reason. Ongoing intermittent diarrhea. Ugh. He's doing well now on NB LID fish and sweet potato, and I'm planning to go through one more large bag of that since I've finally got him putting on some weight. I think we're on the slow growth plan by default of diarrhea.  Anyhow, he also did just fine with a little THK mixed in with his food. 

I have looked at the ziwi peak - glad to hear a good review. I rotate in a prepared frozen raw food (K9Naturals) with lamb sourced in NZ. I've been extremely happy with the quality of that food. It runs about $4.50/lb, so not sustainable long term, but I do like to keep a bag or two on hand for days I don't have time to do my usual prep.


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## Rob S. (Feb 2, 2014)

KeaColorado said:


> What did you think? I picked up a 10 lb box of the turkey variety today. It makes 40 lbs of food, which ends up being about $1.57/lb, which is less than I'm currently spending on home-prepared raw. It might be worth adding to my rotation.


Yes it makes 40lbs of food but that is water weight. You have to compared the foods on a dry matter basis not after you add water. You can take 10lbs of kibble and add water too and make 40lbs.

I did the calculation on the food and it would cost $8 - $10 per day to feed which is 5 -6 times more than I spend now.

Water is water....don't be fooled


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## jrr (May 26, 2012)

Did THK for 2 1/2 years, both standalone and mixed with Wysong Epigen. Have Pembroke with pancreatic issues, a Cardigan with too much weight issues and a Golden who is lean and more weight is always required.

Honest Kitchen is great food but has some negatives. I used Verve and the output was never really solid with any of them when used alone. The vegetables went straight through the Golden. The overall output was prodigious. It was also a pain to wait 6 minutes, with three crazy dogs, for the food to set up. THK also started leaning on the online folks for price adherence, prices went up.

The Epigen helped with stools when mixed but still not good enough. Tried Grandma Lucy and I hated the look and the dogs weren't happy with it. Finally switched to straight Epigen for the Pembroke and things are great. Did a mix of Epigen and Sojos for Cardi and Golden. We alternate Sojos beef and turkey. Fixed too much weight and too little weight dogs. Output indicated all is being adsorbed as should be..

Sojos is made 3 days at a time and does great in the refrig. Cost works out to $15 per dog per week total for Epigen and Sojos. Vet bill has gone down $4K per year. Trade off with health and money is outstanding


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

Rob S. said:


> Yes it makes 40lbs of food but that is water weight. You have to compared the foods on a dry matter basis not after you add water. You can take 10lbs of kibble and add water too and make 40lbs.
> 
> I did the calculation on the food and it would cost $8 - $10 per day to feed which is 5 -6 times more than I spend now.
> 
> Water is water....don't be fooled


 Your calculations are a little off because the food rehydrates and kibble doesn't. So where you would feed a cup of kibble you would maybe only feed 1/2 cup of THK or in my case Grandma Lucy's. I can feed 1 dog a 10 lb. bag and it will last approximately 30 days. They get just shy of 2/3 cups each meal plus 1/2 cup kibble. For me, I use a potato free variety, which is more expensive. My chicken costs about $70 a bag. So it is about $2.30 a day. It's not inexpensive, but not $8 to $10 a day unless you are feeding multiple dogs.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

When I buy meat for home cooking I shoot for under $2.50 a lb, and since that is precooked I am probably ending up with $3-4 (chicken has SO much water!). Vegis are much cheaper esp if I am saving broccoli stems, cabbage hearts, kale ends, etc, so that brings the cooked cost down too. Organs I get for $1/lb or free. I ordered small boxes so we'll try it out. I also ordered a small box of base mix (did I mention this already?) for when we are feeding canned salmon I am hoping it is better than canned vegi's. I doubt I'll wait the full 5 min for rehydration, but it always takes a couple of minutes to mix up meals so I'll probably get 3. The rest can happen in their belly I suppose. 

I am curious to see how the vegis fare, as I understand uncooked vegis aren't nearly as digestible for dogs.


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## Melfice (Aug 4, 2012)

jrr said:


> Did THK for 2 1/2 years, both standalone and mixed with Wysong Epigen. Have Pembroke with pancreatic issues, a Cardigan with too much weight issues and a Golden who is lean and more weight is always required.
> 
> Honest Kitchen is great food but has some negatives. I used Verve and the output was never really solid with any of them when used alone. The vegetables went straight through the Golden. The overall output was prodigious. It was also a pain to wait 6 minutes, with three crazy dogs, for the food to set up. THK also started leaning on the online folks for price adherence, prices went up.
> 
> ...


Wysong Epigen looks like it's a great food, but I have three dogs to feed. The cost would be insane to keep it up as their main food. I might have it as a non main food, and give 1/3 with their normal kibble


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## jrr (May 26, 2012)

Epigen would be a very expensive on an "only basis". My Golden get 1700 cals a day, which would be 5 cups of Epigen a day, then throw in 6 more cups for for the Corgi's and you need a healthy bank account.

Sojos is a great alternative/addition without the non absorbed veggies and less fiber.

The process to get to this point has taken a long time but finally everyone has happy bellies.


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

It's seems to always be a process. When I had just Tayla, Grandma Lucy's was expensive, but I knew I was giving her an incredible food. Add in Lily and now the expensive food was costing us over $225 a month and we just couldn't afford it. So I use the GL (similar to THK) as an add in for 1/2 of their food. They get a high quality kibble like Acana right now and GL mixed in. It runs us about $120 a month for both of them and I can live with that.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

We got our HK food this week and one night I had forgotten to thaw a meal. So instead of nuking it I thought we'd test out the HK once at home to make sure it agreed with everyone. Boy that stuff looks like gruel, worse than paste! I used too much water so it was pretty soupy. The girls LOVED it, bowls licked clean. No tummy nor poo problems. We got the beef grain free. This weekend we'll try the base mix (vegis and supplements) when we have a canned salmon night. So far so good!


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## Rob S. (Feb 2, 2014)

Tayla's Mom said:


> Your calculations are a little off because the food rehydrates and kibble doesn't. So where you would feed a cup of kibble you would maybe only feed 1/2 cup of THK or in my case Grandma Lucy's. I can feed 1 dog a 10 lb. bag and it will last approximately 30 days. They get just shy of 2/3 cups each meal plus 1/2 cup kibble. For me, I use a potato free variety, which is more expensive. My chicken costs about $70 a bag. So it is about $2.30 a day. It's not inexpensive, but not $8 to $10 a day unless you are feeding multiple dogs.


You are mistaken. I am sorry. Kibble most certainly does rehydrate. I used that an as example of how misleading the claim is. You cannot call water food.

One dry cup of Honest Kitchen has the same nutrient profile as a cup of an equal quality kibble. About the same weight, same protein, same fat, same calories. 

A 10 pound box for a golden is 13 - 15 days of supply. Using Embark as an example because it has 30% protein, the cost per dry cup is $2.25, for a monthly cost of about $200, or $6.45 a day. Yes my numbers were higher because I used store prices rather than online prices.

Let's take a decent 30% protein kibble like Fromm, which cost about $65 for 100 cups, or about $.65 a cup or about $1.60 per day.

Honest Kitchen costs 4 times what Fromm costs.

If you are feeding 1/2 cup of The Honest Kitchen or any other deyhydrated before adding water you are still only feeding the kibble equivalent of 1/2 cup.

Water is not food.


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## samralf (Aug 11, 2012)

Rob S. said:


> You are mistaken. I am sorry. Kibble most certainly does rehydrate. I used that an as example of how misleading the claim is. You cannot call water food.
> 
> One dry cup of Honest Kitchen has the same nutrient profile as a cup of an equal quality kibble. About the same weight, same protein, same fat, same calories.
> 
> ...


Actually from my experience, one pound of the honest kitchen makes 2 cups of food. One pound of kibble equals four cups of food. So in my house kibble lasts twice as long.


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

I think it may be tough to compare the two as far as calories go. I don't have enough experience feeding it yet, but my feeling is that less dehydrated food is necessary for the same functional nutrition. Because it is not cooked for so long which makes some of the kibble rendered less absorbable/useful by the body. The bottom line is if atayla is feeding fewer cals of HK then kibble, that is the comparison that matters. Specs aren't the end all. JMO


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## lhowemt (Jun 28, 2013)

Fed the girls the base mix with canned salmon (n yogurt n bananers) and they loved it!


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## jrr (May 26, 2012)

Actually Rob makes an excellent point. I use the calorie per cup rule. 

A cup of THK or now, Sojos, makes 390- 425cals/cup DRY. Adding water fills the bulk requirement mostly. 

My Golden, 2 1/2 and 70#,slightly active in spurts, gets 2 cups Wysong Epigen and 2 cups of Sojos/day/rehydrated. 1500 cals not 1750 [ratio of conversion].

If I didn't like some of the adds that Sojos brings to their diets, it would be cheaper to just feed Epigen kibble. 

Hope this makes sense and my math is "rounded".


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