5 Benefits To Freeze Dried Dog Food
What the heck is freeze dried? Is it frozen? Do I keep it in the refrigerator? Is it cold? Will my dog want this when he’s used to little kibbles?
As long as humans have been eating, preserving food has been a concern. We need to keep food as nutritious as possible for as long as possible. Fresh food and hunting was seasonal, and we needed to have something to eat in winter! While our dogs can safely eat things long past when they are nutritionally optimal, we want them to get the best nutrition and freshest food possible. That maximizes your budget and your dog’s health. Fresh food is the best choice, but not very sustainable for most of us to store many pounds of fresh meat for ourselves or our dogs. Freeze drying has been increasing in popularity for human food for a long time, and it started with emergency rations for military and disaster preparedness. But as technology got better, it has become a great way to keep food fresh for camping, hiking, garden harvests, and now even our pets! Your dog can eat like astronauts do, with freeze dried meat!
Freeze drying is a process of preserving food by freezing it at extremely low temperatures and then removing the water content under pressure in huge freeze drying machines. This allows for extremely long shelf life while keeping the food as close to fresh as possible. It is different from dehydration because it uses cold instead of heat, which is better for the nutrition profile. Harmful sulfites, often added to dehydrated food to keep it looking appetizing, aren’t needed with freeze drying. The meat, in our case, retains the essential amino acids, vitamins, antioxidants and proteins that are in the fresh meat, and because it is not cooked at high temperatures like kibble and isn’t mechanically changed, the meat stays as nutritious as it was when it went into the freeze dryer. Bonus: freeze drying is also amazing at preserving the flavor of foods! The final product does not require refrigeration or freezing to keep them fresh, and with proper air tight bags, can last for many years unopened on your shelf.
Top 5 Benefits to Freeze Dried Dog Food:
- Retains the most nutrients and best flavor. What you put in is what you get out; the meat retains the most amino acids, vitamins, and antioxidants of any processing type and isn’t degraded by heat.
- Shelf stable for up to 5 years with proper packaging. This is a great way to have a backup food for your dogs.
- Very light weight, so it is easy to travel, hike, camp, etc. with enough dog food. Freeze dried works exceptionally well for training treats as it isn’t greasy in your pocket and can stay in your vehicle for a while without turning rancid. It’s also high value!
- Adds additional protein to a dog’s diet without additional potential allergens or fillers. You can feed straight meat/protein if you want! We believe dogs are carnivores!
- Freeze dried can be easily re-hydrated, and retains texture, smell, and taste of fresh meat which makes it extremely sensory attractive to even fussy eaters.
Why Does Freeze Dried Product Cost More Than Dehydrated?
Commercial freeze drying machines are extremely large and expensive machines to purchase. Not many companies own their own freeze dryers, but at Muenster, we have four! This ensures product quality control. The machines require their own sanitary building with extensive heavy duty electrical systems and use a lot of power. It takes 24 hours just to run one batch of freeze dried food! You can make 4-6 batches of dehydrated food in the time it takes to make 1 batch of freeze dried. Since we are focused on retaining nutrition as opposed to selling mass volumes of product, this is a crucial step in our process.
One of Muenster’s freeze drying machines.
At Muenster, our freeze dried meatballs, patties, bites and toppers are made with human grade meat. By using premium meat, our end product is superior in quality and provides the maximum nutritional benefits to your pet.
How Do I Feed Freeze Dried?
We really believe in the power of nutrition and food as medicine. Often dogs that are having allergies or mystery GI problems can do a “raw reset” and by feeding them only raw freeze dried for a month or two ( bonus add probiotics) can rebuild their gut biome and reset their system. Our “complete and balanced” freeze dried patties (elk/venison, chicken, beef) and bites (chicken, beef)are able to be fed as a complete diet. Rehydrate with warm water, or feed dry as a complete meal option or use as treats.
Our meatballs and bites products are meant to be fed as treats or supplemental flavor enhancers on top of kibble. Use for rewards, training, to encourage fussy eaters, or to up the protein content and add variable proteins to a Muenster kibble. Adding water is key, especially with toppers, as it helps the product stick to the kibble to bring out the flavor even more!
Our freeze dried toppers are meant to top-dress a kibble to enhance flavor and add protein. The Dr. Verwers functional toppers have a two-fold benefit, they add protein and flavor AND provide a yummy taste to go along with the hip/joint, calming, digestive and heart healthy ingredients.
Freeze dried is a great way to add quality protein and nutrition to your dogs diet, either as a full meal option or as a flavor enhancement! Your dog can’t wait to try something new!
