Five Benefits of Home-Prepared Food for Your Pet

Did you know that people who don’t have dogs have to stop and pick up the food they drop on the floor? They do not get a super excited furry little vacuum coming to clean up their mess.  

Think about how excited your dog gets when a crumb of people food falls to the floor. Why not provide your pet with that excitement at every meal? Home cooked meals have many health benefits for your pet but require time and commitment. Why not consider home-prepared food for your pet? Home-prepared pet food gives you the ability to feed your pet high-quality ingredients you can trust, with ease and convenience. Grandma Lucy’s home-prepared recipes are shelf-stable, for up to 18 months, with no refrigeration required, take up minimal space, and rehydrate in minutes!  

What is Home-Prepared?  

Home-prepared pet food is an alternative diet for your pet when compared to the traditional means of feeding the same old kibble day in and day out. These alternative home prepared pet foods are freeze dried or dehydrated. All recipes use whole ingredients that undergo a process, to remove moisture, creating shelf-stable and easy to prepare meals at home.  

How does Grandma Lucy’s fit it?  

Grandma Lucy’s, a family-owned pet food manufacturer located in Southern California, has been a pioneer of home prepared pet food with their freeze-dried pet products since the category was first introduced to pet-store shelves. Their array of products uses only high-quality meats, no preservatives, and are grain-free. Grandma Lucy’s philosophy is to not only provide food that can be proudly fed to pets, but to educate pet parents on how diet is so crucial to a pet’s life. Grandma Lucy’s offers home prepared dog and cat foods that bring the home cooked family tradition straight to your pet’s bowl.  

What is freeze-drying?  

Freeze drying is the process of removing about 92% of the water contained in raw, whole ingredients. This creates food that is shelf stable, lightweight, and preservative free. Once these ingredients are rehydrated, they retain their natural aroma, taste, texture, nutrients, and appearance.   

Five Benefits of Home-Prepared meals for your pet: 

1. Promotes healthy skin and coat. 
2. Great for dogs with allergies. 
3. Meal variety for picky eaters. 
4. Quality Ingredients. 
5. Convenience and ease of use 

     1. Promotes healthy skin and coat  

Ever notice a bad breakout after treating yourself to a few days of junk food? Well, your dog or cat’s skin and coat can suffer from the food they eat also. Their coats may appear dull with flakey skin because of a poor diet.

By feeding your pet home-prepared meals you can introduce ingredients with specific benefits to your pet’s skin and coat such as coconut, flax seed, sunflower seed, and pumpkin. Each of these ingredients contains vitamins and nutrients to promote healthy skin and a soft, shiny coat. Lack of moisture and improper hydration can also lead to skin problems.  Many commercial pet foods are very dry. Grandma Lucy’s freeze-dried pet food provides a perfect solution. Freeze dried recipes are rehydrated with warm water, adding that extra hydration to promote healthy skin and coat.  

      2. Great for pets with food sensitivities and allergies 

Food sensitivities in your pet can appear as itchiness around ears or feet, redness, flakey skin, patchy coat, or gastrointestinal signs such as vomiting or diarrhea. Allergies can be more severe than food sensitivities and can lead to an allergic reaction that may require a visit to the veterinarian. It is best to speak with your veterinarian about foods to avoid when dealing with allergies or food sensitivities.   

Feeding single protein recipes allows you to easily determine if a certain protein may be the cause of a food sensitivity. For example, serve beef or chicken but do not mix the two proteins to narrow down the source of the issue. Grandma Lucy’s offers single protein recipes across all lines, along with different carbohydrate options such as potatoes, chickpeas, and pinto beans. To determine the root cause of the food sensitivity it is important to look at the ingredients in each recipe and try to change only one ingredient at a time to narrow down the source. By feeding your pets home-prepared meals you can easily pick and choose what ingredients you would like in their meals to ensure they do not have to suffer with any food sensitivities or allergies. Grandma Lucy’s also offers samples across all of their food lines, allowing pet parents to try the recipe before committing to a full-size bag.  

Another option on the market is a food sensitivity test. One easy and convenient option is Nutriscan, which is an at home food sensitivity test run off your pet’s saliva. By running a test at home or at your veterinarian you can have a good idea of what foods to look for and which ones to avoid. 

       3. Meal variety for picky eaters 

Do you eat the same meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day? That sounds boring to me. Why should your dog not have some variety? One solution is rotational feeding, where you rotate between one or two recipes. Sticking with recipes that contain similar ingredients but offer different protein sources will keep your pet excited at mealtime and make transition between food easier. A commercial pet food diet often equals that same old bag of kibble forever. The lack of variation in diet may be boring to your pet, and most definitely limited in terms of nutritional value.  

A Grandma Lucy’s diet provides your pet with a variety of recipes and protein to choose from to keep them excited for mealtime and combat those picky eaters. Home prepared pet food recipes allow you to regularly vary the ingredients of your pet's meals to offer a wider range of nutrients. Just like humans, the more varied the nutrients your pet receives from their diet, the healthier they will be. 

    4. Quality Ingredients 

What is a by-product or filler? Does anyone really know? Feeding your pet, a home prepared diet gives you the comfort of knowing what ingredients are in your pet’s food. You can see and smell each ingredient without worrying if your pet is getting the nutritional value they need from their food.  

Grandma Lucy’s sources quality ingredients for each one of their recipes. On the back of each bag of Grandma Lucy’s food you can see the first ingredient listed is meat or fish, no byproducts, or fillers. Once Grandma Lucy's food is prepared you can smell the fresh ingredients and your pet will come running! 

Check out Grandma Lucy's sourcing map to learn more about each ingredient used and where it originates.  

       5. Convenience and ease of use 

Home cooking for your pet is time consuming and often intimidating. How will you know if your pet is getting all the vitamins and nutrients they need from their food? How will you measure each ingredient? How will you calculate the calories? Home-prepared pet food has all those questions answered for you! 

Home-prepared pet food gives you the ability to feed your pet high-quality ingredients you can trust with ease and convenience. Grandma Lucy’s home-prepared recipes are shelf-stable, for up to 18 months, and do not require any space in your refrigerator or freezer. Grandma Lucy’s recipes rehydrate in minutes, just add warm water, mix, and serve.  

“Grandma Lucy’s home-prepared meals are cooked in our kitchen and served in yours.”  

If you have any questions on Grandma Lucy’s recipes or need help picking the right one for your furry friend, please email us at customerservice@grandmalucys.com 😊