Feeding properly our dogs is a matter of great concern. Commercial feed does contain the essential nutrients for their development but their lack of natural components in its formulation because the vast majority of them are derived from scraps and filler ingredients. Some pet parents choose to feed dogs with homemade food, but usually ignore the nutrition balance that dogs need, making this practice quite dangerous if continued.
Propper homemade dog food requires time, fresh ingredients and technique, something that the vast majority of us lack in at least one point. Dog food subscription services appear to solve the dilemma thanks to their tasty and nutritious recipes, and the comfort of being delivered to your front door is an excellent option for busy and concerned pet parents. Yes, this option isn’t cheap, but the benefits do pay themselves.
Like choosing a car, there are several criteria to consider To make the right investment, and an always, our Barkymate experts will guide you find the best dog food delivery service that perfectly matches your needs.
5+ Best Homecooked Dog Food Delivery Service Reviews
#1 Nom Nom Now
Located in the charming San Francisco Bay Area, since 2015 Nom Nom Now has delivered the freshest, tastiest, and healthiest dog food to each home in America. Partnered with world-class veterinary nutrition expert Justin Shmalberg, Nom Nom Now develops and formulates every recipe to meet the specific nutrition needs of each dog creating individualized pet meals with the freshest, restaurant-quality ingredients.
The amount of care from their team in each step of the process, whether ordering or making a claim is overwhelming, and something to admire, showing their true convictions with customer satisfaction. Once you tried their dog food subscription delivery, you might found why these guys, gals and pups have been awarded by most pet blogs as the best dog meal delivery service 2018.
Pros:
- Each recipe is designed by a world-class veterinarian nutrition expert;
- 20% discount on your first trial;
- First delivery comes with extra recipe samples;
- Very flexible adjusting the delivery schedule to your last minute needs;
- 30-day care guarantee.
Cons:
- Very generic quiz;
- One of the most expensive dog’s food delivery services, starting at $37.93 per week for a 20-pound dog, two meals a day.
#2 Ollie
Ollie has been giving something to talk and bark as they have been featured on media big names like Forbes, business insider, and Wall Street Journal. With skyscraping standards, a 50% discount with your first order, the confidence in their quality to show the whole production process, while being faithful to their motto “keeping it real” Ollie is the real deal among dog food delivery services.
They have one of the most detailed dog profile creators, where you can adjust preferences like favorite proteins, allergies, activity levels and even desired weight to ensure that your dog will get healthy and satisfied with their carefully balanced and tasty meals.
Pros:
- 100% money back guarantee;
- 50% discount on first order;
- Highly personalized service;
- Real and fresh ingredients on each meal, zero additives, and fillers;
- Easy to use and follow instructions.
Cons:
- For really large breeds can’t order more than a week of meal supplies;
- Quiz doesn’t consider more health issues besides allergies.
#3 Pet Plate
Created by Renaldo Webb a dedicated pet parent who’s experienced in the pet food industry showed him the lack of real food in everyday dog meal Petplate is a fresh homemade dog food delivery service committed with dog welfare. With meals formulated and balanced by veterinarian nutritionists, gently cooked and custom pre-portions in versatile containers for a better serving.
However, their major drawback is an extremely short quiz that doesn’t consider activity level or even critical health issues like allergies; but with a starting price of 3-4 dollars per day, is one of the most affordable fresh dog food delivery options.
Pros:
- Convenient reusable containers;
- First delivery is a trial box totally refundable;
- Starting price comes for 3-4 dollars per day;
- Highly adjustable delivery schedule;
- 25% discount on first delivery.
Cons:
- Quiz does not consider health issues like allergies;
- The food container isn’t very practical for storage.
#4 The Farmer’s Dog
This dog food subscription services stand-ups from the rest thanks to what we believe is one of the most complete dog quiz ever made. They virtually leave no questions off the mark and cover every possible need from your dog.
Another cool feature from Farm Dog is that every meal is balanced to meet AAFCO standards thanks to the dedication of their veterinary nutritionists’ team. This clearly resembles their commitment to their customers in every dog meal delivered, and with a two-week trial or get your money back you can’t go wrong with these guys.
Pros:
- Each meal price starts at less than $3;
- Quiz fully covers every aspect of your dog;
- Final product meets AAFCO standards;
- Personalized serving instructions for each dog;
- 20% discount over the first delivery.
Cons:
- Packages can be quite hard to open so scissors are required.
#5 YaDoggie
If your dog digs only for dry food and you are concerned with the current quality of the food you provide him don’t hesitate, YaDoggie comes as the perfect option for you and the pooch. Using real ingredients, grain free and complemented with essential minerals and vitamins, their carefully formulated recipes meet the Dog Food Nutrient Profile levels established by the AAFCO.
It ensures that your dog will receive all the nutritional benefits of fresh meals but in their dryer version, saving you fridge storage space, messy servings and thanks to their predictive shipping you will never run out of food.
Pros:
- Recipes meet the Dog Food Nutrient Profile levels established by the AAFCO;
- Real fresh ingredients employed with every recipe;
- Predictive shipping to never get out of stock;
- 20% discount at your first purchase also includes extra goodies;
- You can request a refund or another recipe if your dog doesn’t like it.
Cons:
- 7-pound bag starts at $30, which is quite pricey compared to other products.
Our Criteria for Choosing Homemade Dog Food Delivered to Your House
Ideally, choosing a dog subscription food service is a long-term investment that will bring great benefits to our pet’s health and well being. To avoid hoping from provider to provider figuring out who will bring the most, here are the main criteria to consider when choosing the best food delivery service for dogs.
FDA and AAFCO Regulations
The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) is a public health enforcer responsible for certifying the safety of any food and medication before getting introduced into the market. Because the FDA policies go towards product destined for direct human consumption, this enforcement agency works side by side with the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) a volunteer group committed with the mission of providing a mechanism for developing and implementing “model laws” and enforcement policies for the manufacturing, labeling, and sale of animal feeds and ingredients.
This ensures that all the gaps concerning animal feeding, including pets. Significant manufacturers need to apply these guidelines, but due to some legal loopholes, homemade meal delivery service for dogs does not necessarily require these agency approvals. However, those healthy dog food delivery services that embrace FDA And AAFCO regulations will have the approved seal in their label showing their commitment to providing high-quality standards to all pet parents and our 4-paw children.
Ordering Experience
Ordering from a dog food delivery service shouldn’t be different from your regular pizza or dog subscription services. Assertive matchings with our dogs need, extra goodies and no strings attached are critical points besides high-quality products. The best dog food deliveries usually have a more extensive and intuitive client profile maker, remember, we are going to stack a fridge with one or more weeks of dog food so take your time and choose wisely.
If you find unsure of what to choose, the customer service chat box should be there to answer all your inquiries. Once all the necessary fields are filled, proceed to checkout, and you’ll be a couple of days away from dog food delivery greatness.
Recipe Variety
Nutrient balance is the most important feature in every recipe, but even the tastiest and healthiest meal can be quite boring after several weeks eating the same dish. Not only that, dogs may not like some food styles like homemade, raw or the classic kibble.
Recipe variety is critical for dog food subscriptions services in case the client doesn’t like or finds that the dog flips its feeding bowl, so alternatives must be at hand. For dogs with certain food allergies, or health conditions like obesity, bad nutrition, and elderly for example, a good dog food delivery service must make the necessary adjustments to fulfill your dog’s nutritional needs.
Scheduling Flexibility
Flexibility is a critical matter and something that all dog food delivery services must comply. Nobody wants to leave the house knowing that it’s pooch meal supply slowly gets rotten because the company didn’t want to change its delivery schedule. Is a harsh example, but we all must consider every possible scenario: business travels, family issues, movings or a one-week wanderlust urge with your pooch.
There are several causes for not being at home. customer aware dog food delivery services are conscious of this and can make any last minute arrangements to comply with its’ customer needs.
How do Food Delivery Services for Dogs Work?
Before introducing a new type of diet to your dog, always reach your veterinarian, as is the only person who can determine the nutritional balance required by your dog to make him achieve the desired results. Once done that you only need to follow the next steps:
Choose your Favorite Fresh Dog Food Delivery Service
Once determined the type of diet best suited for your dog, just surf the web and check for a homemade dog food delivery service best fit your dog needs. always consider your lifestyle and time management, because there are always a lot of pros and some cons when acquiring a service of this type.
Below this section, there are a set of criteria to consider before getting compromised with one dog food subscription delivery service, and at the same time, you can check the reviews of what we believe are the top 5 of the best dog food deliveries.
Fill all Details about Your Dog or Puppy
You just decided on a dog food subscription service that offers what you want for your dog. Now to fully fit its needs all you have to do is to complete the quiz. This step typically involves questions like dog size, age, and food allergies, some services even go further by asking how active your dog is, its actual weight and desired one, specific allergies, actual diseases, and even favorite meals. the more detailed the quiz, the more satisfied and happier will be your dog can be once he takes its first meal.
The Service Recommends Customized Recipes
After filing the requested details in the quiz, the system will review the matching degree according to your preferences and needs against their listed recipes. Dog food delivery services have assorted recipes based on a protein, being the most common: beef, chicken, turkey, and lamb.
Depending on the selected proteins several options are showed, and you can compare every recipe the nutritional facts, serving sizing and additional ingredients involved. Depending on the selected recipes for your dog’s feeding plan, prices can vary, but this will be figured out on the next step.
Approve the Plan and Wait for Delivery
In this part, you decide which feeding plan is more suitable. Depending on the delivery frequency and some meals per week you get a base price for the service. Usually, dog food delivery services offer bigger discounts for complete feeding time.
Before getting committed with a brand, it is advisable to try before a week of meals an see how the process works, sometimes yo nail a limited time offer but is more prudent to test the waters before jumping in. Once you decide which plan is more suitable based on your storage capacity and payment availability (these services aren’t cheap) just click the checkout button and proceed to wait. Delivery usually takes a couple of days so don’t get rid of your dog’s current food yet.
Feed your Dog
Even if your dog has been eating healthy homemade meals, you must make your dog adapt to the new diet. this is a crucial step because unless your dog has an iron-coated stomach, a sudden change in their food habits can cause, diarrhea, vomit, and other unpleasant symptoms.
The process itself lasts a week and consists in gradually feeding the pooch by mixing a 10th part of the new feed with the regular one and progressively increasing the amount in every serving. Any reaction while feeding the dog with the fresh meal like itching, sneezing or coughing, appearing implies immediate suspension. If this is the case or your dog didn’t either like the food, just contact customer support and ask for a change in the meal.
Benefits Of Fresh Dog Food Delivery
There are several benefits besides saving lots of time and the comfort of having delivered to your house high ending tasty meals for your dogs. These are:
Natural ingredients
Real meals require real ingredients, not byproducts. Like all the lies it might seem reasonable but ain’t real. Benefits of employing natural ingredients are that we are using the source of nutrients that any living being needs. Any meal cooked with them will be easily absorbed by our dogs’ body, filling them with energy, better mood, and that lovely shiny coat and a tight body that shows off a good health.
Tell someone to feed itself with ordinary hot dogs in every meal every day of its life. that person will tell you that it’ll end with cancer and other nasty diseases, but aren’t we doing the same with our dogs?
Fresh Ingredients
A perfect meal has 2 features, proper technique, and fresh ingredients. dog food delivery services that boost of this feature must have agreements with local providers to ensure that ingredients don’t lose their properties due a long trip in the road.
They must also have a strict selection process along with a quick and precise preparation, to up the quality of their final product. A dog might eat whatever gets crossed in their way but they can tell when a meal is made carefully for them. they will appreciate it.
Balanced Food
Balanced food is the key feature for a more energic, healthy, and longer life not only for us but also our pet dogs. We choose dog subscription delivery services as a smart option to provide a quality meal to our pets with the certainty of having a veterinarian nutrition expert giving advice to all the cooking process and improving it like the health of our dogs.
Having the right size and nutrition for our pet allows them to develop a more healthy system and the benefits are not only measured in the weight scale, but they will also develop correctly as every food is prepared especially to meet their requirements, achieving this way their correct development.
Saving your time
This is why most people choose a dog food delivery service and the reason for their growing popularity. The glorious days of our grampas where only 1 person could support its family and still spend time with its family, friends, and hobbies (the same day) are gone. People nowadays got enough stress in their lives to barely attend themselves making it hard to attend their pets properly.
Dog food subscription services skim out the messy part and allow us to invest quality time with all the family members (because our dogs are) at the dinner table. Just pick a bag from the fridge, open it, serve in a clean bowl and your dog is ready to go!
What Dog Food Can Subscription Services Deliver?
Because dog food subscription delivery services are a growing and accessible option for pet parents there are several food types that can match your personal beliefs along with quality nutrition as is the later the most critical issue.
Fresh (Homemade)
Homemade meals are the main product of dog food delivery services today as many pet parents see their dogs as an equal member of the family, and the same applies to their meals. The employment of natural and fresh ingredients provides a great source of nutrients, and with the proper techniques, you can translate entirely those nutrients to your dog system.
Fresh dog food delivery services count with the advice of expert veterinarian nutritionist that allows achieving our dogs its peak conditions thanks to a well-formulated recipe. The best of all, you can save the hassle, the time and even money of making it yourself letting you share more quality pet time with your dog.
Raw
Feeding raw food has been a subject of controversy among pet parents. Some praise the fact that our dogs should eat raw meals like their wild ancestors once did, while others declare that dogs have evolved with us and so their capacity to eat from a broader variety of sources.
Whatever your posture is, eating raw doesn’t mean that your dog will only feed on steak and bone, as this will just create unhealthy hazards, malnutrition, gastrointestinal disorders and acquiring severe diseases like gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella and E. Coli.
The best raw dog food delivery must have total hygienic control over their production process: from receiving their main ingredients, to the delivery itself, because any spillage or crack in the designated containers or cross-contamination during the meal preparation will seriously compromise both dog and parent health.
Grain-Free
There is an old saying: “What is good for the goose is good for the gander”, something applied by almost all families when some type of foods are restricted, and our beloved dogs can’t escape too. Grain-free diets are recommended for celiac or gluten allergic pets or specific grain allergies.
Always check the nutrition chart carbs index before ordering or seek advice with your veterinarian before making a purchase, Most grain-free recipes substitute grain with potatoes, which contain a large number of starches and will affect your dog’s weight gain negatively of you are looking for a lower carb diet.
Details to Check When You Get a Homemade Dog Food Package
Once your package arrives is normal to get excited because we have high expectations of finally feeding our dogs properly. However, there are several things to check before serving your dog any homemade dog food:
- Packaging. The company greeting card. From here you can tell the quality of the food your pooch is going to eat, The first one must be the box where all your dog food is stored. It must be insulated, especially if you choose a more raw preparation to feed your dog. The packing of the food itself must be sturdy and vacuum sealed, without any kind of leaks, punctures, and virtually stainless and odorless.
- Instructions. It is the part we often overlook once we purchase an item or a service. Instructions are an essential part of the user’s experience by offering at glance clear, and easy to follow directions to use the product. Instructions should describe the product nutritional properties, proper storing, shelf life, serving sizes and schedules to feed our dogs, The same applies with remaining portions. Some even go further and add extra recipes options on if you still want to give a personal touch to your dog’s dish without compromising their nutrition.
- Ease of serving. Preportioned packages can vary depending on the type of meal to serve, but all dog food delivery services share the same principles: sturdy material, easy to see content, correctly identify, easy to store, open and serve without any spills. Because nobody wants to get short or exceed with servings, dog food delivery usually pre-portion every package in single day meals with two serving each.
This makes it more manageable in case you don’t serve the portion of that meal because you can serve the rest to your sog without taking away its daily requirements. - Storage. To ensure a healthy feeding of your pooch proper storing of dog food packages and leftovers is required to avoid spoilage. Packaged of food should be designed to easily store them inside the fridge without taking any extra space, as we also have our food in there. Depending on your dog’s nutrition requirements, and assigned meal supply will be the space required in your fridge.
Rule of thumb, the bigger the dog, the bigger the fridge. Take into consideration this before ordering a large supply from any dog food subscription service as they aren’t responsible for this kind of mistakes. Although the best dog food delivery services will understand your situation (always on notice) and break the delivery in weekly shipping for your convenience.
FAQs
How is the Dog Food Delivered?
Dog food delivery services use several types of packages according to the type of meal shipped. Contrary to dry kibbles which can endure a longer shelf life, raw and homemade meal delivery service for dogs use insulated coverage and dry ice bags to keep cold those type of meals as heat can quickly spoil them.
Special delivery trucks are equipped with refrigeration systems to avoid temperature variations ensuring safe delivery and buying you extra time until you can retrieve your package.
How Much does Homecooked Dog Food Cost?
Dog food subscription services are considered expensive compared regular store bought dry kibble or canned foods for this single reason: they require fresh and high-quality ingredients and also require more elaborated because the intention of a customer concerned fresh dog food delivery service is to bring nutrition and taste to your dog.
Depending on your dog size and physical needs a day meal might cost $3 and up. Always think in the long run, considering all the health benefits and lowered visits to the vet and bought medicines you already have been billed this is truly a bargain.
What are the Health Advantages of Home-delivered Dog food Meals?
Home delivered dog food meals are cooked under nutritional guidelines provided by veterinarians specialize in dog welfare. This ensures the proper nutrition for your pet in well-measured portions that not only makes your dog have a decent weight but also providing him with sufficient nutrition to keep all their systems in shape: muscles, nerves, digestion, and skin will be at peak condition to make your dog happier, energic and full of vitality at any stage of its life.