Equipment needed for home made food

[Suelovescats]

Repost

I bought a meat grinder (crank style) at a rummage sale for just a few dollars.

Could people repost here?  There were great suggestions.  (And Straybaby's bone wacker posts were very funny.)

[lesliek]

For those of us with multi pet families,I had suggested extra lg stockpots. Makes it easier to make & mix lg batches for the freezer.

[Eartha]

Suelovescats are you able to grind bones with that or just the meat and skin?

[purringfur]

I don't feed raw at this time, but I do cook foods.

I cook in huge batches, so I have an 18" wide mixing bowl for combining ingredients.  (It's so big, my cat can sleep in it with room to spare!  I just use my hands to mix the meats with the grains & veggies because I don't have a utensil big enough to move all of the ingredients around.  (My dogs don't mind as long as I wash my paws first!)     Even with such a large bowl, the ingredients are ready to spill over.

Several years ago, I told myself that since I've always cooked largely from scratch, that I would invest in two high quality kitchen appliances.  I chose a food processor and a stand mixer to splurge on.

I like my 11-cup Cuisinart food processor for processing vegetables or pureeing chicken for my kitty to supplement his small-brand canned food.

For mixing the dog biscuit recipe (doubled or tripled), I like my 6-quart KitchenAid stand mixer (professional model), using the dough hook.  It's a huge monster of a machine, and it has to stay on my counter, but it's been so good to me that I don't mind at all!  I posted the biscuit recipe in the Homemade Treats thread.

I also bought a set of heavy-gauge stainless measuring spoons and measuring cups because I was tired of the cheap ones that constantly bent under pressure.

And yes, the huge stockpots are great for cooking in large batches.  I found a "Visions" (Pyrex?) monstrous clear purple/maroon cooking pot with the lid for just a couple of dollars at a yard sale, and I use it to cook the dogs' rice or oatmeal.  I considered this a great find!

I also use my 7 quart crockpot to cook pounds and pounds of chicken at a time.

It's also worth it to pick up a freezer (fairly modern for energy savings) for storing extra food or stocking up during meat sales.  Sometimes, I buy 60 lbs. of chicken when it's on sale...

Pardon me.  I have a whole small turkey in the oven for the humans (and puppies & kitty, too), and it's time to check on it.  Brock!  Brock!

I've always cooked in double or triple batches and have frozen items.  It's just easier if you're cooking, have everything out to begin with, and going through all the labor... to cook multiple batches and freeze (or can) the extra.

HTH.   

[JustMe]

Darn.  I didn't realize we had lost this thread when we had the meltdown last month and lost so many posts.   

[kaffe]

OK... I hope this will work.

Equipment for Raw Food Preparation

1.  Kitchen Weighing Scales to weigh meats, organs, veggies properly and accurately.




2.  Meat Grinder
(a)  if grinding chicken bones, an electric meat grinder like the Tasin TS 180 from the One Stop Jerky Shop or a similar but inferior one from Northern Tools



(b)  if NOT grinding bones, a hand or crank grinder is OK:



3.  Stainless steel or glass or ceramic  mixing bowls; at least three sizes with one large enough to mix four pounds of food



4. Measuring spoons:  a set with 1/8 teaspoon will be very handy for makingthose half-recipes



5.  Measuring cups 



6.  Set of sharp knives



a meat cleaver is handy to whack bones with



7.  Chopping board



8.  Steamer (if adding steamed vegetables)



9.  Coffee grinder (if you want to use ground eggshells instead of bones; also handy to
have for grinding vitamin tablets and caplets to powder)



10.  Long-handled mixing spoon



11.  Ziplock bags (or other portion glass jars for freezing)



12.  Grill plate or frying pan to quick-sear sides of meat before grinding (if worried about germs).  I use something like this:

[kaffe]

When I prepare Home-cooked, I don't need the meat grinder.  Instead, I chop up the cooked meats and veggies and whirl them in a blender with some spring water - enough to get the right consistency:



Others use a food processor like this:

[mainecoonpeg]

Thanks Kaffe

I have printed this out for my Christmas gift list and made multiple copies.

Hubby is very happy that "visual aides" are included.

Only 2 things missing from the list.......Kaffe Kooks and Straybaby's Bone Whackers Video........LOL

[MariManu]

Make sure your grinder can grind the bones. Using the bones is important for the correct calcium-phosphorous ratio.

I use the Tasio one Anne talks about at www.catnutrion.org

---mason jars for freezing the food
--a good cleaver for chopping the meat and bones into 1cm pieces

[JustMe]

Bump.

Still working on this list. 

Food processor:  Check.

Looking for metric food scale.

[Offly_irked]

I've put this one on my list - German made: digital scales

http://www.giantsavings.com/socidifoscwh.html

If you click the "related links" underneath all that there are several digital scales. Decisions, Decisions.. lol

[BW]

OH MY!!  I am too old for all this!!!  Bless all of you that are up to doing all this for your pets.  They are really lucky pets!!!  Gee, I don't even cook this much for myself!
Maybe I can at least make the broth for them, but food including all the vitamins/minerals and veggies etc. is way over my head.   Kudos to all the rest of you that can do this.